Page 47 of Piece Of Me

No.

“I guess we’ll see,” she replied lightly.

They chatted about nothing and everything on the ride to Big Bend. Taz was funny, charming, and witty. The man had her laughing until she was in tears by the time they made it to the restaurant. But the laughter dried up as soon as he helped her out of the truck. His touch was electric and her breath hitched at the feel of his hand on her hip.

“I was thinking an appetizer would be good right about now.” Taz crowded her against his truck, his mouth at her neck, his breath hot. “Just to get me through. What do you think, Peaches?” He pulled her, his scent spicy. Seductive.

“A kiss?” she replied throatily.

She all but felt him smile against her. “How about a kiss and maybe a little feel.”

Scarlett didn’t get the chance to reply. Taz’s mouth was on hers, the kiss aggressive and hungry. One hand at her hip held her in place, while the other roamed up and down her body, and pinched her nipples through the fabric of her dress.

She groaned at the sensation and would have fallen if not for that hand on her hip. Thank God she’d been weaning Hank for several weeks now, or who knows what kind of mess she’d have. As it was, her nipples were still sensitive and when he applied pressure once more, she tore her mouth away, breath ragged.

“We can’t, out here.”

He rested his forehead against hers. “Damn, I’m sorry. You make me lose my mind without even trying.” Taz held her gently, the both of them struggling to get their breathing under wraps, and when her heart rate was somewhat normal, he dropped one last kiss on her mouth and winked.

“This place sure does serve up good appetizers.”

Feeling confident and fierce, Scarlett grabbed his hand and they started for the restaurant. “The appetizer was good but I’m waiting on dessert.”

“I don’t suppose we can skip this dinner and the dance and head back to my place and get to the dessert part.”

“No,” she smiled lightly, enjoying herself.

“It’s going to be one hell of a long night,” Taz groaned, opening the door. His hand grazed her hip possessively as she walked inside Big Rock Eatery, then settled at the small of her back. He guided her toward a private room at the back of the place. They stood in the doorway for a moment, taking it all in, and she wondered if he was as nervous as she was about dinner with her family and friends. But then Millie Sue spotted them and there was no going back.

“You guys are late,” she said, walking up to them.

“Only a couple minutes,” Scarlett replied.

“We were busy checking out the appetizers,” Taz winked.

Millie Sue looked at them both, eyes shrewd, expression shuttered. “I don’t want to know.” She pointed to the large table. “Come on, you two are over there.”

They joined a large dinner party that not only included Millie Sue and her brothers, Cal and Benton, but Ollie and the rest of the boys in Cal’s band, Dallas their ranch foreman, and Ivy and Mike Paul. Ivy however, sat at one end of the table, deep in conversation with the guitarist in Cal’s band, while Mike Paul was at the other, slumped back in his chair, face dark, body language darker. Scarlett frowned. And here she thought the two of them had finally gotten their act together.

She sat down beside Ollie while Taz took the chair across from her, squarely between Ivy and Millie Sue. She accepted a glass of wine and tried to relax. But how could she? Her brothers, while polite, were not wholly committed to the idea of her and Taz, and Millie Sue kept whispering into his ear. She really didn’t like her sister-in-law whispering into Taz’s ear. She knew they were friends, but still…wasn’t there some kind of girl code for that?

“Everything okay?” Ollie asked bumping her with his shoulder.

“I’m great,” she replied, voice bright. Or she would be once she had Taz all to herself. All she had to do was get through dinner with her over-protective family, make an appearance at the dance, then convince Taz to take her back to his place and have his way with her. Shouldn’t be too hard to do. Should it?

“This Taz guy, are you two serious?” Ollie asked quietly, leaning close so no one could hear their conversation.

“I’ve only known him for a few weeks, but it feels, when I’m with him...it’s different. I can’t explain it.” She looked at the drummer. “Am I crazy?”

“Life is crazy.” Ollie shrugged. “It’s what you do with the craziness that matters. You either grab hold of it, embrace the crazy, or you run from it. But if you run then you’ll never know.”

“Never know what?”

“If it was worth it or not.” He raised his wine glass. “Cheers to the crazy.”

CHAPTER 15

By ten o’clock Taz was done being social. Done talking to folks about things that didn’t matter to him. And done sharing Scarlett with all of Big Bend. Everyone and their mother had turned out for Cal’s show. Heck, even Mrs. Bollard, a lady well into her nineties, was cutting a rug with folks half her age. Cal’s band was well into their second hour and would probably play until midnight.

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