“I am.For now, anyway, and I’d like to do what I can to help Brad and Paige; they were my friends, too, once upon a time, and I’m kinda hoping they will be again.
“Fine.But that won’t help me stay.”Jace got the sense that she was letting him in on a secret, one she didn’t want to share with anyone else.Still, his pulse quickened, and his hands balled into tight fists.It was the worst news he’d received since he’d arrived.Worse, even, than finding out someone was determined to decimate his childhood home for the sake of making a tourist trap.
“Why’s that?You don’t like it here?”
“Oh no,” she said, her cheeks flushing a deep crimson.“I love it more than any place on earth.Well, I haven’t been to many places, but I love it all the same.”
“Then why would you leave?”
“I don’t want to, but it may be out of my hands.Can I tell you later?Over rum?I want to see Paige and Owen before they leave tomorrow afternoon.They’re spending the night in Hellena.A date for their anniversary, and I’m supposed to watch the baby.”
“Can I give you a ride?I heard these roads are hell on pedestrians.”
“It’s the drivers I worry about.Those damned tourists and their fast cars.”
She bit her bottom lip, and anythinghalfabout his erection was gone, a full hard-on in its place.Great, how was he supposed to hide this from the bunch of bachelorettes flanking a soon-to-be-bride by the exit?He untucked his flannel shirt, which at least concealed the top half, then slid up behind Aurelie as she left the booth, hoping she’d cover the rest, or at least distract from his bulge with her bright clothing.
Though there was still so much to rediscover about his hometown, including the mystery tycoon, when Aurelie reached for his hand as they left the restaurant, tangling her fingers in his, he couldn’t help but smile.Whatever force had led him back here, where he swore he’d never return, he wanted to thank.
Love you, Pops, he thought instead.
Because, for the first time in his life, he finally felt like he was home.
CHAPTER SIX
Aurelie couldn’t helpthe flutter of nerves that tickled her chest when she pulled up to Paige’s house with Jace.Part of it was the proximity of the ridiculously good-looking man that, just hours before, she’d silently sworn to hate until hell froze over.He’d somehow turned her opinion of him 180 degrees in a matter of hours, and she had no damned clue how he did it.
Maybe it was the rum, or perhaps hewasthe devil.
If so, it would be just like her to fall for him.
“I never asked you,” Jace said, turning his truck off, his eyes still on the dark farmhouse in front of him, “is there, uh, anyone special in your life?”They sat with the question between them, as large as a manatee and as obtrusive.All other thoughts of Paige, of Sophie’s health and safety, were pushed from the vehicle.There was only room for Jace and his invasive, personal question.Heat ran the length of her thigh and pooled in both her cheeks and her panties.
“Besides Billy, of course,” he added, looking at her.His gaze—the penetrating greenish-blue eyes that resembled the sea water in front of her family’s home—bore right through her to the part of her that yearned for a connection like this.Who was to say if that was why he asked, though?Perhaps, like his type, he just wanted a warm body in a new town so he didn’t feel the sting of loneliness.
Somehow, though, despite what she’d accused him of before, she didn’t think him capable of being a love-them-and-leave-them kind of man.
“There isn’t.Is there in yours?”
Jace shook his head.“No.No one.”
The heat spread outward to her fingertips.She ran her hand along the worn fabric of the seat underneath her legs.It was cool to the touch, but it did nothing to squelch the fire inside her.
Aurelie let her hand linger there between them like a beacon of goodwill, an invitation.Had she any thought other than Jace’s full lips on hers, she would have recognized the gesture as adolescent, but it felt right, not too forward, not too reticent.
Faced with her friends’ relationships, she’d wanted her own chance at love, but how could she dive any deeper with someone if she didn’t know if she could stay?This man, though, had been dangerous earlier and now felt…safe.She could have a fling with him and let it sate that desire of hers, even if she couldn’t pursuemore.
His pinky interlaced with hers, and shock waves coursed up her body.It was lust radiating through her veins, pure and simple.She didn’t know any more about this man than the rest of the world—he was from her small town, was famous, and was way too damn good-looking for his own good—but she wanted him all the same.Maybe that waswhyshe wanted him.
His hand slid behind her, his fingertips grazing the skin where her shirt hung from her shoulder, electrifying each cell he caressed.The whiskey warmth of his breath on her cheek alerted her to his nearness, as if she needed another physical reminder of how close their bodies were.As she turned, his face closed in on hers.Despite the muted warning bells that rang in her subconscious, she didn’t so much as exhale as he closed the space between them.
His strong fingers wrapped in her hair, and dizziness consumed her.Thoughts of right and wrong, and of place and time, blurred around the edges.His hands pulled her close to him, and with a move as fluid as the neap tide around a rock, he undid her seat belt and the door to her side of the truck at the same time.Before she knew it, she found herself out of the truck and wrapped in his arms outside her door.
“We—we can’t do this,” she said.Her body screamed with the injustice of the doctrine from her overthinking brain.
“Oh, I think we can.”He kissed her, his tongue teasing hers and forcing a flood of desire to pool in her panties.God, this man could kiss.If that was any indication of the rest of what he could do, she should stop thinking altogether and take him right to bed.
“I mean, we shouldn’t.Not until we talk to Brad and Paige and get that sorted.”
