Lila Mae’s emotions twirled through her, spinning faster and faster as she nodded and tried to contain them. “I really like you, Trap,” she whispered.
She’d dealt with a no-nonsense mother and a businessman shark for a brother, and they never minced words or hesitated to say how they felt.
Trap seemed surprised by the statement, and Lila Mae cursed herself that she’d let the bold side of her personality come out and say what was on her mind. Then his hand drifted up, his fingers gently curling along the side of her face, her jaw, and up into her hair.
“Sorry,” she whispered. “Sometimes my mouth gets ahead of my brain.”
“Don’t be sorry,” he murmured back, and he sure seemed to be leaning closer to her.
Lila Mae’s gaze dropped to his mouth, and oh, how she wanted to kiss him. And because she was in her reinvention phase, doing all kinds of new things she’d not done before, she leaned forward, abandoning her fork and the lunch he’d brought, to cradle his face in her hand as well.
She’d had men ask permission to kiss her in the past, but she didn’t do that here. She simply moved forward, glad when Trap did the same and they met in the middle, her lips finally touching his.
He kissed her at the same time she kissed him, and wow, how wrong Lila Mae had been. Him pressing his cheek to hers had been intimate and sweet, yes, but kissing him took Lila Mae to a completely new dimension. He smelled woodsy and fresh, like he’d been able to shower, and he tasted like mint and a whole future full of promises.
When they broke apart, Lila Mae took that brief moment to scoot forward on her chair, simply so she could be closer to Trap when she kissed him for a second time.
12
Trap had never been more grateful for his father’s advice. He hadn’t come out to Lila Mae’s ranch to kiss her, but he sure wasn’t sorry about it either.
Trap had kissed other women, but never this soon into a relationship, and he’d never felt this level of connection with a non-family member before. Just like most things in his life, once he got started on something, he couldn’t stop until he saw it through to the end, and kissing Lila Mae felt exactly like that.
He’d started, and he never wanted to stop.
Thankfully, she kissed him back with the same needful energy he felt pouring from himself.
It ran its course, and Trap’s wits returned. He pulled away, his lips feeling swollen and bruised, and finally dropping his hand from where he’d kept Lila Mae right where he wanted her.
He opened his eyes, and she seemed to do the same along with him. As he looked at her, he tried to find something to say. He’d apologized and didn’t need to keep doing that. Besides, he wasn’t sorry about that kiss.
He sat back in his chair and reached up and touched his mouth. “I hope I’m not keeping you from anything,” he finally said.
“You’re ten times busier than me.” Lila Mae looked down at the container of leftovers Trap had brought her. He’d never felt so out of his element before, but by the time his mother had let him leave the house, he’d practically promised her every ounce of his freedom—and his firstborn.
In fact, he expected her to call any time now, especially because she’d made him turn his location back on and share it with her the way he’d done as a sixteen-year-old, driving off the property for the first time.
He supposed he shouldn’t be upset about having parents who cared about him, and worried over him, and prayed for him, as he knew not everyone did. In fact, the woman sitting in front of him didn’t, and he wanted to be the first person she called for everything.
“I have to go to town today,” Lila Mae said. “And turn in my final permit paperwork for the nonprofit.”
“That’s great,” Trap said. “I could probably drop that off for you.”
“No, I’m going to go.” She scooped up a bite of roast and a chunk of potato. “I need to stop by Mack’s Motorsports and see about getting a golf cart.”
He raised his eyebrows. “A golf cart, huh?”
“Yeah, it’s a half-mile from my tiny house to the Intake Center, and Feline Friends is only going to get bigger. I don’t mind walking, but if it’s snowing, or with all the heat, it sure would be nice to have something easier to drive around.”
“That’s a great idea,” he said. “I know they’ve got golf carts, and you might look at something like a utility vehicle that will have a little bed in the back, but not be a full ATV. Tate would know the name of them. He’s got them at the produce farm.”
“Remind me who Tate is again?”
“A brother-in-law. Well, cousin-in-law,” he said. “He’s married to my cousin Clara Jean.”
“That’s right,” she said. “And they run the grocery store, right?”
“Right,” he said. “And the produce farm that supplies it. They have some ATVs, and then they have some that are lighter utility vehicles. They kind of drive like a golf cart, and have seats like a golf cart, but then they’ve got a truck bed that you can put things in.”
