Page 46 of His Brown-Eyed Girl

Lucas followed Tara out. Once they reached the front porch, she turned and pressed her hands against Lucas’s chest. “I’m sorry we got interrupted.”

Lucas removed her hands, ignoring the narrowing of her eyes at his move. “Look, Tara, I’m leaving in a few days, and I don’t think it’s such a good idea to proceed with what you were about to suggest.”

“Why not? I’m not asking you for anything but a good time. I’m too old and too busy to beat around the bush, Lucas. I want you… with no strings attached.”

He curled his hands around hers, trying for friendly and not encouraging. “I appreciate your bluntness, but it’s not that easy.”

She cocked her head. “Is this about that woman in there?”

“In where?” He played dumb.

“Don’t play dumb with me. That Abby woman. I saw you looking at her.”

“Addy?”

“Yeah, whatever. Addy. Surely you’re not into her?” Her voice sounded incredulous.

“I’m not into anyone right now.” Now he out and out lied. He was “into” Addy. Even if nothing would happen.

At that Tara smiled. “Are you gay?”

“No.”

“Then why would a healthy, single male turn down a little afternoon delight with a woman who wants nothing more than a ride on a cowboy. Unless you don’t find me attractive?” Her voice faded with the last question as if she feared the answer.

“You’re a beautiful woman, and I’m sure most men would punch me in the face for being so stupid as to not take you up on your very appealing offer, but…” He tried to finish the sentence but couldn’t come up with a reason that didn’t sound, well, stupid. Maybe he should take her up on her offer. No strings attached sex with a hungry woman. It was most men’s dream. Hell, maybe a week ago, he’d already have her on her back, knees around his hips. But something inside him balked, and he listened to his gut on this one.

“Look, I’m not begging,” Tara said, pushing back from him and lifting a shoulder. “Enjoy the spaghetti.”

“I’m sorry.”

Tara turned, grabbed the front of his shirt, and tugged his head down to hers. “You should be.”

It was a good kiss, soft then intense with a little tongue. Tara knew how to kiss and his body reacted, his mouth softening beneath hers, his body tightening in response.

She broke the kiss and smiled, satisfaction gleaming in her blue eyes.

“Thought you should know what you’re missing, cowboy. Bye.”

Tara turned and tripped down the porch steps, her heels ratta-tatting a cadence of regret.

Lucas swiped a hand over his mouth, opened the door, and walked back into the house, wishing it had been Addy who’d kissed him.

A kiss from Addy would probably make the whole trip to New Orleans worthwhile.

Addy laid the book across her chest and sighed. Sheriff Cade McGarrity was in the process of seducing uptight spinster Sophie, and Addy couldn’t stop picturing Lucas’s face on the tough façade of the fictional lawman.

Insanity felt very real at that moment.

She picked up the book, determined to put the man next door out of her mind so she could enjoy the new read. Glomming spicy romance was her secret addiction. Some women hid chocolate in their desk drawers, some wore lacy lingerie beneath their power suits, but Addy liked to read about brooding knights, race car drivers, and steamboat captains with wicked smiles and big packages to satisfy the trembling young heroine. Something about passion on the page allowed the wildness inside her to find a safe home. She had stacks of steamy romance in her bedside drawer and hundreds more in her Nook library.

Her eyes refocused on the story of the injured sheriff taking refuge in the school marm’s clapboard house who was about to slip Miss Sophie out of her nightgown, but she couldn’t focus. Why did she keep imagining her and Lucas in place of Sophie and Cade? The past two nights it had been the same. She should have stuck with the damn king of the desert. No way the world of harems and forbidden love could evoke images of the big man stomping around in cowboy boots feeding hamsters and cradling a three-year-old. King Omar Asseff was dark and cunning, a veritable satyr with smooth words and a big manhood.

So why had she traded dark and horny for a man in boots?

Oh, she knew why.

She was stupid.

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