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Lawson threw an arm around my shoulders and pulled me into his side, pressing his lips to my hair. We hadn’t kissed since I’d kissed him last Wednesday, not even at the end of our date. But he’d started giving me light kisses on the head, the forehead, the hand. And I liked it almost as much as I liked the way it felt to have his arm around my shoulders. “Come on, Pippie.”
I leaned into him, surprised at how natural it felt to be tucked into his side. “Where are we going?”
His lips at my ear, he whispered, “I haven’t had your lips in almost a week. I thought I could wait till after dinner, but I was wrong.”
I shivered as his fingers trailed down my arm and threaded through mine. He dragged me down the short hall to the guest bedroom. He didn’t turn the knob to open the door, though. Instead, he pressed my back against the frame and got so close that his body was flush with mine.
“You forgive me for helping you out, right?” he asked, his whiskey eyes blazing just a moment before his lips ghosted across my neck.
I wove my fingers through his hair as his tongue licked the hollow behind my ear. “I’m going to pay you back,” I murmured.
“The hell you will,” he growled, pulling my earlobe between his teeth. My nipples peaked as his teeth clamped down.
“You have to let me.” I tried to argue, but his lips crashing into my own stopped me from protesting any further.
Lawson finally turned the knob on the door and we stumbled in before he kicked it shut behind us. One hand on the small of my back, the other was holding my head in place by my hair when he abruptly pulled away from me.
“What the fuck are you doing in here?” he barked, the hand in my hair flexing.
I whirled around and came face-to-face with Smith. Immediately, my cheeks heated, knowing he had just laid witness to what was going on between Lawson and me.
“Smith, uh…” I said lamely, unable to formulate an intelligent sentence. I wasn’t sure if it was because Lawson’s tongue had just been working my mouth so expertly or if it was the shock of being caught in the act.
Smith’s own cheeks were red, his eyes wide. “I’m sorry, I was just trying to find the bathroom,” he mumbled, his eyes darting between where I stood still wrapped in Lawson’s arms and the door.
“The bathroom?” Lawson growled. “How long does it take you to figure out that most bathrooms don’t have king-sized beds in them?”
My head whipped back in his direction. “Lawson!” I squawked. “You don’t have to be a jerk.”
Turning back to where Smith still stood frozen, I stepped out of Lawson’s grasp. “There’s a bathroom attached to the bedroom actually.” I pointed at one of the doors in the far corner of the room.
Smith let out an audible breath and then dipped forward at the waist. “Sorry to, uh, have been an interruption.” He didn’t say anything more, just quickly darted through the door that led to the bathroom, closing it soundly behind him.
The moment between Lawson and I was ruined, no matter how badly I wanted to continue kissing him, so I groaned. “Guess we should get back to dessert.” I whined and turned into him.
It was when I tipped my head back that I noticed his expression. “What is it?”
He didn’t meet my gaze as he scanned the room. “Something about that wasn’t right.”
I tilted my head to one side, trying to get a read on him. “Something about what?”
“Smith’s b
een here before. He should have known this wasn’t a bathroom.” He finally stopped scanning the room like 007 and his line of vision landed on the bed where my purse was lying, along with Georgia’s ridiculously oversized purse. Her hat that was probably not intended for Sunday dinner, but instead the Kentucky derby was lying off to one side. The man purse Hampton insisted was a book bag was strewn haphazardly across the hat.
I pulled on Lawson’s shirt hem and stood on my toes, nuzzling my nose against his. “Give Smith a break. You’re too hard on him.”
His head jerked back as his mouth twisted in a grimace. “You’re telling me to give him a break?”
I pressed my lips together and nodded. “Trust me, no one was more shocked and upset than I was when Ham announced he’d married the guy. But they’re good together. Smith is good for him.” I shrugged away the twinge of sadness that I’d been replaced. “Hampton deserves that, don’t you think?”
“I don’t know if Smith is good for him. But you’re right. My kid brother does deserve to finally find some happiness.”
I wrapped my arms around his waist. “How do you feel right now?”
His brow creased and I elaborated. “What do you feel like inside, with my arms around you and my lips only centimeters from yours?”
His breath was hot against my lips as he answered, “Pretty damn good.”
