Page 25 of The Night Ride
“No, I’m sure he’s gonna be fine.That girl is a pistol,” Wyatt stated, and he wasn’t wrong on that.I already knew that Ben was staying in South Carolina with Moira.
I bumped fists with Lucas then Wyatt before climbing on my Harley.We started the motors and left Beth’s driveway.At the end of the street, I nodded at Wyatt and Lucas before they turned left on their trek toward San Diego, California.And I turned right, heading to Beth’s bakery.
Saint Louis was a nice town with lots of tiny Burroughs throughout the county with a different feel.It gave the city an eclectic vibe with something for everyone.But the people seemed nice, even if the roads could stand to be repaved on the main thoroughfares.
Beth’s bakery, Sweet Dreams, was located in Downtown Kirkwood, which was a small town located within Saint Louis County.It was a short distance from a Farmer’s Market and train station.
I found a parking spot at a meter in front of her store.The shop décor was rather charming.It looked like an old-time candy shop with bright rainbow colors.That was part of its appeal.The other was the woman who owned it.
I spied her through the glass front door in her ivory and pink striped chef’s apron and hat.Her inky black hair pulled into a messy bun at her nape.She wasn’t paying the front door any heed since the bakery was closed.I took the time to watch her.It must make me look like a stalker, but I didn’t care.
Beth moved with a quiet grace.Her movements were precise in that they appeared routine.I respected the hell out of her and the way she conducted herself.
Her beauty wasn’t the pretty and cute cheerleader type.Hers was sexy and smoldering that sucker punched a man straight in the gut.
There was strain around her sultry eyes and goddess mouth.I remembered the way her lips felt against mine, remembered how much I had wanted to sink into her and never come up for air.
She still packed a punch.Everything in me wanted her.Yet she was forbidden.After Evan got a few punches in I swore I would never let it happen again.And I stayed away from her for his sake.But also for mine, because when I kissed her that night, I saw a future with her and it scared the crap out of me.I didn’t want to be that vulnerable ever again, not until I could be stateside twenty-four-seven.Relationships didn’t work when the partner was overseas all the time.
It didn’t mean I didn’t want her.Because Jesus H.Christ, being near her had resurrected every ounce of desire I felt for her back then.Except it felt even more pronounced this time around.I ached for her when she wanted nothing to do with me.
I told myself it was good that she hated me now.Otherwise, I doubted I’d be able to keep my hands off her.And then I’d damn us both.The ravenous hunger she provoked simply by existing would subdue any objections.
Beth’s head shot up.Her gaze landed on me.And it felt like she laid a hot poker against my skin.The air was rife with promise, a powder keg awaiting a spark to ignite.
She approached the front door.I studied the gentle sway of her hips.And curled my hands into fists as she stood at the door with nothing but glass between us.She pierced me with her hazel eyes.The green damn near glowing because she felt it too.The quixotic pull that was always present whenever we were near one another.
She opened the door and stood back, giving me room to enter.
I stepped inside, my gaze lingered on her face.She set my teeth on edge as I fought the need to drag her into my arms and plunder her lush mouth to start with.
I wanted her, simply because I did.I couldn’t fault her wariness either.She didn’t trust me.
“Morning.”My voice was gravelly and dry.
“Did Lucas and Wyatt get off okay?”
I nodded.“Yep.They left the same time I did.I have your spare key in my pocket.”
She shut and relocked the front door after I entered.“Would you like some coffee?It’s fresh, I just brewed a pot.”
“I’d love a cup.If you have the tape measure, I can get started.That way I can finish before your employees arrive.”
“Let me go grab it.How do you take your coffee?”she asked on her trek behind the counter.
The woman had an ass that wouldn’t quit.I wanted to bend her over the nearest surface and…Jesus, I had to stop thinking with my dick.This was Evan’s sister.She was so far off limits, she might as well be stationed on the dark side of the moon.“Black’s fine.”
“Are you sure you don’t want some half and half, sugar, or sugar substitute?”
“Nah.I’m used to drinking it black.Maybe when I retire, I’ll start drinking it with other stuff in it.But it’s easier to go without, that way when I’m deployed, I don’t miss it.”
“It’s got to be hard, leaving all the comforts of home behind.”Beth grabbed the largest of the to-go coffee cups.Filled it almost to the brim and snapped on a lid before handing it to me.
Studying the way the light hit her hazel eyes, I took a sip and bit back a groan.I had no clue how she made coffee this exquisite.It was just black coffee.But the flavor rolled over my tongue like ambrosia.And it was just the right temperature.Enough to warm my body on this cool, crisp spring day, but it didn’t scald my tongue nor was it burned.It was perfect, just like Beth.“It can be.But I’ve been in the military half my life and it’s what I know.”
“Still, I know I wouldn’t do well.”
“You might surprise yourself.”
