Page 30 of The Vineyard Crush

Bold tactic, Ms. Emma. Let’s see if it pays off.

“Only if I don’t get some sugar for me as well,” Ridge rumbled, the barest hint of a drawl caressing each syllable.

An illicit thrill sparked low in my belly at the words, stoking the banked embers smoldering there into a sultry blaze. Was there an innuendo lurking beneath that molten emerald gaze or was I merely projecting my own forbidden desires?

Either way, that timbred baritone could tempt a saint with unholy thoughts. Squirming under the weight of his stare, I struggled to keep my wits about me. “I…uh…”

Smooth, Emma. Very smooth.

One side of Ridge’s sensuous mouth quirked higher, a dimple winking into existence that damn near knocked the breath from my lungs. Surely the man didn’t realize the devastation he wrought with the simplest of expressions.

“Well?” A sardonic lilt infused the single word, stoking my blazing cheeks into an inferno. “You gonna make good on that sugar promise or what?”

There was no mistaking the layered meaning this time. The challenge had been openly issued - bold, brash, and spoken in that liquid velvet drawl designed to tempt even the most virtuous into debauchery.

My mouth went dry as tinder, heartbeat stampeding like a herd of wild mustangs. Sudden recklessness gripped me, bringing a decisive tilt to my chin.

“Follow me then, Cowboy,” I tossed over my shoulder with feigned nonchalance, putting an extra swing in my hips as I strode toward my office’s entrance.

My pulse thundered in my ears as we filed into the dimly lit office, the thick musky scent of leather and old books enveloping us. Cody and Lily instantly made a beeline for the antique cherry wood desk, Scooby’s tail swishing happily behind them.

With trembling fingers, I slid open the carved bottom drawer and withdrew my secret stash - an overflowing basket of assorted lollipops in every sugary hue imaginable. Plucking out three glistening strawberry suckers, I extended one to each of the eager kids.

Lily snatched hers without preamble, immediately unwrapping and popping the confection into her mouth with an impish grin. Cody accepted his with a polite “Thanks, Emma.”

When I turned to offer the final lollipop to Ridge, the words stuck in my throat. He was regarding me with smoky emerald eyes, jaw etched in a rugged line that beckoned my fingertips to trace the chiseled plane. Tendons stretched taut in the corded column of his bronzed neck as he lazily ran his gaze over me in a scorching appraisal.

Suddenly very aware of how close he’d drifted, I found my hand floating upward of its own volition, lollipop extended like a brazen offering. Ridge’s lips curved in a lopsided smirk before he captured my wrist in a gentle vise, drawing me infinitesimally nearer.

“You think I want a lollipop, sweetheart?” The words were soft, rough, and sent a shiver of pure sin ricocheting through me. “How old do you think I am?”

Fuck.

His murmured query sparked a maelstrom of unbridled yearning low in my belly, stealing what little breath remained. I could only gape at him, helpless against the smoldering riptide of want consuming me from the inside out.

Think, Emma. For the love of God, think!

“Th-that’s the only candy I have,” I rasped, all too aware of how pitiful the excuse sounded.

He inched closer, near enough for his clean, earthy scent to tease my senses into a fever pitch. Each languorous blink, every minute shift in his battle-hardened muscles set my skin alight with rising surrender.

This man had no idea the detonation sequence he’d triggered with just a few murmured words and heated looks. No inkling of the fireworks exploding across my starved nerve-endings.

God help me, but I was going to spontaneously self-combust into a pile of ashes.

“Pretty sure that ain’t the kind of sugar I’m craving, darlin’,” he rumbled, emerald eyes blazing with unmasked longing.

The blatantly suggestive endearment detonated deep in my core like a depth charge, hot and insistent. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think - could only gape up at this glorious man utterly ensnaring me, one carnal promise at a time.

Ridge’s smirk deepened into a full-blown grin of wicked promise, dimples cutting deep grooves into those chiseled cheeks. With one deft twirl of his wrist, the lollipop slipped free, dropping to the hardwood with a dull thunk.

Lifting my captured hand, he brushed a featherlight kiss across my knuckles, the barest graze of satin lips against feverish skin. A shudder racked my body as liquid fire blazed through my veins.

“What…sugar you want?” I managed to rasp, utterly helpless beneath his molten regard.

The corner of Ridge’s mouth curved higher as he lazily dragged his gaze over me in a lingering perusal that seared every inch it traversed. My skin prickled with yearning, desperate for his scorching touch to slake this rapidly escalating inferno.

“Somehow I don’t think you’ve got that particular flavor stocked, little flower,” he drawled, rich and sinful as bitter chocolate.

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