Jagger snorted again.“I’m sure she did.I would have paid good money to see that.”
Lennox squeezed my elbow and tilted his head to the side.“Can we go outside and talk for a sec?”
Fear ran cold and hurried steps through me.Was he breaking things off?
Nodding, I finished my wine for some liquid courage, and we excused ourselves, stepping out into the warm evening breeze.He laced his fingers through mine as we aimlessly wandered off toward my cottage, the walkway lit up with strings of solar lights to guide the way.
He wouldn’t hold my hand if he planned to break up with me, right?I was just paranoid.A total noob at this dating thing, and expecting every “talk” to be the “last talk.”I needed to give the guy a bit more credit.Clearly something was bugging him and he just wanted to speak about it in private.
I told my nerves to calm down and let him explain.
“Dawn called me yesterday,” he said, after a couple of minutes of just the frogs, crickets, and our shoes on the gravel filling the silent space between us.
“Everything okay?”
“Kyla has moved out of Florida.”
Oh shit.
“What does that mean?”
“Apparently, she was unable to get a job in Tallahassee.Her sister in Cedar Bluff, Alabama, runs a salon and offered Kyla a place to live and work.So she’s moving to Cedar Bluff.She’ll get a new PO and have to report to them.Dawn is worried that Kyla being out of state will make it tougher for us to keep tabs on her.Dawn had a good relationship with Kyla’s current PO.She has a lot of contacts in the justice system and knows who to call to get information.Those connections don’t extend outside of Florida though.”
“You think she’ll stay in Cedar Bluff?”
“I have no idea.”He raked his free hand through his hair, causing his biceps to bulge beneath his black T-shirt.His sigh held all kinds of worry, and I was sure he wasn’t sleeping very well knowing his abuser and the mother of his child was out there in the world.“I actively triednotto get to know this woman during the seven years she … Anyway, I have no clue how her mind works.”
“Right.That’s fair.Does Mabel know?”
He bobbed his head.“She’s stressed.Another reason why she didn’t want to come out tonight.She was pretty dysregulated after the farmers market.And now the news about Kyla.She’s been in her room since we got home earlier today.”
“Poor kiddo.”
His smile was small and grim.“She said she had a nice time with Damon though.Was impressed that he also thinks about lichen.”
We both chuckled, softening the tension that seemed to have strung itself up between us without detection.
I hadn’t even been paying attention, but he’d backed me up against a tree, and now loomed over me, his arm above my head, eyes staring into mine.“I had a nice time the other night.”
“So did I,” I whispered.
“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about … all of it.About the noises you make when you come.”
Heat flooded my cheeks, and I glanced away.
His finger under my chin brought me back, and I glanced up at him again.“Or the way you taste.I’m really glad that the first woman I ever got to taste was you.”His lips twisted ruefully.“There’s a problem though.”
Panic quickly replaced all feelings of lust inside me.
“Now that I’ve had a taste … it’s all I can think about.It’s all I want.”
I blinked up at him.“You are giving me whiplash right now.”
Smiling even wider, he closed the gap between our faces and went in for a kiss, pinning me to the tree beneath the twinkling lights overhead.It was honestly something out of a romance book, or movie, or something.I was lightheaded and giddy, and those lusty feelings were back in full force, propelling me to wrap my arms around his neck.
His hands found my back, and he hauled me against him, deepening the kiss.
Our breathing became ragged as we started to grind against each other, moaning and letting our hands roam.He pressed his pelvis against me and I could easily feel his arousal on my inner thigh.Boldly, I reached down between us and stroked it.
