Page 71 of Make it Real
“I wouldn’t make you miss it, darlin’.”
He moved us closer to a tree dotted with vibrant fruit. Releasing my hand, he found a perfect peach and plucked it from its stem. The red-gold color shouted out its ripeness, and my mouth watered in response. He rubbed it through his hands a few times, dusting off the light fuzz on the skin before he pulled a pocket knife from his jeans, ran the blade around the peach, and twisted.
He handed me the pit-free half with a flourish. “There’s your dessert right there.”
I took it greedily—I’d devoured every peach I’d bought from his farm store and knew what kind of deliciousness awaited me. I took a bite, the sweet-tangy flavors so good, I moaned.
Jed echoed the sound, but when I turned to him, he’d looked away, his throat working.
A more ladylike woman might have eaten her half of the fruit with a little less enthusiasm, but I didn’t hold back devouring its juicy-sweet perfection. In another minute or two, I’d finished the last bite, and licked a dribble of juice off my thumb.
Jed made a strange sound. I found him watching me with enough heat to power a thousand suns, like everything in the world depended on what I did next. My stomach swooped and warmed, but I couldn’t look away from his intense gaze.
“What?” I said with a touch more innocence than I felt. “I don’t want sticky fingers.”
“Tell me you’re not doing that on purpose to torture me.” His voice had gone all gravelly and rough, and it tugged at something deep inside me.
“Well, I wouldn’t call it torture.” I licked my thumb again just to be sure I’d got it all. That was the only reason. Not because I liked the idea of having this man weak in the knees over me.
A groan rumbled out of him as he closed the last scrap of distance between us, his eyes fixed on my mouth. “I promise you it is.”
Maybe I should have called it good and stopped there, but I liked the fire in his eyes as he tracked my mouth. I liked how he looked so on edge, as if he could snap any minute. And I liked most of all being the one that’d made him that way.
I dropped my voice low. “Staff Sergeant Evans, I would never.”
His naughty grin was a lit match, and my insides went up like tinder, flames spooling out from my belly down to the tips of my toes and up to the top of my head. He swooped in and kissed me, his lips on mine before I’d registered they were coming. The kiss was sweet, like he’d cobbled it out of pure spontaneous affection. He smiled against my mouth, and my heart exploded into little stars.
Clint’s words echoed through my foggy brain.Lost over a woman.I couldn’t be sure he was really lost over me, but I was for sure lost over him. Smart or not, I was head over heels.
Before the kiss could get really good, a voice interrupted us. “Miss Callie, don’t you want ice cream?”
Dylan’s shout carried across the yard and into the trees, and I prayed he couldn’t see me making out with his uncle at this distance. Jed released me, his expression still lit with an open affection that made my legs feel all woozy.
“Still need that dessert, darlin’?” he asked low.
“Holy crap, yes please.”
His lips tugged into the smuggest smile. Because of course I’d gone and said that embarrassment out loud. I shoved away from him, rolling my eyes at my obviousness.
“We’re on our way,” he called to Dylan, his gaze stuck on me.
I swatted at him, managing to hit his pec, which surely made my cheeks flame a brighter red. “Stop that.”
“Stop what?” His smile said he knew exactly what.
Stop making bedroom eyes and grinning that smug little grin and making my brain break apart with your kisses.Seemed just a touch too revealing to say.
I waved a hand in front of him, dangerously close to miming what I dearly wanted to do. “Stopall this.”
He laced our fingers together and headed us toward the house. “You’re my girlfriend, Callie Lou. Better get used toall this.”
See, that was the trouble. I was used to it. At this point, I couldn’t be sure I’d ever getun-used to it.
TWENTY-FOUR
jed
Should have known betterthan to think cleaning out any rancher’s vehicle barn would be a quick or easy job.
