Page 67 of Beauty and the Bayou

Finally, Sawyer lifted his head.He still had his hand in her hair, though, preventing her from looking away.Which meant staring into his hot, penetrating gaze.That look made everything in her melt.

He was breathing hard and that gave her a surge of triumph that surprised her.She liked having an effect on the big, gruff guy.

“What if,” she said, her voice soft and husky, “we pretended that I didn’t awkwardly kiss your…armpit?We could just focus on the part when our mouths met and we could pretend I was sophisticated and seductive about the whole thing.”

He leaned in, nearly touching her nose with his.“Yeah, but,” he said, “then my desire to kiss and lick that same spot on you to see if it’s an erogenous zone for you, too, won’t make as much sense.”

She wasn’t sure if it was his clearly purposeful use ofyeah, butor what he’d actually said—that spot was an erogenous zone on him?Good to know—but her nipples tightened almost painfully.

“Oh,” was really all she could come up with in response.

He straightened and slowly pulled his fingers through her hair, letting her go.He was smiling at her with a combination of cockiness and wonder.As if he was completely surprised but very pleased by what had just happened.

Yeah, well, ditto.

He held out his hand.“Let’s put you back to bed.”

Oh, yes, please.

Once inside, instead of heading for the staircase, Sawyer went straight for the kitchen, however.Then onto Cora’s screened-in back porch.He scanned the long wooden shelf that hung over the hooks full of jackets and the mat under them that was covered with shoes and boots.He reached for a spray bottle and turned it so Juliet could see the label.

It was a plain white sticker with scrawling handwriting that said,Keep the Fuck Out.

Juliet looked up at him.“The bug repellent?”

He smiled.“Yep.”

She wasn’t sure what was going on.They’d gone from making out to bug repellent.But they weren’t discussing armpits, so that was something.Then he started for the stairs and she felt hopeful again.

That didn’t last long.

“Get up on the bed.”

She did so, eagerly.

Sawyer stretched to put the netting back up around the top of the bed.The sight of his muscles flexing and bunching along his shoulders and back was definitely captivating, and she had visions of putting her lips and tongue against the hard planes of the muscles that dove into his jeans and led to his very fine ass.But she resisted.

Then, however, he moved to her side of the bed, attaching the netting right above her.The stretch of his long torso made his jeans dip low and she couldn’t tear her eyes from the tease of the denim sliding up and down over his lower abs.

She actually started to lean in, not thinking and not doing a single What-If—again— when his hands dropped to his side and he must have noticed her movement and read her intent.One of his hands went to the back of her hair and he took a handful, tugging her to a stop.“Iknowthat’s an erogenous zone,” he told her gruffly.

Juliet looked up at him, very aware of the fact that she was on hands and knees on the bed, her mouth at belly-button level on him, his hand holding her hair in a very erotic way.“On both of us,” she replied.

She leaned in again and his hand relaxed briefly in her hair.

Her lips brushed over the skin just above his waistband, and Juliet didn’t think she’d ever heard as sexy a sound as the groan that came from Sawyer with that tiny touch.

“Jul—”

Then she heard the worst sound she’d ever heard in her life.

The front door to Cora’s house opening and shutting.

Someone was home.

Juliet and Sawyer both froze.

No.No.It wasn’t fair.

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