Page 33 of Renegade

She shook her head, keeping her palm open in front of me. “You said you’re originally from California, but I gotta be honest here, that Texas accent is way too thick for me to believe you. My story was better…ergo, I’m the winner.”

I scratched at my beard and settled in deeper on my chair, letting my toes dig into the sand a little more. “Is that so? Well, Darlin’, I guess it’s time to give you your prize.”

She bit down on her lower lip and smiled expectantly. God damn, this woman would be my undoing tonight. “I’m ready,” she whispered before closing her eyes, while continuing to hold out her hands.

I was out of my chair and on my knees in front of her so fast that I kicked over my beer in the sand. Then I bypassed her open hands and went straight for her mouth. I balanced my arms on either side of her and dove in headfirst. She exhaled a little sound of surprise before her hands went around my back and took hold of my shirt. Her lips tasted like the beer we’d been drinking, along with a hint of salt, coming off the ocean.

I slipped my tongue past her lips and she moaned, before tightening her hold on me. I didn’t usually waste a lot of time kissing, didn’t really see the point to it, but her mouth just begged for attention. I bit down lightly on her lower lip and she moaned again, encouraging me to continue. It was like a game of hot or cold. The warmer I got, the more vocal she got.

I moved my hand up and cupped her jaw, drawing her in even closer. She reciprocated by wrapping her legs around my waist and pulling my body up against hers. I caught a flash of underwear as her dress rode up.Was it a thong? Boy shorts? Were they green like her dress? Why wasn’t there more moonlight so that I could solve this argument in my head?

Fuck me. This was going to be a one-night stand for the books.

She broke away, panting. “Um, should we? I mean, do you want to dance with me?”

Wait. What?

I thought we were moving to the bedroom, not the ballroom.

She exhaled shakily. “I just mean that I came all this way—it’d be a shame if I didn’t get to dance at least once in this dress.”

I thought about the repercussions of taking her back inside. With my luck, she’d end up being one of David’s most cherished cousins and then I’d end the night with his fist in my face—which was par for the course with us, but still, I kinda wanted to try leaving my face intact for the night.

I pulled out my iPhone and logged into my iTunes account. “I’ve got an idea…”

A guitar began playing on my phone, followed by Dierks Bentley crooning, ‘Come a Little Closer.’

I put the phone down on a chair and crooked two fingers at her. She stood up and came over with a big smile, pulling her dress back down in the process. “Now, you’ve completely blown your cover.”

I pulled her up against me and whispered in her ear, “Is that so? You’ll have to let me know where I went wrong.”

We swayed back and forth on the sand, some half-assed version of dancing, yet neither one of us seemed to care. She tilted her face up toward mine and whispered back, “You’re playing country music. Now, I know you’re not a California boy, Tex.”

Her green eyes sparkled with amusement and I wondered if I would ever meet anyone as beautiful as her again. It didn’t make a damn bit of sense, but it was as if she looked past every ounce of bullshit and saw me.

It was completely unnerving.

I pressed a quick kiss to her forehead and then tucked her against my shoulder, choosing to softly sing a few bars from the song instead of staring at her any longer. Those green eyes were hypnotizing; I didn’t know what I might confess to if I stared into them any longer.

She sighed happily against my chest. “I like you, Jack. I can’t remember the last time I had this much fun doing nothing with someone.”

I stopped moving, painfully aware of just how little give these pants had. “Oh, yeah? Let me take you back to my room and show you how much fun we could have doingsomething.”

Charlotte stepped back and I was treated to watching her skin change from white to red again. “Don’t you want to get to know each other a little more?”

I shook my head and closed the gap between us. “You know what I wanna know?”

Her lips parted, but no sound came out.

“I wanna know how you feel wrapped around me…I wanna know how wet I can get you,” I touched her lips. “I wanna know how loud you’ll moan when I hit all the right spots.”

She stuttered through another breath before nodding in agreement. “I want…I want you to have a drink with me first. And then, then I want all of those other things.”

Damn this woman. Just when I thought I had her figured out, she threw me for a loop.

I cleared my throat. “You want a drink? You sure about that?”

She looked back over her shoulder at the event center. “Yeah—I know it’s silly, but I just met you. And I’ve uh- I’ve never done ‘this’ before. I just need a minute.”

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