Page 65 of Always a Bridesmaid
“Not about my family,” he said. “But I’d be happy to talk about most anything else.”
“Okay, so Sephora—it’s this big makeup store. Anyway, they have a new line that’s getting a ton of buzz. The high-pigment eyeshadows are so vivid—”
Ford hung his head and began loudly snoring.
“Hey,” Violet said with a laugh, shoving his arm. “This is me teachingyoua lesson about letting me in your truck. You think you’re the only one with pearls of wisdom?”
She giggled again, and he twisted his head enough to spot the beauty mark on her cheek. Then he got lost in peering into her brown eyes, the same softening sensation he’d experienced earlier overtaking his entire body.
Violet propped her chin on his shoulder, her nose nearly touching his. “So, Ford McGuire. Where are you going to take me?”
Right here and right now, in the cab of this truck.
While he’d love nothing more, they were in the center of town, and while the families had mostly cleared out, he didn’t want to be another McGuire who ruined the ball game. Not to mention his windows weren’t tinted enough for everything he wanted to do.
He lifted Violet’s hand and kissed her knuckles, sunshine spreading through his chest at the same rate pink spread across her cheeks. An idea popped into his head, one he couldn’t decide whether or not to run with. “How do you feel about mud?”
“In general? Or are we talking politically? Because I’m not sure you can run a clean campaign when you start with dirt.”
“I meant more in the general way.” Ford folded her hand in his and moved his lips next to her ear, his mouth brushing the shell of it. “I just need to know if you’re the type of girl who wouldn’t mind getting a little bit dirty.”
…
Charming lines had landed Violet in her fair share of trouble over the years.
Never on a four-wheeler, though. The vinyl seat creaked as she settled in place. Yep, this was what happened when you let a handsome guy whisper words about getting dirty into your ear.
The four-wheeler dipped with Ford’s weight as he climbed behind her. He reached around her to turn the key and began explaining the brakes and accelerator over the sound of the idling engine.
Sun streamed across his skin, highlighting the golden-brown hair on his arms. The longer strands of his hair fell forward and brushed his cheeks.
Wow, he smells good.Like lumberjack aftershave, which she imagined involving trimming his whiskers with an ax.
“…the basics. Got it?” Ford asked.
“Um…” Violet tapped her fingernail to her teeth.
“You weren’t paying attention, were you?”
“I was paying attention to you,” she quickly said. This was something that irked Benjamin, regardless of how many times she explained she didn’t purposely drift off. Honestly, it was annoying for her as well, always struggling to fill in blanks. “Just not exactly what you were saying.”
That forever-higher right corner of Ford’s mouth ticked up, deepening the groove in his scruffy cheek. “In other words, you got distracted by my devilishly good looks?”
“Something like that.” Flirting had never been her forte, and being bold left her palms clammy. But after going too many days without seeing the guy, she wanted to spin around, wrap him in her arms, and hold him close.
Almost all of her preconceived notions had been proven wrong the instant Ford had strolled into the bakery with his dog to put out the fire she’d accidentally started. She didn’t want to keep running from her feelings, which were intensifying at a rapid pace. While she was at it, she might as well toss aside her misguided stance on what type of guys she preferred and nullify her done-with-men decree.
“Let’s try this again.” Ford skimmed the pads of his fingers down her arms. A pleasant shiver trickled down her spine, same as when his lips had brushed her ear, and she fought the urge to squirm.
He curled his fingers over hers as she sat, breathless yet revived, and then he lifted her palms and wrapped them around the four-wheeler’s handlebars.
His right thumb pressed over hers, and the engine growled, even as they remained in place. “This gets the machine to go.” He depressed the metal lever that ran along the left side. “This makes it stop.”
Heat pooled low in her gut as his lips skimmed her temple.
“That’s essentially all you need to know for now. Any other trouble you get in, I’ll get you out of.”
Violet squeezed her thighs around the seat, acutely aware of Ford’s big body behind her. If she wasn’t mistaken, she wasn’t the only one getting turned on.
