Page 49 of Nothing to No One

“Some of the UO crew are good people.”

She conceded that. “Maybe it’s the small-town girl in me. I’m used to everyone helping everyone, to them meaning what they say.”

“No such thing as small-town gossip?”

Her grin quickly became a laugh. “Oh, God, people talk about each other all the time. There’s always whispers and always judgment, but at the end of the day, if someone needs help, your people are there for you. We might whisper in our own circles, but if anyone dares take on someone we class as our own…”

“Do you miss it?”

“Sometimes I miss the people. I miss knowing exactly where to go if I want peace or the best latte in town. Knowing where I’ll be guaranteed a listening ear, or a gentle nudge.”

“You’ve got that in me, Fawn,” he murmured against her.

And he felt so good. “I love my home, but it’s not the whole world. I know people who are born and live and die in Wishbone and barely leave its limits. There has to be more to life than that. Doesn’t there?”

He’d swept her hair from her shoulder and was trailing gentle kisses down the side of her neck and along her shoulder.

“Thank you for leaving its limits,” he whispered, his breath fogging her skin on his mouth’s return journey.

She flattened her hands on his to twine his arms further around her. “You have to stop doing that.”

Her mouth spoke words her body couldn’t back up. Her head tilted and her lips curled. The heat was more than electricity. She struggled to take even short, sharp breaths. His solid form held her up, cradled her in a safety she’d never known. In that strange place, surrounded by these unusual people, she had found her home again, and not in the geography.

“Come here.”

He snagged her hand and rushed from the bar. What happened to their drinks? Oh, who cared about drinks?

Struan swung her around into a corner, past a shelving unit and indoor trellis to a shadowy alcove.

“What are we doing?” she called in a laugh as he picked her up to seat her on something. “Beau!”

“Your feet hurt.”

Mm, yeah, sure. Suspicious, in a good way, she doubted her discomfort was the root of his emerging inner rascal.

“How do you know that?” she asked filled with the ecstasy of a teenager finding her first love, lost in a haze of passion and hormones.

Everything she was depended on what happened in the next few minutes. The kiss, the thrill that could be forever. What was the potential with a man so full of life? An honorable man who treasured her? He kissed her, cradled her face and toyed with her hair. The light trace of his fingertips tickled down her spine until he elevated her hips, pressuring her back, deepening their kiss, pressing her skull into the wall.

Struan was everything she wanted, her adventure. Her body responded without thought. There was no mental process. The certain pressure of his lips and the firm nature of his tongue sent silent signals on how to respond. A wordless dance. His hands wouldn’t stop roaming across her body, and when he dragged her dress up her thighs, she didn’t hesitate to raise her knees higher around him.

Love hadn’t been on the agenda. Maybe it had been somewhere in the distant background, but it wasn’t why she’d left her home. In LA, she’d been doing her job, living her life without thought of establishing romantic relationships. Not yet, maybe somewhere down the line…

People said love found those who stopped looking for it. Love didn’t have to mean settling down forever, barefoot and pregnant, locking yourself away. Not with Struan Lowe. Something in their connection granted her freedom while keeping them tied together.

“Struan,” she gasped when he kissed her jaw and forced her head back with his own to taste her neck. “Is this a hotel?” Shelves didn’t do much to conceal them from partygoers. Salacious ideas definitely required privacy. “Baby…”

When his mouth rose, she kissed him again. Cupping his jaw, she anticipated his tongue only to be left wanting. He hunkered down, snagging the elastic of her panties to drag them down her thighs.

She laughed. “What are you doing?”

Question? Yes. Curious? Yes? Concerned or reluctant? Not a chance. Her fingers supported her weight to lift her hips and grant him access.

“You want adventure,” he said and kissed her knee.

Their eyes stayed locked on each other as he trailed those lips up her inner thigh, then he scooped her to the edge, plunging his tongue into her.

Oh, God, her body arched instantly, clenching in carnal reaction to the delightful delectation of him devouring her.

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