Page 125 of Delicate Escape

“This is my place of work,” I hissed, but I couldn’t help the hint of laughter that bled into my tone.

“Then you probably shouldn’t have made me hard in the damn parking lot. You’re a goddamn temptress, Thorn.”

Warmth surged through me at his words, a sensation that was nothing less than empowering. Even if I was being carted off over the man’s shoulder.

Shep opened the passenger door of his truck and deposited me inside. He pulled the seat belt across me, clicking it into place but not moving. My chest brushed against him with each inhale, that scent of sawdust and cedar swirling around me.

“Gonna be the death of me.” He took my mouth, tongue stroking in. Each languid lash had my insides twisting tighter at the promise of what was to come.

When he pulled back, we were both out of breath. Shep shook his head. “Like a drug. One of these days, I’m gonna end up fucking you somewhere we definitely shouldn’t, and I’m gonna get arrested for indecent exposure.”

A giggle bubbled out of me, my hand flying to my mouth.

“And she’s fucking cute on top of it,” he muttered. “I’m absolutely screwed.”

Shep shut my door, continuing to mutter to himself as he rounded the truck and climbed inside. Once we were on the main road toward my house, his hand slid up my thigh, thumb tracing absent-minded circles on my jeans.

“Did you make good progress today?” I asked as he drove.

Shep’s work had been interrupted since he played chauffeur to me half the time. He mixed up which days he took me and picked me up so Brendan wouldn’t be able to plan to get me alone if he was watching. Between him and my sheriff’s department detail, there was no way Brendan would try anything.

“We’re humming along. I’m hoping when one of my crews finishes up on another project, I can steal them for this for a few weeks. It would make a big difference.”

I toyed with a loose thread on my jeans. “I’m sorry I’m slowing things down.”

Shep’s gaze flicked to me. “You aren’t.”

I sent him a look. “If you weren’t picking me up, you’d still be working.”

“No, I’d be leaving to get a few hours in on your bathroom. I gotta pay my rent, unless you accept sexual favors.”

My lips twitched. “I don’t think I could afford that tongue of yours.”

Shep grinned. “Damn straight.” He moved his hand from my thigh, weaving his fingers through mine. “The house will get done. There’s no rush. And you’ll always be more important to me than any project.”

My fingers tightened around his. “Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

Shep turned onto my long drive, his truck bumping along the gravel road. As we got closer, I caught sight of an SUV parked in front of my tiny house.

“You know who that is?” Shep asked.

I shook my head. “I don’t recognize it.”

The SUV was black, or maybe a dark blue with tinted windows. It had Oregon plates, but they weren’t ones I’d seen before, and that was the sort of thing I paid attention to.

Shep pulled up to my house but put some distance between us and the other vehicle. “Stay here.”

“Shep, wait.”

But he was already out of the truck. The moment he rounded the vehicle, someone stepped out of the SUV. My stomach sank the moment I saw the blond hair and blue eyes.

I shoved the door open as Shep stalked across the gravel toward Brendan, panic racing through me.

“You need to leave,” Shep barked.

Brendan’s face was a polite mask, but I saw the anger in his eyes, the way the blue went so cold you knew it would burn. “And you are?”

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