Page 32 of The Marriage Deal
My flirty smile twists into a scowl. His eyes drop to it, but there’s laughter edging the green that only serves to rile me up more.
“Careful,” he warns.
I feel my brows bounce high on my forehead. “Careful? Of what?”
“Keep scowling like that and I’ll have to kiss it off your lips.” He drops his pitch just a hint. “Maybe I’ll even bite, but just a little nibble.”
I whirl around to fully face him at the same time I try to step back, to put space between us. Only, I step into my bucket of dead petunias and stumble. I just know I’m going to land on my ass when a strong band of iron hooks me around my waist, yanking me into something harder and hotter than sun baked steel.
“Oomph.” My palms slap against Briggs’ broadshoulders as my body—my entire body—is plastered to his.
Heat unlike any I’ve ever experienced surges inside me. I swear, there’s real fire in my veins. And breathing—when did breathing become hard?
“Steady, now.” There’s that infuriating grin that curls his lips. I’m about to open my mouth to give him the what-for when he adds, “Come home with me tonight.”
My body jerks in his arms. I barely manage a, “What?”
He tightens his hold on me. I feel a lot. Too much. The man is all hard, sharp lines under his jeans and white T-shirt. And he’s alotbigger than me. Too big.
“We’ve beenseeingeach other for a couple weeks now. We’re adults. Adults who are seeing one another eventually spend the night together. That’s the progression of the relationship people expect us to take.”
His eyes dip to my mouth and linger. Another surge of heat spills into the core of me.
Heaven, I think my panties might be wet.
Wait, why are my panties getting wet?This isn’t real, Lilah.
Head in the game, girl!
“I told you I wouldn’t sleep with you,” I croak weakly.
That infuriating grin twists into something evenmore infuriating. “I have a spare room all ready for you.”
“It’s just for show.”
“Just for show,” he confirms.
“Right.” I try to wiggle my way out of his hold, but he doesn’t let me.
I give in, settling into the warmth of him. Something in his eyes softens in a way I should not like. “I’ll pick you up at six.”
“Or I can drive myself to you.”
“You could. But I know for a fact if I picked you up, that neighbor of yours?—”
I sigh. “May.”
“Yes, May. Well, she’d see me pick you up. She’d also wait up for me to drop you off as she has every other time I’ve picked you up. So, she’d know when I didn’t drop you off, that you’d spent the night with me. By the time lunch rolled around, everyone in town would know where you’d been for the night.” He wets his lips and drawls, “And they’d all suspect that we’d been very, very busy.”
“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” I rasp, dropping my forehead against his hard chest.
The man, evil as I’m beginning to see that he is, laughs. Then he reminds me, “I’ve already paid your debts.”
“I’ll be ready at six.” I lift my head, getting down to business. “How long do I have before you want me living with you?”
“Another couple weeks at most.” His eyes never leave mine. “Remember, we’re madly in love, little lunatic. We can’t fathom being apart.”
“Of course, we can’t.”
