body pitching forward into him. And still he kissed me.
This wasn’t an appetizer, a teaser to sex. This kiss was the main course. A living, breathing chemical reaction.
After an eternity that was entirely too short, he eased back ever so slightly. “I wondered how you’d taste,” he said quietly.
His lips were millimeters from mine. Our breath, heavy and hot, mingled in the tight space between us. He threaded his fingers through my hair combing it back and sending a delectable shiver up my spine.
“That was a movie-worthy kiss,” I breathed. “That was—that was really good. Really good.”
We were swaying again somehow. Dancing and kissing under the stars in West Virginia. Who was I? Jonah toyed with the ends of my hair as I clung to his shirt. The kiss was still a palpable thing between us. It was movie perfect.
“I’m probably going to want to do it again,” he said, the corners of his mouth turning up.
I nodded, still breathless. “I don’t have a problem with that.” Oh my god. If he kissed me again, I might accidentally tear my own clothes from my body and insist on sex.
“Is this a mistake seeing as how we live together?” he asked gruffly. His nose nudged the tip of mine, and then his lips were in my hair.
“Seems pretty convenient to me,” I said breathily. Move over, Marilyn Monroe. Shelby Thompson is in the house. “It’s a kiss, or possibly several, or maybe even sex. Which is all very biologically healthy. Humans complicate sex with expectations.”
“What are your expectations, Shelby?” Jonah asked me.
Orgasms galore? Spending long hours staring at the perfection of Jonah’s body while he slept naked next to me? Falling in love with him and then being devastated when the time came for me to move on to whatever job I’d land? Or worse, falling in love with him and then being devastated when he decided to leave town and pursue Shelby-less dreams?
“I don’t know. I don’t know what’s next for me,” I confessed.
“Same here. So what does that mean?”
“Well, with no set future, maybe we could still have a really good time in the present? Kind of like no strings?” I suggested. I could balance this. My dissertation, my research, my training. I could squeeze excellent sex into my schedule. It would be easier than trying to wedge a romantic relationship into the mix.
“See where it goes with no demands? No expectations?” he asked.
I was hypnotized by the firelight on his face. He could have asked me to donate both my kidneys to a black-market health scam, and I would have dumbly handed him a scalpel.
“No demands. No expectations. A fling.” I’d never had a fling before. And I liked the idea of one day reminiscing about my summer fling with the sexy, interesting, sweet personal trainer.
“A fling,” he repeated.
I couldn’t tell if he liked the idea or was horrified by my suggestion.
“Think about it,” I said.
“I will.” A smile curved his lips. “I have a feeling I’ll be thinking about it a lot.”
“There y’all are!”
I jumped, trying to extricate myself from Jonah. But his hands were caught in my hair.
“Ouch!” I yelped as my head whipped backward. The pain returned and roared through my system.
“Am I interrupting’?” Scarlett asked smugly. I’d never had murderous thoughts before, but if my eyeballs could shoot teeny tiny daggers, Scarlett Bodine would be bleeding from a million wounds.
“Need something, Scarlett?” Jonah asked, extracting his hands from my hair.
“I thought I’d give you your birthday present early,” she said.
“Now?” he asked. He glanced at me and reached for my hand. I swooned like a lovesick nerd drooling over the star quarterback. “We’re kind of in the middle of something.” I mentally swooned again, harder this time.
“While I’m real happy about what y’all are in the middle of, seein’ as how this was my plan all along, this present can’t wait,” Scarlett insisted. She jerked her thumb over her shoulder.
“Hello, Jonah.”
“Mom?”
17
Jonah
“Happy early birthday.” My mom grinned and opened her arms.
Jenny Leland was tall and lean with a short cap of blonde hair. She had a dimple in one cheek that was perpetually visible because she was always smiling.
I had my father’s coloring, but I had my mom’s green, green eyes.
“What are you doing here?” I hugged her, lifting her off the ground. She laughed just like she had when I’d hugged her like this at my high school graduation.
“Surprise. Scarlett called and said it was high time I came to Bootleg Springs for a