Trick - By Lori Garrett Page 0,5

walked back to my car. I was about to pull out when I saw her door swing open and she came running.

My heart stopped in my chest, and I sat, not knowing what to expect.

“Hey,” she said, leaning down and into my opened window. “Um, thank you. I didn’t say ‘thank you.’”

“You didn’t have to run back for that,” I said, looking her up and down. “But I’m damn glad you did.”

“My name is Harlow. Harlow Mills.” She stuck her hand in my window.

I took it and pressed it to my lips, loving the way her cheeks went all red. “I’m Gunner Hunt. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

She tugged her hand back and bit her lip, and my brain went crazy imagining every naughty thing this angel-face might be capable of doing.

Naked

In my bed.

“So, um...I never, ever do this. But....here.”

She shoved a napkin into my hand and, before I could register what it was, she ran to her Jeep. I hardly had time to watch that fine ass before she was in her Jeep and peeling out, leaving me staring into a cloud of dust.

I looked down at the napkin crumpled in my hand. It had a phone number with a message scrawled in bubbly letters underneath: “I love a guy who can get his hands dirty. Call me sometime.”

I held the napkin to my nose and inhaled the pomegranate and amber scent I was about to know very well...on every inch of that sexy skin.

I took my phone out and dialed.

I never made it back with the beer that night.

I’ve got to end this. Again.

“We aren’t friends. You shouldn’t have come. And I don’t want your money,” I say, shoving the crinkled ten dollar bill I pulled out of the tip jar back into her palm.

“We used to be friends. More than friends, Gunner. Was it really so bad?”

I try really fucking hard not to, but I can’t help but let my mind flashback to how things were with Harlow before they got so damn complicated.

“You look good,” I say, shaking away the images before they make me rock hard back in this storage room. Because what the hell else am I supposed to say right now? That I don’t regret walking away from her? That she never should have tracked me down? Maybe I should say all of those things, but I’m weak and she’s so close.

“You too. And I’m sorry for just showing up like this, I hope I didn’t get you into any trouble. I’m sure your boss isn’t thrilled.” She thinks I just wipe counters and pour beers. Good. That’s all she needs to know. “I know you need to get back, but maybe when you get off, we could talk for a little? Just catch up?"

I run my palm across the scruff of my five o’clock shadow.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Harlow.”

“Come on, I don’t bite,” she says, with a small smile.

“The reasons we can’t be together haven’t changed,” I say. “I’m still the same loser I was back then, kitten. And you’re still a goddamn princess.” A goddamn sexy princess. And if she knew all of the new reasons that there can never be an us, she’d definitely run the other direction. She needs to get over this bad boy fantasy, and go back to the family she loves.

“I’m not asking for us to get back together, Gunner. I’m just asking for one night.” She swallows hard and that vein in her neck is throbbing like certain parts of my anatomy are right now.

“Please.” She bites her bottom lip in that way that screams sex and innocence all at the same time, and she knows I can’t fucking resist it.

“You shouldn’t have come,” I say. But it’s a lie.

I link my arm around that delicate waist and pull her in. Her skin is hot like she’s been out in the sun all day, probably in some skimpy ass bikini. She perches up onto her tiptoes and runs her mouth slowly along my jawline. She was eighteen the last time I saw her, and at the time, I didn’t think she could get any hotter. But right now, she’s all woman, and she knows exactly what she’s doing to me.

“My bike is out back,” I say, knowing it’s a fucking stupid idea the minute it comes out of my mouth. But I’ve had stupider, and I’ve done alright for myself. “We can take a quick ride, but I gotta be back for