Page 45 of Hothead

Leaning forward, she took his lips as her hand circled his torso. It was only when the taste of him was on her tongue that she felt like she could breathe again. Groaning into her mouth, he closed the minuscule gap between them by dragging her waist closer until she was squashed against hard muscle.

This man is dangerous.

But her body didn’t care. Her body wanted him again. And it was painfully clear that her body was done listening to her brain. It was doing its own thing. With or without her blessing.

***

Bella huffed as shedragged Luke by the hand down the gravel path. He was being a child.

“Jesus, and I thoughtIwas antisocial,” she grumbled.

“It’s not antisocial ...technically, I do want to hang out with another person.You.”

Bella rolled her eyes. Not this again. As much as she’d enjoyed the past few days, which had mostly been spent in Luke’s bed, she was very much in need of a break. If she thought things were intense before, three days of mind-blowing sex really wasn’t helping her to think straight. Or at all.

“Well,technically, youarehanging out with me.”

This time, Luke tugged at her hand and pulled them to a stop. When she turned to see what was up, he was still pouting.

“Angel,” he whined. “You know what I mean. This is my last day before I’m back at work, is it so wrong that I wanna spend it just with you?”

It wasn’t. And she understood they were trying to make the most of the limited time they had together. But she was freaking the fuck out. She needed to be in a wide-open space and around other people who weren’t constantly tempting her with their genetically superior body types. So Wade’s offer to hang out today was perfect timing. For her. For Luke, anyone would have thought she was leading him to his death by firing squad.

“Honey.” Her hand cupped his face, and she watched him soften. One of the many things she had learned about Luke was that when she called himhoney, he was putty in her hands. And she wasn’t above using it to her advantage. “It’s just a few hours. We swim, we drink, we say our goodbyes. That’s it. And then we go back to yours and get naked.”

A smile split his pout in half. “Naked for the rest of the night?”

She started to chuckle; men really were simple creatures. “Sure, Luke, naked for the rest of the night.”

He dipped down to lay a kiss on her lips. A kiss that was over too fast. But that was probably for the best, all things considered.

“Okay, come on, angel, let’s get this over with.”

It was Luke who was leading them along now, leaving the dirt path and walking straight into the grassy pasture toward the creek.

As they walked further into green, the hot sun sank into her skin and the familiar smell of freshly cut grass filled her insides. She needed this. She needed to re-enter the real world. Breathe in real air and not the leathery, peppery musk she was slowly becoming addicted to.

The closer they got to the creek, the louder voices became. She realized then that she had no idea who was coming today. Wade had been vague when he invited them. All she knew was that a few of them were going tubing and they were welcome to join.

Twisting to Luke, who looked like a man on a mission as he strode toward the voices, she decided to ask him if he knew.

“Do you know who’s coming?”

He momentarily broke his rhythm to chuckle at her. “Why would I know who’s coming, sweetheart? You’re the one who draggedmehere, remember?”

She nodded to herself, resisting the urge to bite down on her lip. “Just wondered if you heard from the guys, that’s all.”

A few minutes later, and it didn’t matter, because she could see for herself who was there. Wade, his brothers, Matt; Jonah; and Zach, along with Libby, Cat, and a man who appeared to be Cat’s husband, Cody. There was also a younger guy she didn’t recognize, but Luke said his name was Benny, another firefighter.

After greetings were exchanged and a bottle of beer was shoved into her hand, Libby and Cat dragged her off to the huge picnic blanket they’d laid out.

“Where’s Rachel?” Bella asked.

“Oh”—Libby giggled—“she and Hunter couldn’t make it.”

“They’re banging,” Cat announced, pulling a giggle out of Bella too. Good to know.

Not unlike their girls’ night, dirty jokes were next to be made. Then, the questions started. Questions Bella knew were coming. You didn’t get to play a temporary couple without people asking questions.

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