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I smile again, this time wider, when I see an identical purple bobcat tucked against her pillow.
Minutes later, Grady and I meet in the hall, pulling each bedroom door closed.
The house is freakishly still now.
The electricity outside feels minuscule compared to the invisible tension crackling across the hall between us.
Even every breath feels loaded, dense as ozone.
Giddy with excitement, I take the hand he holds out to me so fast it makes me blush.
“So, question. Is your bar named after two little stuffed purple bobcats?” I ask him with a knowing wink.
He chuckles. “Guilty. They’ve had them since they were born. It was either the Purple Bobcat, or Bobbie, and the second one’s not the vibe I’m going for.”
I laugh. “Good choice. What is your vibe, anyway?”
His lips quirk up in a smile and I’m drowning in brown-eyed amusement.
“The bar was a different place before I bought it. More of a lawless biker dive than anything else, it was called The Den back when old Wylie McGill owned it. The dude even kept a shotgun behind the bar to break up knife fights.”
“Holy crap.”
My eyebrows shoot up.
“Yeah. When I finally scraped together the cash for the sale and knew he wanted to retire, I set out to do away with that crap. This town needs more places where friends and families can get together without having to worry about anybody losing an eye or having their car broken into while it’s parked out back. So I gave it a new name, a makeover, a mess of antique signs and silly jokes, and made it the kinda place anybody could like. I gave Dallas a new happy place.”
My heart swoons a little harder, hearing his passion and care for his people.
They’re not just detached clients keeping him afloat financially.
The way Grady talks, it’s clear he treats everyone like one big extended family.
He stops near the staircase then, and I sense his hesitation.
If I weren’t having a secret conniption fit myself, I’d be over the moon at the thought of Grady being nervous around me.
But here we are.
Smack-dab in the middle of now or never.
His bedroom is down the hall...or do we go downstairs to mine?
I don’t have a preference, but with the girls so close, I think my room might be the better choice.
With a grin, he lifts my hand, kisses it, and then starts down the stairs. We don’t stop on the main floor like I expect, though, but go all the way to the basement.
In his man cave, I ask, “We’re not here to watch the cameras, right?”
We’d better not be.
“Fuck no,” he growls, a hot second before his mouth attacks mine again with the force of a stampede.
His kiss might literally leave marks and I want it.
I give it back like I’m starving because oh, hell, yes, I am.
So completely, so thoroughly, so drunkenly enchanted by his lips I can barely think when he breaks away.
Every inch of my skin hums with electricity.
He hollows me out and fills me with his own aggressive strongman energy with every kiss, leaving me ringing down to my toes.
Taking hold of my hand again, he leads me across the room to the futon that he flips flat with the toe of one foot.
“Bruce won’t hear you scream from down here,” he whispers, lifting a brow.
Oh, crap.
I laugh and run my hands over his chest. He’s so ripped, so hard and enticing, I shudder.
“That sure, huh? You’re going to make me scream?” I bite my bottom lip.
“Only for more,” he rumbles, kissing me again.
“Big promises,” I tease, sliding my hands under his shirt.
“Promises I’ll keep.” He cups one of my breasts with one massive hand, teasing my nipple through the dress. “When you opened your bedroom door wearing this, I got hard as fucking steel, and I still am. You’ve been pure torment all evening.”
“Oh?” It’s a half question, half moan, because I love the way he’s pinching my nipple.
“Yeah. When the sun was coming through the windows behind you, your dress looked translucent.” He cups my other breast and slays me with his pressure. “I could see two dark, pert little nipples right through it. Knew I’d have to taste them, darling. Fuckin’ knew.”
His face dips down and his tongue licks my left nipple, sucking it against his mouth through my dress.
Sweet hell.
I’ve never felt anything so amazing.
I...I think if he keeps this up, I might just explode still standing.
God.
Trying to downplay just how badly I want him to keep at it, I whisper, “Didn’t know my dress was see through.”
“I figured. You prance around like you’ve got no damn clue what you do to me. High time you found out,” he snarls, releasing my nip—just long enough to grasp the hem of my dress and yank it over my head.
In one fell swoop, I’m practically naked in front of him and flushed beet-red.
