Page 20 of His Texas Claim

“Change,” I ordered.

She rolled her eyes toward me. “Bossy.”

“Somebody has to be responsible here.”

She laughed and stood, then ducked behind a tree instead of into the tent. I changed by the fire, suddenly self-conscious about the fact I only had boxers on.

Good lord…I didn’t get like this.

Not with women. Not with anyone.

Bryn came back in the t-shirt and shorts, hair pulled loose around her shoulders, bare feet on the warm rock beside the pool.

“Better?” I asked.

“Dry, at least.” She sat back down on the boulder, facing me this time. “I really was fine.”

“How’s your ankle?”

She turned it to show me. It was red, but…she was okay. Looked good. She cast her eyes around the clearing, a smile tilting her lips.

“Mm…I love this time of night. Mosquitoes aren’t great, but they mean fireflies. It’s my favorite part of living in the States.”

“Don’t have fireflies in…wherever you’re from?”

She shook her head. “Dublin—and no. No fireflies in Ireland.”

“That’s a damn shame.”

“I thought so too. First time I saw one I screamed. Thought the yard was on fire.”

I let out a short laugh. “You did not.”

“You caught me,” she laughed too. “But wouldn’t it be funny if I did?”

“You’re too smart for that.”

She cocked an eyebrow. “Maybe I was trying to make myself approachable.”

I looked up at her from where I was crouched by the fire. “You want me to approach you?”

She shrugged one shoulder. “Didn’t think you were wearing your skivvies so you could stay all the way over there.”

I stood.

Closed the distance between us.

She didn’t move, just watched me come, firelight catching on her face. Dusk lit up the sky above the treeline in deep blue and indigo, the fireflies all around us, hovering over the water while the frogs sang and crickets chirped.

I knelt between her legs. “Smart girl.”

She let out this breathy moan. “Keep talking dirty to me like that and I’ll show you just how smart I can be.”

“You think that was dirty talk?”

“Sexy to me when a man likes my brain.”

My hands found her thighs, my fingers splaying out as I slid them up to rest just under her shorts.