Batter of Wits (Green Valley Chronicles #22) - Smartypants Romance Page 0,63
community center for another fair planning meeting.
When I pulled my truck into a spot by the building, I leaned my head back and sighed heavily, desperately hoping that Grace would arrive soon so I could steal a moment with her before sitting in front of the probing eyes of all the women around that table. My phone showed no text from her since that last one, the one she'd sent me when my cell was safely tucked away into my desk drawer, but I read it again to kill time.
Angry Girl: Now all I'll be able to think about at the meeting is what I could do to you in that amount of time. If you see me licking my lips … you know why.
I groaned. She was as dangerous as a grenade with the pin pulled. And I was the one who pulled it with eyes wide open, heedless of where it exploded.
A car pulled up next to me, and I sat up when I realized it was Fran and Grace. Francine nodded at me, a twinkle in her eye that had not been present the night before. I smiled, getting out of my truck as Grace exited the car and jogged in my direction.
After a quick glance around, I snatched her hand and pulled her around the corner of the building and behind a massive pine tree. The wide trunk blocked us from any cars that might have parked on the far edge of the lot, and I pressed her against the bark, taking her mouth in a deep, winding kiss that had her melting against me. She smelled like sunshine and apples and other things that made me feel insane and edgy with want.
Her fingers curled into the back of my neck, and her spine arched like a cat at the touch of my hand. Deep in her chest, I felt the vibration of her moan, a contented purring sound that had me pressing harder, clutching her tighter, like I could allow her to seep into my skin to see if that helped ease the ache that I had for her.
Around the corner, Francine coughed in a way that was obnoxiously obvious.
I pulled back and set my forehead on hers. "You should probably go in with her. Give me a minute to, you know, calm down."
"You seem to have had this affliction a lot recently." Grace grinned, and I dipped down to kiss the dimple that popped in her cheek to the right of her lips. I moved down to her jaw and throat. It seemed impossible that I'd ever get enough of her.
"All day. All night. Every minute since I walked out that door," I growled into the skin of her neck. "Go out on a date with me tonight, Pretty Girl?"
She ducked her head, the first truly bashful display I'd seen from her, and it was so incongruous with the Grace I was getting to know, that I had to stem a laugh.
"I'd love that."
"Anywhere in particular you want to try?"
Her hands smoothed down my neck and over my chest while she thought, and I realized that I was so used to letting someone else plan the things we do, that I probably could have handled that a bit better for our first date.
Grace shook her head. "I eat all the food. And all the desserts."
"That's what I like to hear."
"I don’t really know what restaurants you have in town," she paused and rubbed her lips together before she met my gaze, "so where do you want to go?"
Somewhere far, far away.
It was the very first thought that sprang into my head, and I hated myself for it. But I also couldn’t see a way around it. Grace’s experience at the Piggly Wiggly was a tiny preview of what would happen if I took her out on a date the day after I broke up with Magnolia.
The last thing I could even think about doing, so early into whatever this was, was tell her that my father’s business was hanging by an unsteady thread, simply because of my relationship choices. It wasn’t a weight that I wanted her to carry. If it meant adding a few more rocks onto my back, into a few slivers of space between my shoulders, I would do it.
“Maybe,” I said slowly, “maybe we should try somewhere in Maryville. Or Knoxville. Less eyes watching every move we make.”