he said. Leaning forward, his mouth settled on mine.
He tasted like sugar and spice and I decided that getting a funnel cake had been the Best Idea Ever. He was straddling the picnic bench and now slid closer to me, pulling me between his spread thighs.
The kiss was slow and languid as though we were alone, the sun warm on my hair and shoulders. His hand cradled my jaw, slipping underneath my hair to cup the back of my neck. I suddenly had the thought that I might be sweaty—it was a little warm—but then he did something different with his tongue and my concern drifted away. The man had a talented tongue.
“You and a funnel cake is dangerous territory,” he murmured in my ear.
The heat of his breath and touch of his lips made a shiver run down my spine, which I knew he felt because his lips curved in a smile that could only be described as satisfied. On any other man, it would’ve looked incredibly arrogant, but Ryker could pull it off.
His hand was on my bare thigh, his thumb lightly brushing my skin, while my blood thundered in my ears. The slow seduction thing was working almost too well.
“I thought you promised me a tractor pull and Ferris wheel?” I asked, taking a swig of the cold beer he’d bought me. Ugh. Beer and powdered sugar did not mix.
“So I did,” he said, getting to his feet. I stood as well, dusting powdered sugar from my shirt. “Tractor pull doesn’t start until seven, so Ferris wheel first.”
The air between us seemed charged with sexual tension and promise, the anticipation a prelude to what I hoped would be a night I wouldn’t soon forget.
We stood in line for the Ferris wheel while the sun went down, talking and laughing as he teased me. His hands cradled my hips as he stood behind me, his chest pressed against my back. He was whispering something in my ear about where else he’d be happy to lick powdered sugar off me when I caught a woman staring at us, a disapproving frown on her face.
I cleared my throat, my face getting hot, and stepped forward to put a little space between Ryker and me. Maybe it was the bruises still on my face that she was looking at. Sunglasses hid most of the lingering marks, but those had been put away when dusk had fallen. I turned my face away, but could see out of the corner of my eye that the woman still stared at us.
It must have caught Ryker’s attention, too, because he leaned down to say to me, “Don’t worry about it. She’s just a little uptight.”
Maybe. But I didn’t like getting public attention for all the wrong reasons, so I kept my distance from Ryker.
“You two look good together,” the woman said, surprising me. Her eyes were a bit bloodshot and I had the feeling she’d been visiting the beer garden often today. “You are together, right?”
Awkward.
We weren’t officially dating, but we were on a date, I supposed. I opened my mouth to say no, we were just having fun, when Ryker piped in with, “You bet.”
“I knew it,” the lady said, smiling with satisfaction. “I’m a bit psychic. I know these things.”
My eyebrows flew up and I struggled to hide a grin. Psychic, eh?
“You are?” Ryker said, and I could tell by his tone that he was amused and humoring her. “Well, are you going to tell us our future then?”
She nodded. “I can see it. You’ll marry her. You two were meant to be together.”
Of course we were. I stopped myself from rolling my eyes, but just barely. Ryker had asked for it, so I had no sympathy for him that the lady was now predicting our future state of matrimony. He could just squirm.
“You see the future that clearly?” Ryker asked skeptically.
“I see it better if I can touch you,” she said, reaching toward me. It was quick and I didn’t have a chance to step back before she clutched my hand.
“I don’t really—” I began, but she was already talking.
“It’s not as clear now,” she said, looking past us into the distance at nothing. She frowned. “It was so clear with the two of you, but now if I just look at you, it gets fuzzy.”
Yeah. I bet it did. Good Lord, how much had this woman had to drink today? I tried tugging my hand away, but she held on tight.