Page 31 of Avery's Hero

I squirm around in my seat.

He careens off the exit. I hang on as I pant like I’ve been running. “Where are we going?”

“I need to get off the road before I kill someone. My dick is draining all of my blood right now.”

My eyes skitter down to the monster bulge in his jeans. “The baseball bat is back.”

“It’s been like that since the first night we kissed.”

“I… I just can’t believe that you didn’t go find another woman. One that hasn’t walked out on you.”

He skids to a stop on the side of the road. Slams the truck in park. Nostrils flared, he says hotly, “I didn’t want any other woman, Avery. Don’t you get that? I’m willing to risk it all because I can’t stop fucking thinking about you.”

I’m stunned silent while my heart rattles around on vibrate mode. I try to swallow and can’t.

“You’re like some kind of poison,” he says with a dark laugh and closes his eyes, letting his head fall back on the seat’s headrest.

Voice like gravel, he continues to baffle me. “I’m serious. The hunger I have for you is… unprecedented.”

I’m staring at his profile. Frozen. On the outside, at least. Inside, things are going wild.

His chest vibrates with another humorless laugh as he turns those eyes on me. “You should like that word, little genius.”

I whisper, “Okay, you get dictionary points for that one.”

This time, his laugh is replaced with a growl. “Unstoppable.”

I grin. “Okay, another point.”

“Unquenchable.”

Disbelief in my voice, I ask, “Really?”

He grunts and shifts in his seat, flexing his hands on the wheel. “Really. Unslakable.”

“Aren’t you quite the linguist?”

“Cunnilinguist.”

I give him a little eye-roll and relax back into the seat. Ishould have seen that one coming. I’m suddenly hit by the fact that I feel… happy. My cheeks are burning, but my breathing is even. Although I’m pretty sure something that will require medical attention is happening behind my sternum.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid, but insanely happy.

It feels so foolish. Not like I can fall head over heels for the man. He’s off limits in the worst ways. Plus, I need to keep my head together. Gunnar needs me to have my shit together when he gets released. It’s only a matter of days. And Brock is a father… he’s got so much responsibility. All of the eyes of the town are on him too.

“Hey, Chief?”

“Yes, little genius.”

I make a face. “Will you quit? I’m nothing special.”

Brock holds my gaze as he says, “Let me be the judge of that.”

After another tense silence, I whisper, “I like the way you look at me.”

Voice dropping an octave lower, he asks, “Like I want to rip your clothes off and have you for dinner?”

“Like you… yes, want to–*gulp*–eat me… but like you respect me.”

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