AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Jesse had the scratches and bite marks to prove otherwise, but he didn’t argue the point. Instead, he pulled on the jean jacket—mostly for protection—and reached for the kitten. She yowled and hissed, but only succeeded in scratching him once before he tucked her into his arm. “Nice meeting you, Ms. Mimi.”
“Nice meeting you, Jesse. You need to come back for supper before you go. How’s tomorrow night sound?”
He could tell by the looks on Liberty’s and Hank’s faces that the invitation wasn’t being issued by all the Holidays. “Thank you, but—”
“No buts. We’ll see you tomorrow around five,” Darla said. “Why don’t you show our guest out, Libby?”
Once on the porch, Liberty shot him a mean look.
Talk about feisty. But he couldn’t help laughing.
“I’m not coming to dinner tomorrow. So you can get that scowl off your face.”
It remained. But it turned out it wasn’t about the dinner invitation.
“I hope you didn’t get the wrong idea about the kiss,” she said.
“And what idea would that be?”
“That I’m interested in you. The kiss had nothing to do with you.”
He should have left it at that and hightailed it out of there. He had made up his mind that any further interaction with Liberty was a bad idea. But bad idea or not, he couldn’t leave without knowing.
“What did it have to do with?”
“Believe me, I don’t have a clue. You are not the type of man I’m attracted to.”
That stung. “Really? And exactly what type of man lights your fire, Libby Lou?”
“Not you. That’s for sure. And would you stop calling me that?”
“I can’t help it. It just sorta, involuntarily, rolls off my tongue.”
Her gaze flashed down to his mouth and her lips parted on a soft exhalation like she was having wicked thoughts about his tongue. When she lifted her gaze, her green eyes were lit with fire. A fire that completely incinerated him. He forgot all about the promise he made to himself to stay the hell away from Liberty Holiday. With the hand that wasn’t cradling the daughter of Satan, he reached out and hooked his thumb into a belt loop on Liberty’s jean shorts and tugged her closer.
“So I don’t light your fire? ’Cause you look pretty hot right now, darlin’.”
She hooked her arms over his shoulders, her fingers threading through the hair at the nape of his neck. A tremor ran through him. “You look pretty hot yourself, darlin’.”
“Burning up,” he whispered right before he lowered his head and kissed her. Just like before, his mind went blank and all he could do was feel. The softness of her lips. The welcoming heat of her mouth. The wicked brush of her tongue as it danced with his in a hot tango that left him breathless and wanting more.
But as mindless as she made him, he had enough sense left to realize he couldn’t take more on the front porch with her entire family—including her shotgun-toting daddy—only feet away.
Still, it took every ounce of willpower he had to pull away from those lush lips.
They were both breathing like they’d just finished a marathon. He was sure his eyes looked as lust filled as hers did. Before he gave in to those eyes and kissed her again, he stepped back and tried to put things into perspective.
“Obviously, we both light each other’s fires. But considering the business side of things, I don’t think it would be a good idea to let that fire burn.”
The lust drained right out of those green eyes and they narrowed. “Let that fire burn? Exactly what fire are you talking about? Because if you think I’d have sex with you, you have another think coming. We might have kissed a couple times, but don’t you dare be thinkin’ I want to roll around in the sheets with you, Rodeo Man. Whatever it was that just happened had nothing to do with attraction and everything to do with boredom.”
Damn, the woman knew exactly what to say to piss him off. “Boredom?”
She smiled smugly. “Exactly. You were just a fun little distraction. A distraction I’m over. So run along, darlin’.” She flapped a hand like she was swatting a fly away. “You’ve overstayed your welcome.”
For a moment, he had to fight the overwhelming desire to pull her back into his arms and prove her wrong. But that would contradict his entire previous speech. So he turned and headed for his truck. Once he’d climbed in and settled Tay-Tay in the passenger’s seat—with only one nip—he reached for the key in the ignition. But before he could start the engine, Liberty stepped out in front of the truck. With her green eyes blazing and her ebony hair blowing in the stiff breeze, she looked like a pissed-off banshee.
Damn, she turned him on.
