hands on her rib cage and then moved in, slanting her mouth over his. She invaded him like the Union marching on Atlanta.
She tasted like barbecued heaven, all warm and soft and smoky. The breath caught in her throat right before the round, soft contours of her breasts pressed up against his chest. She threw herself into that kiss like she’d thrown herself into everything she’d done in the two months she’d been in Last Chance.
Fingers roamed up over his scalp, sending hot tingles down his spine; her tongue teased his and then danced away right before she thrust it back. Blood pounded in his ears and other places.
Damn, she was as hot as T-bone’s chili special.
A man with his weaknesses could never stand up against something like this. Savannah was all over him, and he wasn’t about to sit there like a lump.
Or push her away.
Not when she unleashed this torrent of longing and lust that he’d been battling for so long.
But she needed a bath. Which of course sent his mind racing in all sorts of directions that involved her naked in lots of water. With soap.
For low-down dirty sex, his fantasy was surprisingly clean.
“Okay,” he murmured against her sooty cheek. “Okay, let’s go.”
She backed away. “Let’s go? To a no-tell motel for discreet, but hot and dirty sex?” There was an impish grin on her face, and those dark eyes of hers were lit up with starlight. She wanted her bad-boy fix. And he wanted his Savannah fix.
“Aren’t you even sorry about the fire?” he asked, his voice cracking like a teenager’s.
Her face fell. And he hated himself for bringing up the topic. Although maybe, he’d just managed to get himself out of a really dangerous situation.
“I am.” She rested her head against his shoulder. “I’m heartbroken. And I’m also kind of pissed off, to tell you the truth.”
“Pissed off?”
“Yeah, at myself.” She pulled back and looked right up in his eyes. He couldn’t look away. “I should have taken your advice. I should have listened to you. But I had to do everything myself. And I don’t know squat about anything, except maybe cooking strudel.”
Her lip quivered. Why the hell had he brought up the fire anyway?
“Uh, there are other things you’re good at.”
“There are?”
“Yeah. You’re a great dancer. And you sure can kiss, princess. And you’re a pretty terrific screamer when it comes to snakes.”
“Right. That’s not very impressive.”
“I’m not finished. You can cook more than strudel, you’re kind to Aunt Mim, everyone in town loves you. And you used to make your grandfather’s eyes light up. I used to be so jealous of that.”
She blinked up at him. “I loved him. You loved him. But you know something? Bringing The Kismet back to life isn’t ever going to bring him back.” She rested her forehead on his chest.
And his heart swelled up and lodged in his throat. “Shit.”
“What?” Her breath heated his chest through the fabric of his shirt.
“I want you.”
“Yeah, we’ve established that. Can we do something about it or are we just going to sit here arguing with one another about who loved Granddaddy more?”
“You think he would approve of this?”
She raised her head and stared at him, the connection between them stronger than ever.
“I know he wanted us to be friends.”
“This is a lot more than that. This is dangerous, princess. You don’t even know how dangerous it is.”
She wasn’t listening to him, as usual, because she leaned forward and kissed him again. This kiss was demanding and wicked and not at all the kind of kiss a princess would unleash on anyone. Good Lord, that woman had a talent for dirty, sexy kissing. And then she dropped her sweet little hand to his thigh and started walking her fingers up to his crotch.
Well, of course he had to retaliate. So he cupped her breast. It was just the right size, and her nipples were straining against her T-shirt. He ran his thumb over one of them, and she growled. A flush of lust came at him like a big, fat, floating curveball right over the plate.
A man like him had no defense for something like that. None. Whatsoever. He had to take a swing at it. Didn’t he?
The Orangeburg Motor Lodge looked like any motel you might find by the side of an interstate. In this case, the two-story stucco building stood right at the intersection of I-26 and Route 301, about twenty-five miles northeast of Last Chance and smack-dab