Page 41 of Crazy for You

He turned his head, and the look on his face sent sparks pinging around inside her. “You ever been here?”

She shook her head. “But I bet you have.”

“Actually, no.” He extended a hand to help her off the bike. “Always wanted to bring a girl here, though, back in high school.”

“So why didn’t you?”

“No car.”

Right. Of course he hadn’t had a car, being in foster care. “I didn’t have one either. Bought the world’s most ancient Toyota Celica after graduation, the kind with the headlights that flipped up and down when you turned them on and off.”

“Mine was a Ford Escort, also ancient. Bought it when I was twenty and drove it straight out of town.”

“I remember,” she said softly. It had been only a few weeks after Derek’s funeral. Ryan’s departure had nearly crushed her, right after losing her brother.

Ryan brushed his lips against hers. “Never kissed a girl I had so much history with.”

“Kind of weird, right?”

“Sometimes, yeah.” His eyes crinkled with a smile. “But mostly…not nearly as weird as I thought it would be.”

They walked to the barrier overlooking the mountains beyond, rolling hills that vanished into the misty clouds overhead. This place might be full of teenagers getting naughty in parked cars after dark, but right now, they had the place to themselves.

“It’s beautiful,” she murmured, her hand in his.

“It is, but that’s not the view I came here to enjoy.” He turned to face her and tugged her in close.

“I like the way you think,” she whispered against his lips, and then she kissed him.

Their kiss was hungry and intense and raw. She clasped her hands behind his neck as his tongue thrust against hers, hot and thrilling. Her body was on fire, pulsing with need, completely consumed with this man who was gripping her ass, holding on to her like he couldn’t get her close enough, like even a millimeter of space between their bodies was too much.

“Ryan,” she moaned as he bent his head to nibble at a sensitive spot on her neck.

“You make me so hot,” he rasped. His hands slid up under her shirt, deliciously rough against her bare skin.

“More,” she whispered.

He let out a harsh laugh. “That’s why I bought you here. Knew I couldn’t control myself if I got you alone anywhere near a bedroom.”

“No fair,” she grumbled.

“When I get you naked for the first time, it won’t be when I have to be back at work in less than an hour.” Then he kissed her again, and she couldn’t think of anything but the way his lips felt on hers, the hot thrill of his hands as they palmed her breasts, and his hard length straining against her belly.

They kissed until she was dizzy for air, drunk with lust, totally blinded with need. When he finally lifted his head, his pupils were so wide his eyes looked black. His chest heaved against hers.

She blew out a breath and smiled. “Then I think we need to make plans when neither of us have to work.”

10

Emma had her third rock-climbing lesson on Thursday. Two days since she and Ryan had gotten naughty in the back hall of The Music Factory. One day since they’d agreed to become friends with benefits. Zero seconds since she last thought about what that was going to be like and when it would happen.

Ryan stood below her, belay rope in hand, as she struggled up the rock face. She’d gotten some of the basic terminology down now—she knew about smears and edging techniques that let her put her feet on impossibly small ledges and indents in the rock that somehow her climbing shoes held on to. She’d gotten better at keeping her weight in her toes and using her arms for balance.

And today, she was aiming for the top.

“That’s right. Move your left foot over…yeah,” Ryan encouraged her from the ground.

“Dammit.” She’d reached the area near the top that stymied her every time. Wide and flat and impossibly smooth, she simply couldn’t see a way to get past it.

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