The Ex Factor - Erin McCarthy Page 0,43
onto them and bury myself in you.”
Jolene’s eyebrows rose. “You sound so earnest. I think I believe you.”
“You should. I’m telling you, I have dreams about your body. If I could build a perfect woman, she’d look exactly like you.”
“Oh, really?” Jolene was eyeing him, looking curious and playful.
“She’d also be like you. An intelligent, feisty, sweet, talented woman. But we’re not talking right now. We’re rubbing on each other.”
“You want to rub?” she asked, her voice sexy and seductive. She moved her hips even more, rolling them so that she lightly ground up against him. “Let’s rub, Rivers.”
Making out for long periods of time wasn’t something they’d ever really done and now he wondered why the hell not? It was hotter than hell. It was a fully clothed embrace, mouths melding, as they breathed each other in and out, and relaxed into each others’ arms. Their hips were pressed together, and she was teasing him with that little bump and grind, but it wasn’t an urgent arousal. It was a slow simmer that he found he was really enjoying.
He would have preferred being on top of her, in control, but he didn’t want her back on the dock getting crushed. After several delicious moments, she pulled away, wiping her swollen bottom lip, the corner of her mouth turning up.
“I never knew fishing was this much fun,” he said, giving her a wink.
She leaned in close. He tilted his head for another kiss but she shook her head teasingly. “You’ve never been fishing in a pond, have you?”
“I can’t lie,” he admitted. “Nope.”
“That’s probably why you don’t even realize you have a fish on your line.”
“Really?” That made him oddly excited. But hey, he was competitive. He sat up and gently shifted Jolene off of his lap. “Let me reel him in.”
Jolene laughed. “I can’t believe you fell for that!”
“Wait, what?” He lifted his pole up and almost flung it over his shoulder because there was nothing on the hook. “You are a devious woman.” He set the pole back down. “No dinner tonight, I guess. We’ll be forced to starve.”
“Or we could eat the steaks I brought.”
“You do like meat, don’t you?” He grinned at her. “Let’s ditch the poles and head inside.”
Her lips were dewy and plump from his kisses and her hair was tousled. She looked relaxed and sexy as hell.
“Just as a side note, have I mentioned today how gorgeous you are?” he asked.
“Not in the last five minutes.”
“You are.” He flipped up the ends of her hair. “I should have said it more when it mattered.”
“It still matters. Thank you.” She held her hand out to him. “Help me up.”
Jolene took Chance’s hand when he offered it to her and let him tug her up to her feet. She had needed to break off their make-out session because she had found herself thinking that taking off their clothes and doing it right there on the dock wasn’t such a bad idea. Which it was. An absolutely terrible idea. That was all she needed. A sex tape hitting the internet. Because while she was fairly certain they were alone, there was really no telling. Photographers seemed to pop out of trees and dumpsters and unmarked cars with no rhyme or reason. She and Chance needed to be inside, blinds shut, before the stripping commenced. Unlike the day before.
It surprised her when he didn’t let go of her hand as they headed down the dock. They were walking like two teens out for a picnic. At no point during their dating relationship had they held hands like this. It felt weird. It felt good. Maybe they were actually entering the nostalgia phase of Chance’s breakup schedule.
When she had actually been a teenager, there had been no budding romance with innocent hand-holding and a few kisses. There had been a part-time job at the diner, school, and a super strict father. It wasn’t until she had turned eighteen and her mother had brought her to Nashville on a hope and a prayer that she had started dating.
The thought of her mother now made her feel even more nostalgic. “I’m sorry I never introduced you to my mother,” she said. “I’m not sure why I never did. But I know she would like you. Lord knows it would be good for her to see a man treating a woman decent.”
“I don’t know that I was all that decent,” he said. “I was kind of a prick to you, for