Page 61 of Inseverable (Carolina Beach)

I train my glare on her, pissed she’s insulted Trin. “What thehell?”

“He has a real woman,” Trin says sweetly, as if I didn’t say anything. She rises, her smile fading when she pegs Lindsey with a hard stare. “Watch your mouth around me, and your hands around him. He doesn’t belong to you.”

I’m already to them, but something in the way Trin’s watching Lindsey flat out shows that my girl’s not playing around. Lindsey sees it too, and backs away. Trin keeps her attention on her and all the way out the door until she speeds away in her rusty pick-up.

Trin’s riled. And even though she has nothing to worry about, I have to admit her claim over me gets me hot.

Jed moves forward, chuckling and starts to lock the front door. “I’ll take care of it if you want to head out,” I tell him.

He turns to Trin and smiles knowingly. “All right, fine by me.”

I lock the door behind him and switch off most of the lights, except for the ones over the dance floor. Trin, so confident seconds before, seems skittish.

“Do you have a lot more to do?” she asks.

“Just one more thing,” I say.

I move to the jukebox, scanning through the songs until I find one that works and fish out a dollar. The first chords from Jason Aldean’s remake ofHeavenring out as I make my way back to my girl.

“Will you dance with me?” I ask her.

Ah, and there’s that smile I’ve missed all night. “I’d love to,” she whispers.

My arms immediately circle her waist. I bend forward so she can slip her hands around my neck. Listening to the lyrics, and how the acoustic guitar builds the melody, I want so bad to kiss her. But as our bodies settle in closer, I know once I start, I won’t want to stop.

We sway back and forth. I’m not much of dancer, but the beat and everything about Trinity seems right. We fall into a perfect, natural rhythm. And while her sweet perfume, and how soft she feels, only make me want to pull her closer, I keep my hold gentle. At least at first.

Halfway through song, I draw her closer and curl around her, using the whiskers on my chin to tickle her bare shoulder.

I mean to tease her, and make her laugh. Instead she sighs softly, her small frame melding with mine. As close as she is, I can feel her heartbeat, and how fast it’s racing.

“Do I scare you?” I ask.

She takes her time answering. “Yes.”

“I’d never do anything to hurt you,” I promise against her skin.

She moans barely above a breath, moving her lips close to my ear. “It’s not what I’m afraid of.”

“Then what is it?” My hand travels up beneath her hair, to trace slow circles between her shoulder blades.

She shudders, her cheeks flushing with heat. “That,” she says. “You make me feel so good. I want to be able to do the same to you.”

I take in her delicate features, how they’re intermixed with that same desperation and longing she met me with last night. “I don’t want you to be afraid of anything. Not with me.”

She glances down briefly. “Can I ask you something?” I nod. “Will you let me know if I do something wrong?”

“What?” I can’t believe what she’s asking. I can practicallytastehow bad I want her.

Her lashes flutter and she draws in a breath of air when my short nails settle over the base of her skull. “I want you to tell me if I do something you don’t like,” she repeats, her voice quivering.

“Trinity, there’s nothing you’ll do that I won’t like.” I choke the words out, because it’s taking all I have not to strip her out of hers clothes when the song ends and our bodies still against each other. “Come home with me, and spend the night, and I’ll show you how good we can be . . .”

I’m trying to be a gentleman. I am. I start off by holding Trin’s hand as we walk along the sand. But the closer we near my place, the more the space between us dissolves.

We both carry our shoes in our free hands, but my other hand?the one now snaked around her waist?is tightening against her hip. We’re not speaking, allowing our bodies to feel that warmth and closeness surging from our close contact.

Trin leans heavily into me, her breast rubbing against my chest with each step.

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