Not Without Her Family. Beth Andrews
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he gave no indication he noticed.
“I’ll walk you out,” he said.
She shrugged and turned away but knew he was right behind her. When he laid a hand on the small of her back to guide her through the bar, she almost jumped out of her skin. The warmth of his fingers seeped through her shirt and a shiver rushed up her spine.
They stepped outside into the cool evening air and Jack dropped his hand. She immediately missed the contact.
“Where are you parked?” he asked.
“Over by that second light.” Kelsey dug her keys out of her purse. “Aren’t you worried about your reputation?”
“Not particularly. Why?”
“Well, everyone in the bar saw us leave together. What if they think we’re heading back to your place for a marathon round of wild jungle sex?”
She felt, more than saw, him glance at her. “They’ll think what they want,” he said after a long moment, “whether it’s true or not.”
“I’d rather not know a single soul than have everyone talking about me, knowing about my personal life.”
“Once you get used to it, a small town’s not so bad.”
“I know exactly what it’s like. The town I grew up in isn’t much bigger than Serenity Springs.”
“You don’t miss it?”
Miss everyone looking down their noses at her, knowing her every mistake? Hardly. “No. I’d rather be in New York. Look at all it has to offer. Starbucks. Krispy Kreme. Excitement. Variety.”
“There’s nothing about the city you don’t like?”
She could do without her supervisor, Eric, giving her the worst shifts at the club and cornering her every chance he got so he could rub his insignificant self against her. But she couldn’t blame that on the city. Just her own stupidity for breaking her “No sleeping with the boss” rule and getting involved with Eric in the first place.
She stopped beside her car, unlocked the door and faced Jack. “New York is the biggest, most exciting city in the world.” Which was absolutely true. Even if she did, at times, feel lost and alone. “What more could I want?”
JACK COULD THINK of something he wanted. And he wouldn’t have to go far to get it, either. A quarter of an inch, half an inch max, and he’d be able to capture her mouth with his. He didn’t move.
If he moved, he’d have to touch her. And touching her was the last thing he needed to do.
He fisted his hands. Kelsey remained motionless, her full lips tipped up in a half grin, her body trapped between him and the car.
He tamped down a surge of desire. “Serenity Springs is nice. Small. Quiet.”
“You mean boring.”
“The security of knowing your neighbors more than makes up for any perceived boredom. The predictability is comforting.”
“It’s comforting to you.”
He stuffed his hands in his front pockets. “I lived in New York. Nine years of crowds, pollution and, of course, the neverending crime.” He shook his head. “I’ll take small town any day.”
She leaned back against her car. “You’re forgetting all the good things about it. Dance clubs, museums, live theater. The bustle of the crowds.”
He snorted. “Homeless people. Worrying some lunatic is going to push you out in front of an oncoming train.”
“This town doesn’t even have a Chinese restaurant, which means no kung pao chicken or pot stickers. That’s just wrong. Not to mention un-American.”
He coughed to cover his laugh. Jack loved living here, but he knew not everyone did. A lot of people were biding their time until they could move on to better things.
Except he’d experienced the supposedly bigger and better and had found it to be neither. Besides, this was the best place to raise his daughter. She needed the security. They both did. And coming back here was what had gotten him through that first year without Nicole.
“It’s like you already said,” Kelsey continued, “you can’t do or say anything without the entire town knowing about it. Plus, they know exactly who and what you are. Even if you wanted to change, they won’t let you. What if you wanted to do something out of character? Cut loose?”
What he wanted was to nibble on her lower lip, to run his tongue over it before sucking it gently into his mouth.
And she knew it. He could see it in her eyes. The awareness.
He had to put her in her car and get the hell out of there. Before he did something totally stupid. “I don’t want to cut loose.” Maybe if he kept saying it, he’d start to believe it. “It’s getting late, you’d better go.”
Disappointment flickered in her eyes, but she straightened. “Right. Well, thanks for walking me to my car.”
He didn’t know why, but he couldn’t let her go. Not yet.
“Wait,” he said and she looked at him expectantly. “I’m not sure I trust you,” he told her.
Instead of being offended, she nodded. “Ditto.”
So why were they leaning in toward each other? Why couldn’t he stop himself from reaching for her, from placing his hands on her lower back and pulling her to him?
Her eyes widened, her pupils grew big, and though he gave her plenty of time to draw away from him, she didn’t. Their bodies met. Her hip pressed against his thigh. Heat spiraled through his body. Jack couldn’t seem to keep his hands still. He stroked her long back, moving under the edge of her shirt to caress the skin at the gentle curve of her waist.
Her skin was warm. And soft. He slowly dragged his hands up her arms and over her shoulders. She tipped her head back as he trailed his fingertips over the rise of her collarbone. Cupping her throat, he ran the rough pad of his thumb over her lower lip.
She trembled. He watched, transfixed by the movement of his thumb over that plump lip. The very tip of her tongue flicked against his skin. Dark, powerful lust punched him in the gut.
Fighting for control, he slid his hand around the back of her neck and tightened his free arm around her waist, pressing her intimately against him.
“You’re still leaving tomorrow, right?” he asked, his voice rough.
She stroked her cool fingers across the back of his neck. “First thing in the morning.”
Good. If she wasn’t going to stick around, he could appease his curiosity. He could satisfy his craving for her.
Then he’d be able to banish her from his thoughts.
“I can’t think of anything I’d rather do at this moment than kiss you,” he admitted.
“You don’t trust me,” she reminded him, her hands moving up his chest and linking behind his neck.
True, but that didn’t seem to matter. Not when his hands were on her and she was looking up at him, her eyes a dark, mossy green, her body pressed against his.
Promising himself just one quick taste of her, he fisted his hand in her short hair. Some part of his brain recognized how the fragrant strands slipped through his fingers like silk, but then he lowered his mouth to hers and stopped thinking altogether.
HEART POUNDING IN ANTICIPATION, Kelsey kept her eyes open and on Jack’s as he closed the distance separating them. He brushed his lips against her mouth. Once. Twice. Three times. Her eye fluttered shut when he settled his mouth on hers.
She sighed softly. Yes. This is what she’d wanted.
Contrary to the hunger that practically emanated from of him,