His Southern Temptation - By Robin Covington Page 0,49

Or make me understand why you can’t.”

She considered his question, trying to form her thoughts in a way that made sense of her jumbled emotions and fears. “If I stay, I feel like I’m just one of those girls who give up their free ride to follow a boy to college and then gets dumped when he finds a girl who puts out.”

“I already know you put out.”

“Funny guy. You should take it on the road.” She gripped his hand, gazing at the stars and making a wish to find the right answer. “I’ve done the research. Opening a spa business in this area is a very good idea. Your mother is hitting it at the right time. The money I would get from the sale of the house would be more than enough to cover my costs.”

“Good to know. What’s the catch?”

“I can’t wrap my head around staying here for a person. Disrupting all my plans for a person—for you.” She lifted his hand, pressing a kiss against his palm to ease the sting of her words. “You can’t base decisions like this on people. They let you down.”

“I never did. I never let you down.”

“That’s because we never expected much of each other.”

“Ouch.”

“It’s true. We’ve been about good times, hedonistic escapes from our lives. We were never about trust or depending on each other for our happiness.”

“We can be that way.” He shifted over, leaning up on one elbow to look down at her, the vehemence of his belief clear even in the gloom. “I want that from you. I want you to expect that from me. We deserve that kind of happiness.”

This was her moment to be honest with herself and with him. This was her time to dig deep and give him an answer, but she couldn’t form the words. Her research was solid—opening a business was always a calculated risk. The risk was in putting herself out there and becoming vulnerable to the hurt that only a lover could cause.

“I’ve been burned before. Bobby, other men I trusted and they let me down.” She touched his cheek, loving the tickle of his five o’clock shadow on her skin. “The number of people who happily stay together for the long term gets smaller and smaller every day.”

But her heart was whispering that it could be different with Lucky.

Determined to buy a little more time, she sat up and leaped off the tailgate of the truck. Walking over to the pier, Taylor dipped her toe into the water and shivered at the coolness of it in contrast to the heat of the summer night. She looked over to where Lucky was sitting on the tailgate, even from this distance his gaze devouring her with a desire that made her insides turn to goo.

Reaching up, she untied the halter top of her sundress and dropped it onto the pier. “Is it deep enough to swim?”

Lucky nodded, his eyes languidly traveling over her naked body. She loved how he looked at her. Turning, she jumped in and let the water wash away all the decisions and deadlines. When she broke the surface, she looked toward the truck.

Wait, where was Lucky?

The spot where he’d sat was now empty, a pile of clothes on the ground. Whipping her head around, she scanned the dark surface of the lake, looking for ripples, movement, any indication of where…

“Oh!”

His hand wrapped around her waist just as he surfaced behind her. Turning around, she shoved at him, splashing water in his face in laughing protest. He shook his head, flinging water over her, and tossed her a grin that lit up his whole face. And took her breath away.

Lucky gloated. “Gotcha! You should’ve seen your face.”

Taylor splashed him again and he ducked to avoid the spray. “You jerk! I could have drowned!”

He grabbed her close and pressed a kiss to her lips. “Liar. You swim like a fish.” His eyes lit up with mischief. “Besides, I’m a Marine. I can always give you mouth-to-mouth if I have to.”

Taylor lifted her hands up onto his shoulders, caressing the water-slick skin covering his broad muscles. Her fingers tangled in the wet hair at his nape, and he arched toward her touch while she inched her legs up his body to clasp his hips. “Mouth-to-mouth, huh?”

She leaned in until the warm puff of his breath touched her lips. His eyes flashed in triumph as his hands traveled up her back, which is when Taylor levered herself up and