Inked Persuasion (Montgomery Ink Fort Collins #1) - Carrie Ann Ryan Page 0,40
little bag, and her dark brown hair floated in the slight breeze. She had done her makeup in a light smoky eye thing, and her lips were glossy and luscious.
I wanted to pull her inside, bend her over the couch, and fuck her hard. I could pull up that little dress, tug her panties to the side again, and slide right home.
My dick pressed against the fly of my pants, and I swallowed hard. “Hey. I was on my way to pick you up.”
She grinned. “Well, the good and creepy thing about being neighbors is that I saw you pull in and figured you’d had enough time to shower. I know you’re driving. So, here I am. You don’t even have to pick me up at my door. See? Super easy.”
She was nervous, but hell, so was I. I reached out and pressed my thumb to her chin so I wouldn’t mess up her gloss. She parted her lips, letting out a soft breath.
“Hi,” I whispered.
“Hi,” she breathed.
Damn it. My parents were right. I was going to fuck this up. I would have to figure out a way not to. Right now, I was a goner. There was no way I could keep from being serious. Not unless I tried really hard. But, I reminded myself, I was good at doing what I needed to if I put my mind to it.
So, that was what I would do. I would make sure I didn’t do anything too serious. I wouldn’t break that rule or cross that line.
Though the Annabelle in front of me was pure temptation, it would have to be one I didn’t fall into.
Chapter 11
Annabelle
While marriage and a future beyond my work and family had never been on the table for me, I had never gone into a relationship, as it was, fully cognizant that I didn’t want anything more than what I had. I also hadn’t gone into said relationships knowing the other person felt the same. I wasn’t exactly sure how I was supposed to feel about that, but it almost seemed as if it took the pressure off. We could have fun tonight, I could lean in and soak up the evening, and so could Jacob.
Perhaps it would be a little stressful, maybe there would still be temptation and need and desire, but it wouldn’t be nerve-wracking, wondering if one of us wanted something the other couldn’t give. We had put all of our cards on the table, and now here we were, sitting together in a trendy little restaurant in Fort Collins—the epitome of farm-to-table—and I was starving.
“Oh, this is a tapas restaurant,” I said, flipping through the menu. “I’ve always wanted to come here. Beckett said it was great, same as Archer, but I just haven’t had the time. Or I haven’t dated much,” I added quickly, wincing. “Sorry, I was just telling myself I wasn’t nervous, but now I think I’m nervous.”
Jacob grinned at me and shook his head. “I was thinking that I wasn’t exactly sure how tonight would go because I didn’t know if I should be nervous. I like that we seem to be on the same page.”
“I can’t help it. It’s a little stressful.”
“I’m stressful?” he asked, teasing.
“Of course, you are. You know it. Don’t act like you don’t or aren’t.”
“Maybe,” he said on a laugh. “So, Beckett and Archer have been here? Not Benjamin?”
I shook my head. “I’m not sure Benjamin has ever been here, but he’s the quiet one out of all of us.”
“Really?” Jacob asked, and it sounded like he cared what was happening with my siblings and me.
“Benjamin is a little more soulful as if he knows who he needs to be, but he isn’t in the mood to tell anyone about it. Beckett, on the other hand, can be a little more growly, a bit louder. But when it comes to protecting each other, they sometimes switch roles as if they know that the other needs them to take their place for those few moments. Not physically, but at least who needs to be the rock and who needs to be the one who leans.”
“I always found it interesting when we were younger that you and Archer were twins, same as Beckett and Benjamin.”
I sighed and sipped my chilled white wine. “Yes, apparently, twins run in our family. There are many sets, and I think I saw triplets somewhere on my father’s line, too.”