Summer Love_ A Steamy Small Town Romance Anthology - Piper Rayne Page 0,71

after four years of engagement and almost eight years of dating Amberlynn before that, it was unlike anything I could remember.

I didn’t want to compare them. I loved Amberlynn, and I’d never cheated on her or given her any reason to doubt my devotion. But it had been a long time since that sizzling heat had danced in the air between us, and I wasn’t sure it had ever been anything like the frenzy inside me when Aubrey had slid onto my lap, those blue eyes meeting mine. Not to mention her lips.

We’d made out like teenagers in the hot water, and my body was coming to life as if it had been in hibernation until now.

I wasn’t going to consider questions of right or wrong. My innate loyalty to my hometown and the people I loved there weren’t part of this. I was a free man, I reminded myself. And Aubrey was a willing adult woman. The only person besides her that I should probably have been thinking about as I pulled on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt was Archie. And that was pretty simple, really. I didn’t want to.

The hallway outside our rooms was dark, as was the first floor of the hotel, something I imagined wouldn’t be the case when there were real guests staying here, but I could understand the desire to save on electricity for now. Still, the enormous lobby was murky, and I actually got turned around for a few minutes before finding my way outside.

The moon was high and full, and now that my eyes had become accustomed to the darkness, I found the trail behind the hotel easily, the worn earth bright against the darker ground around it. I moved quickly, some innate part of me acknowledging that I was a relatively defenseless human wandering alone in a place where predators probably roamed at night. I knew there would be mountain lions here, and possibly bears, and for a moment I found myself worrying about Aubrey. We should have come out together instead of meeting at the yurt. I hadn’t thought about it because, hell, I’d been here less than twenty-four hours.

But as I turned the last bend in the trail, I was greeted but a soft golden glow coming from one of the big domed tents, and Aubrey stood in the doorway. The light from behind her accentuated her figure, and she’d put on some kind of flowy little dress, leaving her athletic legs exposed. Desire shot through me again and I picked up my pace, practically sprinting the last few feet onto the deck.

Aubrey smiled at me, her blue eyes glowing in the low light on the deck. “Hi,” she said, taking my hand and pulling me through the entrance.

“Hi,” I managed, practically struck dumb by the way her hair fell in long waves over her shoulders, the way her pretty plump lips shone.

Her smile faded a bit, almost making her look shy, and that sent me over the edge. I tugged her hand toward me, sliding my other hand into that glorious hair and pulling her mouth toward mine. She must have pressed up onto her toes, because the pressure increased as our tongues teased and tangled, and then she pulled away. “We should close the door.”

I let her go reluctantly, but my earlier thoughts of lions was enough to fuel my patience as I watched her pull the door flap shut and secure the big zipper around its perimeter.

“Come here,” I said, when she turned and stood in front of the door, looking at me with what seemed like equal parts desire and uncertainty.

Her eyes dropped to the floor and she crossed the space to where I stood in front of the huge plush bed, and with every step, my desire for her increased. She was the perfect mix of sexy and shy, self-sufficient and soft. My body responded to her so completely it was almost painful to watch her approach—that was how badly I needed to touch her.

Still, she was my buddy’s little sister, and I’d hold myself back and let her guide us. There was no way I’d end tonight worrying that I might have taken advantage, or pushed her in a way she didn’t want to go.

She stopped before me, her long lashes fluttering as she looked up at me, that sexy smile back on her lips. “Did you know I had a crush on you when we lived in Maryland?”

For some reason,