“I didn’t want a wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am. I thought we could spend some time together, Jolie.” Jolie? No man had ever given Jolene a nickname before and she couldn’t help feeling a little giddy as she watched him gracefully get to his feet. “Let me just run to the bathroom and I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere.”
After he was gone, she didn’t know what to do. Should she get dressed? Or stay naked? She finally decided to pull on his western shirt. It smelled like Cal—alpha guy mixed with fresh-scented laundry detergent. She pressed her nose to the sleeve and inhaled.
“Does it stink? I was pretty nervous.”
She lifted her gaze to see Cal standing there. “You were?” she asked. “So was I. I even thought about cancelling.”
Cal stretched out on the mattress next to her and rested on a bent elbow, completely unconcerned with his nakedness. “You did? Why?”
She shrugged. “I was worried that someonemight find out. And gossip could hurt both of our businesses. Not to mention Cheyenne.”
He sighed and looked at the fire. “Yeah, I know. I worry about that too.” He glanced back at her. “But there’s nothing wrong with what we’re doing. We’re both single adults.”
“Then why are we sneaking around?”
“Because we don’t want people sticking their noses into our business.” He sat up and took her hands. “And this is our business, Jolie. Nobody else’s.” He grinned. “Besides, it’s kinda fun sneaking around. My life hasn’t been so exciting in years.”
She smiled back. “It is exciting, isn’t it?”
“Almost as exciting as the actual act.” He leaned closer and brushed a quick kiss over her lips before he drew back and studied her. “You did something to your hair.”
She self-consciously smoothed it. “It looked much better earlier before you . . . .”
“Messed it up.” His smile got bigger. “I like messing you up, Miss Applegate.”
She liked being messed up by him. But she kept that piece of information to herself and glanced around. “I like what you’ve done with the place.”
He laughed. “The bedroom seemed a little cold and sparse. So I decided to bring the mattress down here and start a fire. Luckily, Emma had left some sheets in the linen closet and I found the candles and a lighter in a kitchen drawer. Finding wood for the fire was more difficult. I had to steal it from Mrs. Wrigley’s.”
“You stole wood from a widow?” she teased.
“I’ll make sure to get her some more and no one will know since the house isn’t rented. But I was desperate to make sure you didn’t think I was just some horny dude waiting to jump your bones.” She lifted her eyebrows, and he cringed. “Okay, so I acted like a horny dude who was waiting to jump your bones. But believe me when I tell you that it wasn’t my plan. My plan was to invite you in and offer you a glass of the wine I brought and romance the hell out of you. But when I saw you standing at the back door, I couldn’t think about anything but touching you. And when I touch you, something goes screwy inside of me and all I can think about is making love to you.”
His choice of words took her by surprise. She knew it wasn’t love, but it was nice that he referred to it as such. “I feel the same way when you touch me. It’s the strangest thing.”
He ran his fingers along her arm. “I wouldn’t call it strange. I’d call it amazing. I’m more than a little mad at myself for not touching you long before this.”
“You did.”
He stopped caressing her and lifted his gaze. “You mean in the library and at the garage?”
She tried to even out her breath. It had gone wonky at his touch. “You kissed me when we were in middle school.”
He tipped his head. “No, I didn’t. I would’ve remembered kissing you.”
“It was a quick kiss. You raced up, planted a kiss on my lips, and then raced back to your laughingfriends. I got the feeling it was some kind of dare.”
His eyes widened. “I remember it now. It wasn’t a dare. It was more of a challenge. At the beginning of sixth grade, Mikey Ross challenged me to kiss a girl before the end of the school year. It was the last day of school and I hadn’t kissed a one. Rather then accept defeat, I had to act fast.”
“There were other girls around. Why me?”
He smiled. “Because you were an older woman and I wanted to impress my friends. And because you were reading my favorite book at the time.Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”
She laughed. “You don’t remember the kiss, but you remember the book?”
His eyes darkened, and he pulled her into his arms. “That childish bumping of lips wasn’t a kiss, Jolie. If I had truly kissed you, I wouldn’t have forgotten.” He lowered his head and spoke against her mouth. “Your kisses are unforgettable.”
Chapter Eight
