Page 79 of Love Me Dangerous

Voices ring out from below,filtering through the whispering aspens, as Sofie and I carry the last of the coils to Henry’s truck. I’m sure a doctor would tell me the work isn’t helping my rib heal, but I love being out here with Sofie.

She climbs into the truck bed and lays her coil in the center of our pile, wriggling it back and forth a few times so it settles into place. I shouldn’t stare at the way she’s bent forward, her perfect curves begging for my hands, but ever since her text, all the ways I want to kiss her have been playing nonstop in my mind.

I’m right here, sugar. Just tell me what you need.

Bracing myself against the growing heat in my side, I hand her each of my coils, watching her concentrate. Her soft blue eyes get serious, and her mouth crimps. It’s so easy to read her.

Does it bother you?

It’s not bothering me right now.

I love that she doesn’t try to hide her feelings.

But it makes me want to be careful with her.

How can I do that when what I want could push us apart?

She settles on the tailgate, her legs swinging below, and wipes herbrow, the thick deerskin gloves like baseball mitts on her slender fingers. “This is thirsty work.”

“I think Dustin has lemonade down there.” I offer her the water bottle we’ve been sharing all day.

She slips off the gloves and takes a long sip, the sun glinting off her sweaty forehead, then hands it back to me. “Sometimes, after a work party, we stop for beers at the Knotty Pine.”

I choke on my sip of water. “The what?”

She laughs, a sound that might as well be music the way it seems to harmonize with the aspen leaves in the wind and the sweet chatter of birds. “It’s a bar that’s been open for like a hundred years. It’s dark and borderline seedy, but the beer’s cheap and they have happy hour grub and pool tables.”

I give her a look. “Why is the pine naughty?”

“It’s a kind of wood, silly.”

“You’re making that up.”

“I’m not! I’ll prove it to you as soon as we get internet.”

I could have proven it to her this morning with my raging hard-on. Add in working up a sweat with her out here in the sunshine, and my thoughts have turned downright filthy.

I reach for her waist and lift her down. The pain lights up my side but I can bear it.

“It still hurts, doesn’t it?” Sofie says as I set her down in the grass.

“It’s better.”

“Maybe kisses will help?” She gazes at me with that same longing while her cheeks flush a pretty pink.

I wrap my arms around her waist, bringing us closer. Her body fits perfectly against mine. “Definitely.”

A few months ago, I would have never let anyone get this close to me. It was too dangerous.

“What are you thinking about right now?” she asks in a soft voice.

“How good it feels to hold you,” I say with a sigh.

“Does it scare you?”

I smile. “Nothing gets by you, does it?”

“I think you like it,” she says in that sassy voice that makes my cock twitch.

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