Page 60 of Where You're Planted

He shrugged. “You’d have to help manage them. And we still don’t have money. It would have to start pretty simple.”

She laughed tightly. “Whoareyou?”

Jack shrugged again, as though he was merely letting her take a front-row parking spot rather than casually solving major problems she’d failed to fix on her own.

“Come on,” she bit out. “Why? You said yourself, we have nothing to offer in return.”

He grimaced. “I thought y’all moving in here was gonna get in my way and use up resources. But I’ve seen the festival numbers, Tansy. We hit our goals—still a long way off from paying for the expansion, but we made a dent—and it wasn’t because people woke up Saturday and suddenly felt like supporting us. They showed up because they were already coming here for your programs, because they’re connected to you. They donated using the QR code thatyoutold me to set up. I didn’t lose my shit giving that speech because of you.”

Jack pushed up from the stump and walked toward her. “As far as I can tell,weoweyoufor the extra visitors y’all have brought to us lately. And growing produce to feed people is agoodmove. Teaching folks how to garden and getting your library kids involved at a young age supports our mission as much as yours. Wecouldhave been doing stuff like this before now. Just never thought to.” He stopped a couple feet from her and shoved his hands into his pockets, a curious smile lifting the corner of his mouth. “Now, why are you way over here?”

Tansy pressed her backside against the rock wall and held up a hand. “Don’t come closer.”

“I thought you’d be happy…”

“I am. Jeez, Ireallyam. But you need to stay right there.”

He took another step. “Why?” he asked, his voice low. He placed one hand on the wall beside her left hip and leaned a few inches closer.

“Because when you’re nice to me, it’s very…”

“Very what?”

“Hot,” she bit out, frustrated.

He laughed. “And that annoys you?”

“I’m a librarian,” she said weakly. “And a mom.”

“Why do you keep saying that like it means you can’t have…” He shook his head self-deprecatingly as he finished, “Pleasure, for lack of a better word?”

“Pleasure?” Her laugh was incredulous.

Did she wantpleasure? Of course she did. But when? And how? Where was there room for it in her life? She hadn’t gone out with a man in more than three years, and even then, she’d spent the entire evening thinking about Briar, weighing the dwindling prospects of the awkward date with the unspoken strings attached to her parents’ babysitting even thoughthey’dset her up on it. She’d felt absolutely alien in her own body when it was justher, no background program constantly processing and responding to her child’s every move, no huge bag filled with backup clothing and snacks to hide her body behind.

Never mind the fact that, currently, she was sharing not only a room but also abedwith her kid.

“I’m serious. You’re attracted to me.” At her arched eyebrow, Jack quickly added, “And I’m extremely attracted to you.” He crowded her even more, bringing his mouth to her ear to rasp, “You were so fucking hot in the greenhouse.”

She’d never been so relieved for a sturdy support as her kneesmeltedunder her.

“Your brain,” he said, swiping his thumb across her temple and down her cheek, “might believe thisnot for mebullshit, but your body didn’t get that message on Saturday. The way you kissed me? You knew exactly what you were doing,exactlywhat you wanted, and hell, I wanted to give it all to you. Still want to.”

Jack drew back to look at her. Shame burned under her skin. But his eyes held no judgment, only unfiltered, intense desire. His tongue poked out to wet his lips, and that little swipe plucked a tight string low in her belly. His other hand found the wall beside her right hip, caging her but deliberately not touching her yet. “The question is, are you gonna let me?”

She tried to play it cool and lifted a shoulder in a shrug, but before the groan of impatience left his throat, she was grabbing his face and pulling his mouth to her own. He stumbled into her, sandwiching her between the wall and his body—a rock wall and a hard place, she thought—and it struck her that she’d been only twenty-two when she’d last had a consistent sex life, before Briar was born. Surely that explained the immaturity of her brain in this moment.

It pained her, too, that Jack was right. Her bodydidknow what it wanted. Her hands wanted to rip open his shirt and grope his broad chest, and her mouth wanted to taste his skin, even as her mind screamed at her to be reasonable. She shoved her fingers into his hair, pulling at the nape of his neck, making him gasp as her mouth broke from his so she could kiss down his stubbly throat.

He squeezed her hips, urging her against him while also pressing her backside into the hard wall. It was so rough and urgent, feverish and thrilling. She worked his top shirt button free. His fingers dug into her waist, impatient but cautious, and she dragged one of his hands up to her breast.

“Tansy,” he groaned, part unfiltered want, part warning, as he thumbed her nipple through her dress and made her thighs clench together. She could think of nothing but howgoodhis body felt all over hers. It was this abandonment of thought that made her slip her palm down the front of his pants.

He sucked in a breath and braced her shoulders, holding her still.

“Sorry,” she breathed, embarrassed, immediately pulling away her hand.

“Nope,” was all he managed, the tendons in his neck pulling so taut it looked painful. When she went to squeeze herself free from her pinned position, he dropped his forehead against hers, keeping her there. “Don’t. I only stopped because,” he started, licking his lips and drawing a steadying breath, “we’re at work, and someone could wander by, and you were already mortified—”

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