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Ten minutes later, the two sat on his couch finishing their warm beers from earlier.
Ryan stretched his arm out behind her and curled one of the loose strands of her hair around his finger. “You never said what brought you to the great state of Arizona.”
“My job. You know the new upscale outdoor mall going up?”
Ryan nodded. He knew it well. It was the latest project for his family’s company, and he was actually site foreman.
“I’m going to be the manager at one of the new stores. Bagley. It’s a store that sells all the high end purses and other accessories.”
Retail hell. No. Thank. You. He’d take working outside and manual labor any day of the week over dealing with customers, especially the kind he imagined shopped at that store. He finished off his beer and glanced at her. A certain level of confidence was required to pick up and move across the country on your own. More so being a female.
Jess shifted sideways, and tucked one foot under her. “I think you get another upgrade.”
His brows drew together.
“From acquaintance to friend,” she said, answering his unspoken question. “My first here.”
Friend? A simple word that came accompanied with a contradicting mix of optimism and dissatisfaction. Baffled, but refusing to dwell, Ryan slid closer and leaned to kiss her shoulder. “We should celebrate this momentous occasion.”
Their faces were centimeters apart and the desire to kiss her ran strong. Jess licked her lips and it wasn’t missed by him when her gaze fluttered down to his crotch. His sweet, sweet Georgia peach wanted more.
“What do you have in mind?” she asked, her voice low and sultry.
“Peaches.”
She sat back and frowned. “You want peaches as a celebration?”
He shook his head. “No. That’s your new name. Peaches. I mean that’s what Georgia is all about right? And it fits. You are soft, sweet, and...”
Her hand covered his mouth and the V in her brow deepened. “If you are about to say juicy. Don’t. Because, really, ew.”
He reached up and wrapped his large hand around her wrist and placed a soft kiss to the inside. “I won’t say it even though...upstairs, you were certainly very...ready.” He winked and she wrinkled her nose in response, rolled her eyes, and pulled her hand free.
With a twist of her lips and a shrug of her shoulder she said, “Well, you may be slightly more arousing than Franco.”
Ryan jerked back. She had a boyfriend? What the hell? Or maybe an ex back home.
She covered her face and muttered about her runaway mouth. She was a peculiar one, and he liked her company. However, was not in the mood to deal with possible boyfriend drama. He’d had enough bullshit from the last chick to last a lifetime.
When she looked back up at him, she gave a small shrug. “He’s a vibrator.”
A weird sense of relief washed over him. He closed his eyes in a slow blink and shook his head.
“Not sure which is more shocking. The fact that you named your vibrator, or that you insulted me by saying I’m only slightly more arousing.” He winked before he pushed off the couch and gathered up both empty bottles. “I’m taking that as gauntlet thrown, which means I’ll have to work harder next time.”
Chapter Seven
Jess
“You took yo ass to the West Coast and turned floozy,” Monique said.
Hanging out with her friend was one of the biggest things Jess missed. That and her momma’s Sunday dinners. Jess shut her engine off and held the bud in her ear as she climbed out of her car.
She and Ryan had been doing whatever non-labeled thing they were doing for a week and a half. “I’m not a floozy, you hag. I swear there ain’t no pleasing you. Back home you wanted me to loosen up. Now I did, and I’m a floozy,” Jess joked.
After she maneuvered into her townhouse, she locked the door behind her and kicked her shoes off. The cool air caressed her skin. Her damned landlord had finally fixed the AC. It’d only taken him two weeks. He’d fed her some bull about all the companies being backed up; however, her threat a few days ago to withhold rent had certain
ly seemed to light a fire under his ass.
