AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I can’t deny it,” he said. “I do get a real kick out of you.”
She glared at him. “And just what is so funny?”
He studied her for a long moment before he spoke. “You’re like one of those Screaming Whizzer fireworks. You know, the ones you get on Fourth of July that spin on the ground erratically and make everyone scatter like quail out of a thicket. Even though you’re scared to death they’re going to land on you and catch you on fire, you can’t help laughing as you dodge out of their way. They’re terrifying but make you smile all at the same time.”
Liberty didn’t know if she’d just been insulted or complimented.
He clarified with an annoying grin.
“In case you’re wondering, that was a compliment. Screaming Whizzers were my favorite fireworks growing up. In high school, I once traded a 1957 Chevy truck for three cases of them. Something Billy wanted to bust my britches for.”
“Who’s Billy?”
“My adoptive daddy.”
Liberty had known quite a few adopted people over the years. Most had great stories to tell about their adoptive parents, but there were a couple that hadn’t had such a good experience. It sounded like Jesse was the latter.
“Did Billy bust your britches often?”
Jesse’s eyebrows lifted. “Is that wrinkle of concern between your brows for me, darlin’?”
“Don’t be an arrogant jerk. It was just a question.”
“So you don’t care that I was beaten on a regular basis as a kid?”
Her heart tightened at the thought of a child, any child, being beaten. Children were a gift. A gift some people would never experience. Therefore, they should be cherished.
No wonder Jesse was a drifter who only worried about himself. He’d spent his childhood in fear. She started to say she was sorry—not just for his horrible childhood, but also for being so judgmental of him—when he grinned.
“Just kiddin’. Billy and Shirlene never raised a hand to us and were the best adoptive parents a boy could ask for.”
“You jerk!” She jumped up and shoved him. Most of his weight must have been on the back of the hay bale because it started to tip. She might not like him, but she didn’t want him cracking open his head on the hard cement floor either. She quickly reached out and grabbed on to his shirt to keep him from falling. Unfortunately, she misjudged his weight and her strength because he pulled her right along with him.
He landed with a grunt on his back and she landed on top of him. Both their legs rested on the hay bale, which pushed their bodies even closer together. Liberty could feel the inhalation of his breath and the thumping of his heart. She could feel the hardness of his chest and every other hard muscle . . . including the one beneath his fly.
The feeling that shot through her completely took her by surprise. Successful professionals, elite Houston athletes, and wealthy business owners had pursued her, but not one of them had elicited a spark of sexual awareness. And yet, this arrogant rodeo-roping drifter had caused an entire case of Screaming Whizzers to go off inside her.
She lifted her head, hoping his cocky smile would remind her body exactly the type of man she was squashed against. But Jesse wasn’t wearing a cocky smile. His lips were parted as if he was struggling to breathe and his soft brown eyes didn’t hold a twinkle of devilish delight. Instead, they held steamy heat. Steamy heat that kicked up her sexual awareness to pure sexual need.
When Liberty needed something, she always went about getting it.
Chapter Six
At the first touch of Liberty’s lips, Jesse completely lost the tight reins he’d been holding on his desire and it raced through him like a calf out of a roping chute. He wanted this woman like he had never wanted a woman before in his life. He actually shook from the potent need that coursed through his veins when she deepened the kiss and offered him the sweet heat of her mouth.
She tasted like cinnamon and apples. It was comforting and at the same time hot as hell. He’d had his fair share of kisses, but none of them had made him feel like this. The other kisses had just been necessary foreplay. He’d enjoyed them, but could have easily done without them and gotten straight to the main event.
But this kiss . . . this kiss was different.
Yes, he wanted sex. Since seeing her shorts playing peekaboo with one curvy butt cheek, he’d been living with a semi hard-on. Now it was a straining full-out erection begging for release. Usually, his brain would be trying to figure out the fastest way to get the woman’s clothes off and get that release.
But with Liberty, his brain wasn’t working on that plan. It wasn’t working at all. His mind was completely blank as he just enjoyed. Enjoyed the way her breasts felt snugged against his chest. Enjoyed the way her fingers felt threaded through his hair. Enjoyed the way her lips and tongue felt brushing his. He didn’t care about what came next. All he cared about was this kiss.
This amazing, heart-stopping, mind-stealing kiss.
“When I asked you to show Jesse around, Libby Lou, this wasn’t quite what I had in mind.”
At her grandmother’s words, Liberty pulled back and stared at him in stunned disbelief for a second before she scrambled off him and turned to Mimi, who was standing in the doorway of the stall with a knowing twinkle in her eyes and the same smirk she’d had before.
