the grass, but she hadn’t been experienced enough to know what she wanted to do.
Now, she definitely knew what she wanted to do.
She wanted to undress him, slowly undoing the buttons of his shirt, then the fly of his pants. She wanted to see him stretched out on the bed, his clothes half-on and half-off, exposing his chest and abs. She wanted to trace the hard planes of his chest and stomach with her tongue. Then she wanted to lean over him and tease him with her hands and mouth on his cock while she watched his face. She wanted to see his eyes heat; she wanted to see his chest rising and falling as his breathing grew ragged; she wanted to hear him saying her name, begging, needing her.
Jake tore his mouth from hers and stood staring at her for a long moment. “There’s a difference between your lipstick being smudged and your clothes being ripped from your body.”
That voice—the gravelly, turned-on voice that said she’d managed to get him going, too—she also really liked that.
She focused on his mouth again and started to lean in.
He put both hands on her shoulders. And pushed her back.
“Whoa, hang on.” He gave a little chuckle. “What’s gotten into you?”
She blinked and shook her head. Then blinked again and made herself focus on his face. What had gotten into her?
Him looking for a puppy. And ham salad.
Apparently.
“Nothing.” She cleared her throat. “Nothing. I’m fine.”
“That was a hell of a kiss.”
That was a hell of an understatement.
She smoothed the front of her dress, pressed her lips together, and cleared her throat again. “I don’t know what you mean. It was a kiss. Like all the others you’ve forced on me over the years.”
She started to step away from the building, but Jake’s hand went to the bricks behind her again, his arm blocking her way. “Uh, no. That was not like all the others.”
How did he know? How could he possibly feel the difference? Sure, most of the other times their kisses had been spontaneous, and shorter than this one. But there was no way he could tell that this time she liked him.
Deep down, she supposed part of her must have always liked him. She’d admired him, for sure. She’d been attracted without question. But she’d never let herself admit that she liked him.
She didn’t want to like him.
He took his family for granted; gave his energy, time, talents, and money to other towns; and had a tendency to butt in—to conversations, projects, even cleanup efforts—without an invitation, assuming everyone would be thrilled he was there.
But everyone was always thrilled he was there.
“We should get inside,” she said, attempting to push his arm out of the way. Avoiding private time with him was a very good plan.
“Yep, in a minute. As soon as you tell me what was going through your pretty head during that kiss.”
She licked her lips. She could make something up. Tell him she’d been thinking about what scent car freshener she wanted to try next. Something to put him in his place. Because there was no way she was going to tell him that she liked him.
Or she could tell him part of the truth.
“I was thinking about pushing you down on a bed, stripping you bare, and licking you all over.”
If turning him on was fun, shutting him up was almost better.
He stood gaping at her, his expression a funny mix of surprise, amusement, and lust.
She ducked under his arm and made it all the way to the front door before he caught her.
He grabbed her arm. “A—”
She looked over her shoulder. “We should go in.”
He pulled in a breath through his nose. “Fine. But we’re going to talk about the licking thing later.”
A tingle raced through her. Sleeping with him again was a bad idea. Licking him all over was a very bad idea. She’d never recover.
“We’ll see.” She started to pull the door open.
“If you don’t promise to talk to me about it later, I’m going to bring it up inside this bar. With an audience.”
She closed her eyes. He would. Of course he would.
“Fine.”
“Great.” He reached past her, pulled the door open, and escorted her through it like a perfect gentleman.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The place was packed.
“Jake!” A collective greeting went up as they stepped through the door.
“Hey, everyone,” Jake said good-naturedly with a big smile. He hardly seemed surprised by the enthusiastic welcome.
Avery was sure he wasn’t surprised. This was probably typical for him. She