Page 65 of Love, Lies, and Whiskey

He lifted the flashlight to the boulder where they’d played. “Let’s see if you’ve gotten any better at it.”

Her heart skipped. “You want to play boss of the boulder and moonlight tag?”

“Darlin’, you went from being an overprotected teenager to being a mother when you were just a kid yourself, skipping right over the carefree times you were due.” He cocked a grin. “Unless you’ve outgrown the need for fun, that’s exactly what I want to do. But with you in that gorgeous dress, we should probably skip boss of the boulder.”

“Moonlight tag it is, then,” she said excitedly. “Turn off your flashlight and count to fifty. I’ll hide.”

He turned around and started counting. She let out a giddy shriek and ran through the dark, searching for a hiding place. She ran through groups of trees, circling spiny bushes, and zigzagging, trying to confuse him with her footsteps as he counted out, “Thirty-five, thirty-six…”

She tiptoed through the darkness and hid behind a tree beside the boulder, holding her breath as he called out, “Fifty!” She listened to leaves rustling with his steps, her pulse sprinting.

“Where for art thou, Juliette?” he called out.

She clamped her mouth shut to keep from laughing.

“Oh, Juliette,” he said in a singsong voice, closing in on her. “It’s your Romeo.”

She tiptoed in the other direction, and a twig snapped beneath her boot. She stilled, squeezing her eyes shut and holding her breath, listening for his footsteps. She didn’t hear him coming and took another step. As her boot touched the ground, his arm swept around her waist. She shrieked as he hauled her against him, both of them laughing.

She squealed again, turning in his arms. “I let you win, Whiskey.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I did! Who wouldn’t want a handsome cowboy catching them?”

“You’d better only want this cowboy catching you,” he growled.

“I see you’re just as possessive as you used to be.”

“Only over you, darlin’.” His mouth covered hers in a kiss of laughter and lust and everything in between. He drew back and ran his finger down her breastbone to the buttons on her dress. “Look at you, so beautifully tempting.”

“Kiss me.”

He kissed her deeper, more devouringly, and slid his hands down to her butt, crushing her against his enticingly hard body. “Jesus, Jule,” he said. “We’ve got to stop, or I’m going to ravage you right here and now.” He gave her a chaste kiss. “Close those pretty blue eyes of yours and count to twenty-five.”

“You mean fifty?”

He flashed a coy grin. “I don’t need that long.” He swatted her ass and jogged into the darkness.

They played a few more rounds, laughing like kids when they caught each other and getting lost in ravenous kisses between turns. As they were now. His kisses went from urgent and possessive to exquisitely slow and sinfully sensual. Every slide of their tongues sent a wave of heat through her, and she moaned. He made the sexiest guttural noise she’d ever heard.

“I’m really trying to be a gentleman, but you in this dress, making those noises. You’re killing me, darlin’.”

“Maybe I don’t want you to be a gentleman.”

“You don’t, huh?” He ran his thumb along her lower lip. “Do you know how many nights I fantasized about this sexy mouth?” Her pulse quickened, her breaths coming faster as he kissed the swell of her breasts. “And these beautiful tits?”

Craving his dirty talk like an addict, she panted out, “Tell me.”

“Too fucking many nights, with my cock in my hand, thinking about kissing you.” He kissed her feathery light as he opened the top buttons of her dress and ran his finger between her breasts. “Touching you.” He unhooked the front clasp of her bra and pushed a cup aside, palming her breast, his thumb teasing her nipple. “Tasting you.” He lowered his mouth, sucking her nipple to the roof of it.

“Ohgod—”

He teased her with his teeth and tongue. A needy whimper tumbled from her lips, and he took her in a punishingly intense kiss that sent spirals of desire coursing through her. They groped and pawed, and she went up on her toes, kissing him harder. His hand snaked under her dress, into her underwear. “Damn, baby. So wet for me. Your pussy misses me.”

He pushed his fingers inside her, zeroing in on that secret spot that had her crying out. He silenced her with a tantalizingly demanding kiss, his talented fingers stroking, his thumb teasing her where she needed it most, taking her right up to the verge of combusting. She clung to him, chasing that high as he tore his mouth away, and sealed his teeth over her neck, sucking so hard, she cried out, spiraling into oblivion. He captured her cries in a ravenous kiss as she rode out her pleasure. As she started coming down from the peak, he sent her soaring again, kissing her until she went soft against him, trying to catch her breath.

He rubbed his scruff along her cheek, and she reached for the button on his jeans. He touched her hand, stopping her. “Not yet, darlin’. I promised to wine and dine you, and I’m a man of my word.”