Page 47 of Cowboy Devil's Embrace

Bottom line, he smelled good. Too good.

Intoxicating.

Mesmerizing.

Tempting.

Way too tempting for a girl like me.

I cleared my throat and admired the black seats with red trim. Absently, I traced the strange design that seemed branded onto the dashboard.

Were those horns?

“Sugar? Avery is your friend, right?” he asked again, his voice low and comforting.

I met his blue-eyed stare and saw curiosity and something more in their bottomless depths.

“Yeah. She is my best friend. But, um,” I continued, breaking eye contact and fiddling with my dress, “I mean, she meant well, setting up this date and all, but I understand she kind of sprung it on you. And well, you don’t have to follow through. Really, we can just skip it and act polite when we see each other in town.”

“First, why would I want to skip this date? I haven’t been to a drive-in in, well, I’ve never been to a drive-in. Second, and probably more important than the first thing I said, I’ve been looking forward to seeing you again all week.”

“You have not,” I replied quickly, even though it made my heart pound just imaging it was true.

“I really have. Sugar, you’ve been on my mind nonstop. Tell me you haven’t been picturing this. You and me together,” he challenged.

I was a lot of things, but a liar wasn’t one of them.

In fact, it was the one thing I loathed above everything else.

Burt was a liar. He’d said he was going to love, honor and cherish me for the rest of my life. That turd hadn’t made it one year before the cheating began.

“Fine, I’ve been thinking about it,” I confessed, trying to tame an errant curl by sticking it behind my ear.

“Yeah? What about?”

“I’ve been curious. You know, people in town are talking about you.”

“I bet they are,” he replied with an easy smile.

That damn curl popped out from behind my ear, and I sighed, trying once more to make it behave.

I froze when Max reached out with one big, warm hand and untucked the mischievous lock.

“I like your hair wild,” he murmured.

He made a rumbly sound in his throat and dragged his finger down my cheek and neck before pulling away.

Was it wrong I already missed the contact?

Probably.

I turned my head, meeting his gorgeous eyes before he turned to watch the road.

“You don’t need to be tame for me, Sugarplum. I like you just the way you are.”

“You don’t know me,” I said, and that time, there was nothing I could do to stop my heart from pounding away.

“Doesn’t matter. I know what I like. And I know I like your curls when they look fresh and wild. So fucking sexy, Sugarplum,” he said, and holy hell, there went that growl of his again.

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