Page 100 of Ever With Me

Mom grimaced. “I think I’ll skip that one.”

Maddie didn’t want to think about that. The idea of auctioning off a kiss was the last thing she’d ever willingly volunteer for.

Secretly, she’d been hoping Brooks might turn up to it, though. Or just to the festival.

Of course, she wouldn’t want him to see her standing in her underwear.

“I’m gonna go change. Be right back.” She made a beeline down the orchard lane, farther from the crowd. She wanted to change her shirt, too, which felt just as sticky as her sweatpants had been. In fact, she would give anything for a shower right now.

When she was out of sight from anyone, she dropped her backpack and peeled off her shirt and sweatshirt. A stray apple tumbled from her sweatshirt and landed on her foot with a thump. “Dammit.”

A footstep crunched from behind her, then a deep male voice chuckled. “We have to stop meeting like this.”

Brooks.

She jerked upright, smacking the top of her head right into the branch of a tree. “Ow!” Her hair caught on a twig as she pulled away, and her eyes widened.Shit. I’m stuck.

And the bastard who’d caused this stood there with a smirk on his face, his thumbs looped into the pockets of his jeans, smelling like clean, manly soap rather than rotten apples and sweat.

“What the hell are you doing here?” she asked, tugging on her hair. She tried not to care that she was in a matching red bra and panty set.

“Enjoying the view,” he drawled, turning his baseball cap backward.

Ow, ow, ow.

Her hair was really tangled.

“Help me,” she snapped with wide eyes. She was already cold enough.

He stepped closer. “Is that any way to ask for a favor?”

He was enjoying this far too much.

“Help me,please,” she gritted through clenched teeth.

Brooks removed his sunglasses, hooking them on the collar of his shirt. Now he was a breath away, so close that his thigh brushed up against hers, his arms on either side of her head as he deftly loosened the tangle in her hair.

When he’d finished, the tugging on her scalp eased, and she released a breath. “Thank you.” Then she made the mistake of lifting her chin to look him in those deadly gray eyes.

“My pleasure, Madison.”

Her heart slammed into her ribs painfully.

I’ve missed him.

He was so close now. All it would take was a slight lean from either of them, and they would be kissing.

His gaze flicked to her mouth, and one of his song lyrics floated through her mind.“Drink my desire . . . honey on your lips. Back against the wall . . . and my pressure on your hips.”

God.

They’d actually done that the other day.

Goosebumps rose on her skin.

She didn’t really care how he’d come up with those words, but she wanted that. Every inch of his sexual, seductive self. That voice whispering her name. He was so fucking good at it, too.

A soft click tore her from her trance. “What was that?” She whirled around to look, stepping away from him.

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