He knew exactly what to do to get what he wanted.
He ended the kiss.
It about killed him, though.
Their mouths hovered a hairsbreadth away from each other for a second.
He sat back slowly, as if he didn’t want to jar his body. He felt like a naked wire. Almost dangerous to touch.
He closed his eyes briefly and sucked in a long steadying breath. Released it at length.
His body, particularly his hard cock, thought he was nuts.
There was no sound in the cab of the truck apart from the two of them breathing, and that sound, in its intimacy, was purely erotic. And he remembered the Eternity Oak, and the sound of the falls near it.
“I’ll watch you get in your door.” His voice was a husk.
If she was surprised, she didn’t betray it.
She hesitated.
“Okay,” she said softly. “Thanks.”
She got out and the door shut with a thunk behind her.
She flapped a hand behind her in farewell, tossing a little smile over her shoulder.
He watched her go up the little flagstone walk to the raised wooden porch, surrounded by a railing that he doubted would survive a good lean by a person any heavier than she was.
And the porch itself had a definite curve. Like a slight smile.
Or her butt in that skirt.
When she leaped that top step like a pro he winced. One wrong move and she might just drop through that thing like it was a trapdoor. He remembered her “triage” on priorities, and the muscles of his stomach tensed again. He could so easily fix that porch.
Now she was in the warm, yellow pool of light on her porch.
It briefly turned all of her a shade of gold.
Funny, he felt a little like that inside. Gold and lit.
She tucked her hair behind her ear, away from her face, to jam her key in the lock. She turned around, paused, and flashed him a smile, and disappeared inside.
He watched a moment longer. Unwilling to move just yet.
He’d have to go back a long, long way to the last time he’d felt quite like this.
Back at least before he’d learned that he could be cavalier about sex and still live with himself.
Whatever had happened to Britt Langley made him want to protect her, and if that meant from him, too, so be it. If she wanted him—if she really wanted him—she would let him know. In the same way she’d dropped off that beer this evening.
They’d both be lying awake burning tonight, he was pretty sure.
It wasn’t really strategy on his part. But it might work out that way, anyway.
Then he swiped his hands down his face and turned up the music again, and started the truck.
CHAPTER9
