Page 75 of Good Girls Don't Kiss and Tell

“I didn’t tell my mother anything about you except that I like you. That’s it.”

Her lower lip trembled, and he felt the tension in her body ease slightly. “Well, Idon’tlike you, so…”

Eric chuckled softly. “Oh, Gracie Lou, why do you gotta lie?”

Before she could give him a scathing comeback, his mouth was on hers, cutting off whatever she’d been about to say. He turned her around in his arms, deepening the kiss, his hands sliding down her back and grabbing her round little butt, lifting her against his body. She moaned into his mouth, and he backed her up toward the bar, growling in response.

He sat her up on the counter, running his hands up over her coat to unhook the buttons. He slid his hands in, over her small breasts, the hard nipples stabbing his palm as he continued a trail down to her waist.

Gracie ran her hands over his head, down his shoulders, and gripped his arms as she gave as good as she got. His body pressed between her legs, and she locked her ankles behind his back. All that was driving him was raw need and desire. He moved his hand up to tangle in her hair, his fingers massaging the back of her neck, and nearly crowed when he felt her melt against him. He took her surrender and ran with it, sliding his other hand up under her pink sweater and trailing his fingers over her skin. God, he had missed her. Her taste, her scent. Once he reached the mound of flesh, he squeezed it gently in his palm and she made a soft sound against his mouth. She reached down and pulled him closer by his belt, rubbing against him like a cat.

A loud cough didn’t even register in his one-track brain.

“Man, that is the hottest thing I’ve ever seen in this bar.”

Gracie pulled back, sucking air and looking horrified. Eric cursed and turned with a glare. “Get the fuck out of here, Grant!”

Grant threw up his hands. “Hey, sorry to interrupt, I just forgot my wallet.”

Gracie grabbed Eric’s wrist and yanked it away from her breast and out of her sweater. He didn’t even protest when she pushed him back and scrambled off the bar. She tried to smooth her hair, and wiped angrily at her mouth. Pointing her finger at him, she punctuated her words with a bite to her tone. “Stay away from me.”

“Not a chance, sweetie.” She ignored him as she hit Grant on the arm and marched past him.

Grant rubbed his arm with a hurt expression. “I don’t know why you’re mad at me! I saved you from my big brother’s nefarious intentions.” Grant got a feminine middle finger for his troubles

Eric walked up behind his brother and whacked him on the back of the head. “Dumbass.”

“Ouch. Hey, just for that, I’m not getting you a burger! You can starve!” Eric ignored his brother’s threat and took off for the storeroom for more beer.

Eric shook his head and gritted his teeth against the throbbing pain in his groin. Damn woman should come with a warning label. One hot kiss and some light petting could leave man painfully hard for long periods of time. She was hazardous to his health, but he couldn’t stay away from her.

Chapter Twenty-Five

“Sometimes, a simple kindness can go a long way in repairing an old wound. So how about we be nice to each other, people, huh?”- Miss Know-It-All’s Gossip Column.

“So how’s it going?” Gemma asked.

Gracie was sitting on the side of Gemma’s bed, flipping through a Babies“R”Us catalog. It was Saturday, and Mike and Gracie had come over to stay with Gemma while Travis was at the bookstore and Charlie was sledding with some friends. Gracie’s mom had gone to Boise to visit Gemma’s mom for the weekend and Gracie’s dad was at his buddy’s cabin, catching up. Which had given Gracie more incentive to ignore Eric. She got her bed back for a few nights.

“With?” Gracie knew very well what Gemma was asking about, but she had no interest in talking about what was going on with Eric…mostly because she was too confused to suss out the situation herself.

Gemma blew out a heavy breath. “With life. With Eric. You two seemed happy according to all reports, and then that Miss Know-It-All column came out and Callie and Ryan said the two of you seem to be avoiding each other.”

Gracie concentrated really hard on an adorable Pack ’n Play with bumble bees on the page, instead of meeting her best friend’s gaze. “We’re fine.” She slapped the magazine down and yelled for Mike, who was in the kitchen supposedly making them food. “Mike! How long does it take to make a freaking sandwich?”

“Don’t rush me, this is art!” he hollered back.

Gracie snorted. “He is more of a girl than me sometimes.”

“Yeah, we’re all aware of Mike’s anal retentiveness when it comes to sandwich prep. But back to you and Eric.”

“We’re fine, Gem, I already told you.”

Gemma gave her a disbelieving look. “Really? No issues whatsoever?”

“Nope.”

“Good, good. I’m glad you two are working out, ’cause I guess Kirsten was staring at Eric like I stared at chocolate cake last night.”

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