Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 73794 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73794 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
“So this is short-term for you?” Tony dropped his hand but didn’t step away.
“Maybe at first. Not now. I’ve got to get Scotty through his senior year, and I genuinely like Mount Hope.”
“That’s good.” Still much, much too close, he peered deeply into my eyes. His breath gusted across my cheek, but pulling away was the last thing on my mind. “Anyone ever tell you that you’ve got hypnotic eyes?”
“Never.” At least I was honest, and he chuckled as he continued to stare.
“Well, you do.” His voice was somewhere between pissed off and turned on. “And they’ve been torturing me all damn week.”
“That so?” My voice came out all husky.
“Yeah.” He returned his hand to my shoulder, squeezing gently. Nothing friendly or bro-like about this touch, and I leaned into it, testing. My memory of our conversation faded, and I couldn’t recall what we’d been talking about ten seconds prior.
In fact, the whole world tunneled down to his brown eyes shooting laser beams at me. And he thought I was hypnotic? He exerted his own gravitational force field.
“You gonna do something about it?” I wasn’t going to be the one to move away, but I darn sure was going to make him take the next step.
“This.” And with that, he closed the minute gap left between us, muscled chest meeting mine, strong thigh wedging between mine, head dipping to capture my mouth in a kiss.
Kiss. My heart hammered, vision blurring and head swimming. Even through my disbelief, I met his incoming kiss eagerly. Brace for impact. His mouth was as solid as the rest of his rugged features, but his lips had an unexpected softness. And for all he’d sounded almost angry at me for having distracting eyes, his kiss was achingly gentle. The first pass of his mouth was tentative, but when I placed a hand on his shoulder, pulling him even closer, he growled his approval and deepened the kiss.
More. More. More. The unspoken chant rang in my ears, my body clamoring for whatever Tony wanted to give me, hands hanging on tight for the ride. My stomach swooped like we were on a spinning amusement park ride. Had I really thought that first kiss was tentative? Unsure? Ha. There was nothing unsure about the way Tony kissed me now, tongue delving deep, mouth possessive, hands urgent on my back and shoulders.
My body surged, my back arching to get as close as possible. Our legs tangled, and hands grabbed, all gentleness long gone. All sense of space and time too. At least until a clattering sounded on the stairs up from the basement.
“Fuck.” Tony jumped away from me, wiping his mouth and straightening his T-shirt and shorts, right before Jonas entered the kitchen, followed by a dog.
“Hey, Caleb. Oh, hey, we did get some of that root beer.” For a big man, Jonas moved gracefully. He strolled over to the counter and helped himself to a soda. Too casually? I studied the guy’s bland expression but didn’t see any signs that he’d spotted Tony and me kissing. Soda in hand, Jonas wandered out to the deck, dog trailing behind.
“That didn’t happen,” Tony said sternly, as if he could will it so. I personally was never forgetting, but I nodded anyway.
“Understood.” There was a pile of reasons we couldn’t afford a repeat, starting with being coworkers, but hell if I didn’t want more right that very minute. Tony might be able to wipe his memory, but I wasn’t nearly so lucky.
Chapter Seven
Tony
The scents of barbecue and fresh-cut grass hung heavy over the riverfront park on the Fourth of July. The park teemed with people for the annual Mount Hope Independence Day parade, festival, and fireworks show. I’d been assigned to assist with the fire department’s presence downtown, and I had more than enough to keep me busy working our booth at the park.
However, Sean, in all his acting-captain wisdom, still had me tagging along with Caleb, and no amount of busy could counter Caleb’s effect on me. He was a natural at working the festival, charming everyone from seven weeks to seventy, handing out water bottles, assisting in minor first aid, and issuing reminders about fireworks and dehydration dangers. I was at serious risk of overheating myself simply from watching Caleb all damn morning. Further, every time I turned around, I was smacked with the memory of that damn kiss.
I wish I knew what had possessed me. One second, Caleb had been talking about his journey to becoming a firefighter, and the next, I was kissing him. I could blame his hypnotic eyes or the way his story had made my chest uncomfortably full, emotions I didn’t care to unpack. I could blame a years-long dry spell. Playing the hook-up game at bars near the base had lost its appeal a long time ago, but neither abstinence nor Caleb was to blame for my total lack of control.