Page 2 of Tied to Trouble

How could this be?

Az wasn’t supposed to have this effect on her. She put her shaking fingers to her swollen lips, touching them in wonder, feeling the heat he had left upon them.

“Mandy, I’m sorry. I...I’m just sorry,” he rasped hoarsely, running his fingers through his coal-black hair and stepping back to break their connection.

“Sorry for what?” Mandy’s voice was a whisper as she tried to collect her senses and rearrange them in the box they didn’t fit in anymore. “Sorry you kissed me? Sorry we’re just friends? What?”

Somehow, everything had changed with just one kiss. One brief moment in time now dictated that there was no going back. No man’s kiss had ever had this effect on her before. Confused, she awaited his answer.

“I’m sorry I was so rough with you.” His glittering gaze never left her face. “I must have shocked you, and I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

Mandy sensed his withdrawal. He was attempting to restore the big brother door solidly back into place, but it was too late now. Like the horse escaped from the barn, desire was running rampant through her bloodstream, and from the looks of the bulge in his pants, it was in his as well.

The damage was done—knowledge gained.

So many things suddenly fell into place. Was Az the one she’d been searching for all this time? Was he the reason no other man seemed good enough? Or attractive enough? Orwhatever,enough? Something was always missing.

Suddenly, she wanted him to kiss her again to test that theory. Maybe declare their friendship null and void and become lovers instead. The big crush that was supposed to die when she was fourteen had been faking it all along and was now resurrecting with righteous fury.

Her mind raced, searching for answers, but there weren’t any. Suddenly, her common sense decided to wise up.

What the crap was she thinking?

She couldn’t be attracted to Az Newcomb; they were just friends. Sort of. Ironically, though, he’d just moved into the number one slot of competitors to give her virginity to.

Not funny!

“Shut up,” she snapped abruptly. “Just shut up. Don’t tell me you’re sorry, I don’t want sorry.” She reached up and grabbed him around the neck, pressing her slender body against his hard length. “Tell me youwantedto kiss me.”

Az only hesitated for a second. “Come here,” he growled, taking her mouth once again. Silence reigned as they breathlessly explored each other, neither one hearing the approach of solid footsteps.

“Ahem.”

Startled apart, they looked around to see the stern features of Mrs. Collier staring at them, her white bun on the back of her head jiggling slightly as the foot in the worn penny loafer tapped insidiously against the hardwood floor.

“This is not the place for such goings on. Land sakes, Amanda Merriweather, what would your mother say?”

Faded blue eyes fastened on Az from the granny glasses perched on the end of the aristocratic, hooked nose. “And you, Az Newcomb. What are you doing accosting my granddaughter in the stock room of my market? Don’t you have anything better to do?” The twinkle in her faded blue eyes belied the censorious tones in her voice.

Mandy knew darn well that her grandmother couldn’t wait to pass on her and Az’s discretion as soon as she could get to her phone. Grams had always had a soft spot for Az Newcomb, and had hinted on more than one occasion that Mandy could do a lot worse in her choice of a man.

“Accosting, Grams?” Mandy rolled her eyes and sighed. “Isn’t that a little old-fashioned?

***

AZ FLUSHED AND STEPPEDback, releasing Mandy. “I...I beg your pardon, ma’am. I was just...just...” Words failed him at that moment. What was he supposed to say? Hehadbeen caught red-handed, or with his britches down as his gramps had been fond of saying. Any excuse he could give would be miserably lame.

“I’ll catch up to you later, Mandy,” he said finally, picking up their hats from the floor and handing her the yellow straw one. He jammed the black hat down on his head, stalked out the screen door into the back alley, and jumped inside his dusty jeep without opening the door. With his height, it was easier to keep the top down and just hike his leg over the side. Since the summers were hot and muggy, he liked to drive his jeep and let the wind cool him off.

“Too bad you can’t burn rubber on gravel,” he muttered after starting the engine and stomping the gas pedal to the floorboard.

He drove automatically, his thoughts on the sweet shape of Mandy’s rear in the tight jean shorts, and the rounded breasts that had been visible beneath the molded white tank top that hugged her upper body. The cowboy hat sitting on dangling curls of long blonde hair made her look sexy as all get out.

Thinking of the plush pink of her lips drew a groan up his throat. Something in his gut twisted at the thought of that lovely mouth and sweet body beneath anyone but him. He sighed as his thoughts drifted.

Losing his father to liver cancer had been a huge blow to him. So, when her father had died in that fatal car accident, he’d become very protective of Mandy, knowing what it was like not to have a dad anymore. She’d only been fourteen, and his protectiveness had caused her to have a crush on him. Until he’d smacked her butt for being a brat when she attempted to practice her girlish charms on him. From then on, she’d been angry and resented him for interfering in her life.

He hadn’t wanted her practicing her charms on any other male either.

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