He opened the passenger door and set the to-go box on the dashboard. “Why would you say that?”
“Because you’ve dated in the last decade and you have all those women. You’re smooth.”
He looked into her eyes. “They’re not my women and I’m not smooth.”
“I think I’m the one who gets to say if you’re smooth or not.”
“Is this you being bossy?”
“A little.”
“Good. I like it.” With that, he pulled her close and kissed her.
Based on what she remembered from their last kiss (everything!) Jax immediately relaxed in his embrace and prepared herself to be wowed. Marcus didn’t disappoint. He angled his head and lightly brushed her bottom lip with his tongue. She parted for him, then prepared to get lost in a firestorm of sensations.
Sure enough, heat exploded inside of her and wanting surged. She wanted more than kissing—a lot more. Not that she was going to say that. For one thing, she hadn’t put on her nicest bra and panties and, perhaps more importantly, she didn’t think she was mentally or emotionally prepared to have sex with anyone. Two weeks ago she’d barely been thinking about dating. But it was nice to have all the feels and do the wanting thing.
After a few minutes, they both drew back. They were breathing heavily and she had a feeling she looked as aroused as he did.
“You’re a very good kisser,” she murmured.
“Back at you.” He drew in a breath. “I should have waited until I’d taken you home, but I didn’t want to be kissing you behind the bookstore.”
“Not exactly romantic?” she teased.
“No.”
She looked around at the tall trees and stars in the night sky. “I agree this is very nice.”
“When you’re ready, we’ll make love out here,” he told her.
She swung her gaze back to meet his. “An unexpected offer.”
“But an okay one?”
She thought about how his kisses made her feel. If she kept seeing him, sex was going to happen—a thought that could have terrified her but suddenly didn’t. If anything, she was happy to start planning.
“A better-than-okay one.” She paused, then blurted, “But I’m going to need a little time.”
“I know. I’m good at being patient.”
“And kissing.”
He brushed his mouth against hers. “It’s the company I keep.”
He stepped out of the way, so she could climb into the truck. Later, as they pulled into town, he glanced at her.
“You’re smiling.”
“I am.”
“I’m glad.”
Chapter Seventeen
Ryleigh tried not to think about Alex’s outrageous suggestion so, of course, over the next two days she thought of nothing else. Sex with Alex? It had never crossed her mind—not even once. They were friends. Good friends. Family. He wasn’t someone she wanted to do that with. Of course they couldn’t put their amazingly wonderful relationship at risk for something as meaningless as sex. Why would they do that?
Only right after she absolutely decided she was going to tell him no, she remembered the kiss and the tingles and how good it had felt to be held by him. Her monkey mind produced images of them doing a whole lot more than kissing, which made her want things she’d never wanted with him before. It was as if by asking, he’d already shifted their relationship to something it had never been. An exciting and uncomfortable something.
