“It’s our third date. I think it’s time,” he said with great seriousness.
She laughed but snuggled under his arm as he framed in the mountains and lake behind them. He looked down at her and snapped the picture.
“You weren’t even looking at the camera,” she complained.
“Sy.” Ricardo, manager of the garden center one town over, gave him a little two-fingered salute as he strolled by with his teenage son.
“Hey, Rico,” he called back.
He kept Maggie anchored under his arm and fired off a text.
Silas: Meet the future Mrs. Wright. Or maybe I’m the future Mr. Nichols. We haven’t discussed name changes officially yet.
“Are you cold?” he asked Maggie. The sun was dipping low in the sky, taking its spring warmth with it.
“A little. I have a coat in the truck. How do you know so many people?” she asked.
He looked down at her, baffled. “I grew up here. Most of them did, too. It’s not that unusual. And it’s something you can look forward to when you decide to stay.”
“You must really need that five bucks,” she mused, leading him in the direction of her vehicle.
They stopped at her truck, and she shrugged into a sexy-as-hell leather jacket.
“Damn, Mags.” Silas sighed.
“What?” She gave her hair a girlie fluff.
“You look badass.”
“It’s important to remember I also licked fry sauce off my plate. So I’m not that badass. Where to?”
He held out his hand and didn’t bother to not look smug when she finally took it. “If you don’t mind, we’ll swing by my place—”
“I’m not having sex with you tonight,” she interrupted, stopping on the sidewalk and facing him.
He gave in and finally slipped his arms around her. Locking his fingers together at the small of her back, he tried out the feel of her in his arms. It worked. They worked.
“Tonight?” He hung on to that qualifier and gave her his best lecherous look.
She bit her lower lip, and he lost his train of thought.
“Definitely not tonight.”
“Hmm,” he said.
“What?”
“I’m having a hard time thinking about anything but kissing you right now,” he said softly.
“Silas.” There was a hint of warning in her tone, but she didn’t do anything to put more space between them.
“It’s a kiss, Maggie. Not a commitment. One kiss won’t cost you a lifetime,” he coaxed.
“Well, since I’m here. And you’re here, and we’re definitely not having sex tonight,” she said, sliding her palms up his chest to his shoulders.
Something in the back of his brain said “uh-oh,” but he wasn’t one to back away from a challenge. No, he dove into them headfirst.
He lowered his mouth. She met him halfway, and the world as he knew it ceased to exist. Part of him knew he was on one of Kinship’s busiest streets, kissing the hell out of a woman he’d known for one week.
But the rest of his consciousness was consumed—by the softness of her lips and the deceptively delicate way they parted under his. Inviting him in to be devoured. Her tongue met and twined with his, sending every drop of blood in his veins to his groin. He slid his hands under her jacket and gripped her hips, dragging her against him.
Her arms tightened around his neck, and he saw fucking stars when her breasts pressed against his chest. She moaned or whimpered, and enchanted him.
The sidewalk under his feet, the one he knew by heart, shifted, and he was no longer sure what was ground and what was sky. She was consuming him in ways he’d never experienced.
When her fingers dove into his hair and gripped, he threw aside any attempt at controlling himself. She tasted like dark beer and mysteries. He didn’t know exactly how—if she had led and he’d followed or vice versa—but suddenly Maggie’s back was pushed up against the front wall of Angela’s Butcher Shop. And then his hands were slipping under the softness of her sweater to find the heat of her skin beneath.
She breathed out another whimper when his fingers coasted higher, thumbs and index fingers finding the edge of her bra. Her flesh pebbled under his touch, and the tremor that ran through her body made him feel like a wild man.
They were nothing but breath and touch. Need. Want.
The flavor of her filled his senses. Drove him a little crazy.
Crazy enough to forget that they were standing on the street in full view of most of downtown Kinship.
A car horn followed by a cheerful “Get a room, Wright!” dragged him back to the present.