Page 33 of Smokin' Situation

Shaking my head, I hesitantly took a step forward. “No. We haven’t been together like that in several months, and I have no desire to go back to how things were. Not now that…”

He reached forward, pulling me toward him until our chests brushed together. “Now thatwhat? What’s changed for you?”

“Now that there might be someone else.”

“Hmm,” he hummed, running his nose down the side of my face, his lips grazing my earlobe and setting off goosebumps along my arms despite the heat of the water. “And who is this someone else? Anyone I know?”

“I think you might,” I whispered, wrapping my arms around his neck. His hands gripped my hips, one of his palms pulling my thigh up to wrap around his waist. Relief coursed through me as he smiled, rubbing his nose playfully against mine. It was then I went in for the easy joke because it scared me how attached I was getting in such a short period. I’d just met him, and I was falling fast. “Do you think Baker is single?”

A loud laugh tore from his chest, and he squeezed me tightly, his mouth lowering to cover mine with a possessive kiss. When he broke for air, he pinched my butt, narrowing his eyes. “Baker couldn’t handle you. And he’s never going to get the chance, either. You’re mine.”

“Someone sounds a little possessive,” I sassed, but pulled him back in for a kiss, my pulse racing at the way he took over, tauntingme with smooth strokes of his tongue against mine until my head swam.

When he leaned back, our chests heaving against each other, his low voice solidified my feelings, and there was no stopping the way I was falling for this man. “As far as I’m concerned, there is no other man. Because someone who won’t commit to you has no idea what kind of mistake he’s making. But his loss is most certainly my gain, because I can’t imagine walking away from you now.”

“I don’t want you to,” I whispered, combing my fingers through his wet hair. The way he looked at me was addictive. There was just something insanely attractive about a man who didn’t mask his emotions.

“And just so we’re clear.” His voice was low as he leveled his gaze with mine. “I won’t share you.”

“I’m not asking you to. If you want to pursue this, I’ll talk to him.” As soon as Jay was back in town, the first thing I would do was tell him I’d met someone, and we couldn’t keep up the physical part of our relationship. I wasn’t sure what it meant for our friendship, but we’d been drifting apart for a while now. Soon, the restaurant expansion would keep him busy enough he wouldn’t have time for me, anyway.

“Now can we finish getting cleaned up so I can take you to bed in that cabin? I believe we have some overdue introductions to make.”

Laughing, I nodded, clinging to his shoulders as he swam backward to where we’d abandoned the soap.

Washing each other was like an extended game of foreplay, wandering hands lingering in places that had me aching for him by the time we’d both cleaned the sweat and lingering soot off our bodies. He climbed out of the spring first, drying his strong, muscular body while I watched him, feeling a bit like a voyeur as his hard cock bobbed with his movements.

Now that things were out in the open, it felt like a weight had been lifted, my attraction to him no longer something forbidden. He knew my situation and didn’t judge me; he’d just made histhoughts on me having other partners clear. I had a feeling a man like Tripp would be more than enough to keep me satisfied.

The only part that worried me now was the emotional attachment I could feel forming. While his job wasn’t nearly as dangerous now as it had been before he came home, would he ever decide being back in Sage Springs was too tame for him and leave to go back to that life? What if he decided he really didn’t want to stay here long term?

My entire life was here.

Reese was here.

She loved her job at the hospital, and I doubted she’d want to leave. And while I could technically bar tend anywhere, I felt like I’d helped Hudson build something special at the bar that’d been in his family for generations. It wouldn’t be the same anywhere else. But things wouldn’t be the same here either. I was probably homeless. The next few months would be about starting over and figuring out where Reese and I went from here. Would a new relationship survive all the changes that were coming my way?

“No frowning.” Tripp’s deep voice broke the distracted trance I’d been in, and I focused on where he now waited at the edge of the spring, an open shirt and jeans covering him. I hadn’t even realized he’d finished getting dressed. “I know it’s disappointing I put away your new friend, but I promise you can take him back out once we’re at the cabin.”

Shaking my head, I swam to the edge, took his extended hand and let him pull me out. He wrapped a towel around my shoulders, his hands pressing the soft cotton into my skin as he leaned in and kissed my neck.

“But seriously, Rhey. Out of your head. Stay present with me tonight. We can figure all that other bullshit out later.”

Turning in Tripp’s arms, I laid my head on his chest, wrapping my arms around him beneath the damp shirt now concealing his firm muscles. His heartbeat was an anchor, the steady cadence keeping me focused on the here and now. “I’m sorry.”

“No apologizing either,” he whispered into my hair. “You laid your cards on the table, and now I’m laying mine down. I want you, and I don’t give a shit about anything else right now but exploring this connection I feel with you. If there’s anything I’ve learned in the last few months, it’s that tomorrow isn’t a guarantee and you should embrace where life takes you.”

Swallowing past my anxiety, I let him finish drying me, my pulse racing with how he looked at me. Especially when he gazed adoringly at me from his knees while he dried my legs.

“I couldn’t find any clean panties for you,” he whispered, tracing his fingers through my slit as he stood back up. “But I don’t think that’s going to be a problem because I don’t want you wearing them, anyway.”

“Such a dirty boy,” I whispered, feeling the heat coursing through my veins as his fingertips explored, pressing into me while his thumb softly rotated my clit.

“Hungry boy.” His voice was a deep growl as he leaned down to nibble at my neck, his teeth scraping the sensitive skin and making me gasp. “I want this pussy on my face once we get back.”

“Then I guess you better dress me so we can get back there.”

His eyes gleamed in the diffused light from the flashlights. A hungry expression never left his face as he pulled a soft cotton sundress over my head, his fingers lingering on my waist, moving up to cup my breasts through the material as he stared down at me.

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