Hotter than Texas (Pecan Creek) - By Tina Leonard Page 0,95
edged onto a chaise lounge.
“You’re hard,” Sugar accused, and Jake said, “Just in case it’s needed. For making up.” He kissed her, stroking the inside of her mouth with his tongue, drinking her in. He pulled away, sighing with hungry longing. “But don’t think I’m not listening to you. You have my utmost attention. The truth is, there isn’t a time of the day you’d get to air your grievances with me if you waited for me not to have a hard-on for you. It’s my perpetual state of being these days. But it’s not disrespectful.”
He picked up her hand, kissing it like an old-world gentleman.
“Okay,” Sugar said, not pulling her hand away. “But I’m pretty sure there’s more seducing than listening going on.”
He loved the feel of her on his abs. She was sitting right in front of his rock-hard, tempting him, driving him mad with the waiting. But he was a patient man, had learned patience in some of the hardest places in the world. And what he was being patient for right now was sweet, sweet heaven. “What’s next on the list?”
“Of what?” Sugar’s gaze was fastened on him like a bunny watching a snake.
But he didn’t want her feeling cheated. “I admitted I wasn’t as supportive of your business as I could have been when you ladies came to town. Frankly, it was uncharted water for me. I wasn’t positive how to integrate your situation and needs into the town’s needs and proclivities. I did hope that it might all work itself out in time.” He kissed her hand again. “To be honest, anything I might have done to try to help might have messed things up more. And then there was the fact that I was hugely attracted to you from the start.”
Sugar frowned. “I don’t remember you being anything but a pain. You rented us a house that had tons of drawbacks you never mentioned.”
“Yeah. But I had a back-up plan.”
He smoothed his palms up her arms, dying to make his way to her breasts. She smelled summery and womanly, and he wanted her bad enough to wait until forever if he had to.
“Which was what?”
“Renting you this place.” He kissed her palm, pressing it to his lips. “If the other house didn’t fit your needs, then I had this place I could have easily let you have. I would’ve moved back into the old family place. Honestly, once I met you, I was pretty certain your family and my family home was exactly what you were looking for.”
“Maybe it was,” Sugar said reluctantly. “Maggie and Lucy love it.”
“And you?”
She sighed. “I don’t know. It’s tangled up in my mind with you.”
“Because you think I haven’t supported you, and I rented you something under false pretenses.”
“Yeah.”
“You can have this place if you want,” Jake said. “It’s an easy swap. Just stay here in Pecan Creek, Sugar Cassavechia.”
She gazed down at him, her eyes startled and wide. “Jake, you’re making me nervous.”
“Why? I dig you like a fat kid digs cake. I haven’t made a secret of that. It’s the one thing in this town that isn’t a secret. To anyone.” He lightly bit the tip of her finger, then licked it, kissing it before moving to press a single kiss against her wrist. “Let me ask you a question.”
“All right,” Sugar said, but she sounded uncertain.
“Where do you imagine I might ever again find a woman who’s as downright sexy and saucy as you are? Who can turn this town on its ear just by walking through it? Who can make my mother go from being a well-meaning tyrant to hinting around about grandkids, for the love of God?”
Sugar’s lips parted with surprise. If he’d been a better man, he could have resisted, but he wasn’t a better man; he was a hungry man dying for this woman. He dove in, his tongue parting her lips more, sweeping her, holding her close, tugging her up against him, trying to get every bit of her that he could.
“Jake,” Sugar said on a gasp, “I was wrong. Your shtick works just fine on me, even when I’m mad.”
“Thank God,” Jake said, rolling them both into the pool, holding her to him so he kept her safe and not crushed beneath his weight.
She came up, laughing, pretending to be mad. “I thought you were going to use your mouth for something other than excellent bullshit.”
“I am. But I figure a Florida girl like you has her soul