Buck is my boyfriend.
My pulse raced as I tried to absorb the enormity of that statement. I was not sixteen. I shouldn’t be getting all wound up over something as seemingly silly as all that.
But I was. I mean, I felt stupid happy just calling him that.
My boyfriend.
Which really meant I was somebody’s girlfriend.
I wasn’t single anymore. I wasn’t alone.
OMG. I needed to call Delani.
“Let’s get to work, Pretty Girl. I’m feeling good about what I got planned today,” he teased, walking away with a wink.
I could tell it was going to be a hot one today, and I wasn’t entirely sure I could handle it.
Once I started cleaning, cutting, measuring, weighing, stirring, and jarring my ingredients for my Garden Tomato Jam with Basil, I had a much better grip on myself.
“Goddamn, woman, that smells like heaven,” Buck announced after making a few trips to the walk-in fridge with what I thought was some kind of pickled corn relish.
“Does it?” I replied with a grin.
“I’m glad you used that case of tomatoes they sent by mistake,” he said, trying to peek at the leftover contents inside my pot.
“Me too. Now back up, Buckeroo, this ain’t for you,” I said, closing the lid and bumping him with my hip.
For a moment, I worried about how he would read my actions. I mean, yeah, we teased each other all the time. But we weren’t dating before.
My worry was brief, thank fuck.
Buck just growled and grabbed me by my hips, pressing something long and unmistakably hard against my ass as he nibbled my earlobe.
“Keep teasing me, Jan Baby. First with your fucking outfit, then your sassy little mouth. Good thing I’m not bartending tonight, I think I’m going to have to do something about you,” he said, and the implied sensual threat made me quiver with need.
“Teasing you in capris and shirt, how? And when you say do something, what do you mean?” I asked.
“Did you think wearing this was somehow better than those flirty little dresses you always have on?” he asked, groaning as he ran his hands up and down my hips, over my ass, then back around to the front to cup my pussy.
“If we weren’t closing up for the day, I’d bend you over this counter and fuck you right here. But I got a couple of steaks and the makings for a Caesar salad in my fridge, a pool and hot tub with a privacy fence around it, and a king-sized bed just waiting for the two of us at home. So, what do you say?”
Holy. Fuck. That’s what I say.
“What are you asking me, exactly?” I bit my lip.
“Come home with me, Jan Baby. Let me cook for you. Let me feed you. After we eat, we can swim, or watch TV.”
“That’s all?” I asked, biting my lip harder.
“No, that’s not all. That’s just the start,” he said, spinning me around to face him.
“Just the start, huh? So, what is it you really want from me, Buck?”
“You want the truth?” he asked, cocking his head to the side, his dark eyes blazing with something unreadable.
“I want you to come home with me, and I want to do all those things I already said with you. Afterwards, if you let me, I want to make you feel good. I want to see and touch and taste every inch of you. I want to fuck you until you come screaming my name. At least twice. And I want to sleep all night with my cock buried inside your hot, sweet slit. That’s what I want, Pretty Girl. So, what will it be? Yes or no?”
My mouth was so fucking dry. I couldn’t answer. Not without any spit left in my mouth.