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A few minutes later, we were on our way home with Daisy snoozing mostly peacefully in the backseat. Every now and then, she’d let out a little whimper, which broke my heart, but driving Mav’s giant truck required I have all my wits about me.
Needless to say, he hadn’t been interested in retrieving my “traveling eyesore” so I could drive my own vehicle.
“Sure you can even reach the pedals there, Pocket Plus?”
“I did just fine on the way over here, didn’t I?”
“Yeah. You did.” And I would never acknowledge the warm glow his praise gave me, even over something so ordinary.
“Why didn’t Christian give you a ticket?”
“He told me he’d caught the Chief in a similar position.”
“He sure did. That was the talk of the town winter before last. There was even a sex bet. Oh, hey. Another sex bet.” Evidently, we weren’t the only ones.
“The Chief made a sex bet with his fiancée? Before she was his fiancée, obviously.”
“Hedidn’t make it, the town did. They were supposedly ‘best friends.’” I did air quotes which made Mav growl for the two seconds my hands were off the wheel. My skin didn’t tingle at that rumble deep in his throat.
Absolutely not.
“So the town made a bet they were really having sex, and people took sides yes or no. They ended up splitting the pot somehow because Bee was the one who spilled the deets. Or something. I was never real clear on the details.”
“That bet still made more sense than the one I made with you.”
I didn’t argue. It was true.
“This town makes people nuts. Having sex here is basically a lifetime commitment unless you’re somehow under the right star or use six forms of birth control or have avoided the water since the beginning of time.” I felt marginally better when we turned off the winding dark road to the better lit Main Street of Crescent Cove. “I don’t blame you for trying to avoid doing the actual deed, not that me moving away would save your precious dick from being tempted.”
He braced his arm against the door and let out a long yawn. “No one’s tempted me other than you in so long. Except maybe your sister.”
I slammed on the brakes with a screech that nearly had Daisy tumbling off the backseat. “Excuse me?”
The jerk laughed. Actually laughed. “Not like that. Wow, you really think I’d poach on my brother’s girl?”
Tentatively, I put my foot on the gas again, after offering a disgruntled Daisy an apology and a quick stroke. It had to be quick because my arms weren’t long enough to easily reach her. “You tell me.”
“I wanted what he has. I guess I still do.” He yawned again and dropped his head back against the headrest. “For a few days, I kind of thought Tab must be the keeper of that slice of nirvana, because he’d never been about that life before her. But then I realized that it wasn’t about her. It was about Tab and Brady and them being the right fit for each other. Not every key fits every lock. It’s not meant to.” He turned his head toward me on the seat, those dark entrancing eyes seducing me without words all over again. “I always did like playing with fire. Playing it safe isn’t my speed.”
I inhaled shakily and tried to focus on the road ahead. It was late and a fine misty rain had started, obscuring the road just enough that it took all my focus. I was tired and stressed and confused as hell.
My traitorous body kept offering up distracting signals that I had an extremely attractive man beside me in this truck, and if I wanted to, I could pounce on him again. Maybe even explore his body at my leisure.
But we still did not have condoms. And taking a chance again put things into another realm.
“So Christian was actually nice? Is that what you’re saying?
“Nice diversion,” he said dryly.
“You’re tired. Who knows what you’ll say before you get some sleep?”
“You do have a point.” His hand crept across the space between us and he gripped my thigh. “Say you’ll sleep with me tonight.”
I smacked his hand and the asshole just laughed. Worse, it was that low, deep, melted molasses laugh that did obnoxious things to my heart rate, and I suspected he knew it. “Hello, we still have no adequate protection. How do you keep forgetting that?”
Did you not hear the man? He wants what Brady has. He wanted Tabitha, but she was taken, so backup Vanessa will do.
Before he could reply, my mouth buried me deeper. “If you think you’re going to use me for some breeding kink you’ve developed, tough cookies, pal.”
