Page 26 of Things Good Girls Don't Do (Rock Canyon, Idaho 1)

Embarrassment replaced the gooey feelings, and she reached out to pluck the gel from his clutches. “I’m not. It was a gift with purchase.”

He held up his hands in surrender. “Whoa, I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean anything by it. I just never thought I’d find something like that in your room. Nancy Drew novels, sure. Maybe even a few Cosmo mags, but sex aids?”

Katie felt like a horse’s behind jumping down his throat, but after what they’d done only a few minutes before, she was on edge. She’d never done anything like that with anyone. It had been overwhelmingly passionate: her whole body had been on fire, and then it had felt like she was floating. A guy she barely knew, who she’d allowed to touch her however he wished.

She should be ashamed of herself. She knew her mother would’ve probably been shaking her head saying, “Now Katie, I’ve told you a million times, no man’s going to buy the cow when she’s giving her milk away to every Tom, Dick, and Harry.”

Pulling herself out of her silent admonishment, she said, “I’m really tired. I think I’ll take a rain check on that drink.”

She wanted to take

it back the minute the words were out, but Katie really did need time to think. Yes, she had agreed to a casual affair, but did she really want to go down that road with him? And then . . . what? Just part as friends? Acquaintances? Or would they avoid each other as best they could?

She didn’t know if the flash of disappointment was real or her imagination, but Chase’s face settled into a cool mask quickly. “Look, I didn’t mean to piss you off . . .”

“You didn’t. I am just really, really tired and I want to go to bed,” she said, wishing she wasn’t making it sound so much like she was kicking him out.

Studying her solemnly, his blatant scrutiny made her squirm. At last, Chase covered the two steps between them and gave her a quick, hard kiss. She barely had a chance to close her eyes and enjoy it before he turned to walk out the bedroom door. She heard the front door open and close, and then the roar of his motorcycle moments later as he took off down the road.

Way to go, spastic. Just what every man wants, a prude with mommy issues.

With a groan of disgust, Katie threw herself across the uncluttered side of the bed, buried her face in the mattress, and screamed her frustration.

CHASE WAS KICKING himself for rushing out of Katie’s last night, but he was feeling raw from their little encounter too. He’d wanted her so badly, he’d gone home, taken care of himself, and still dreamed about her. It was crazy to get so caught up in a woman like her. She’d get over her little crisis of character and go back to looking through him, the way girls like her usually did.

The next day he’d worked on his new graphic novel and then gone into the shop at five. He stayed open all day on weekends, but Tuesday through Thursday, he went in at five until nine or ten, depending on walk-in clients. Some people in town might not approve of his business, but he’d built enough of a clientele to make Jagged Rock Tattoo a success. Word of his art had spread all the way to Twin Falls, and comic lovers would drop in to shoot the shit. So some of the older, stodgier crowd would have loved to run him out of town, but that was their problem.

He was cleaning up in the back when the front door chimed. He came out and saw Katie standing there, her streaked hair held back in a ponytail. She had on a black tank top with a loose red skirt and a black belt with the word ROCK on the buckle in rhinestones. A bag of Styrofoam containers sat on the counter.

“I thought you might be hungry,” she said shyly.

Moving toward her, he smiled. “Might be. What did you get?”

She opened a container and said, “I got a bacon burger from Jensen’s for you.”

“Then yeah, I’m hungry.” He didn’t know why he did it, but Chase kissed her cheek, lingering over the soft skin. He pulled back slowly, taking the smell of her with him as he said, “Thanks.”

She seemed surprised by his gesture and he wished he could take it back. The last thing he wanted was for her to think he was hoping for something serious. She had laid down those rules in the beginning and he wasn’t going to be the one to scare her off by acting boyfriendly. Nice as she might be, he didn’t want her to have any kind of power over him.

Too late for that.

“I’m sorry about last night. I was embarrassed about the . . . you know, things on the bed.”

He shrugged. “It’s fine, I wasn’t mad.”

She cocked her head. “Really? ’Cause you rushed out and it just seemed like . . . but if you say you’re fine . . .”

“I am. And I didn’t rush out; I was respecting your wishes.” Shut up, asshole, and stop making things worse. He took a bite of his burger and groaned. “I love Jensen’s.”

He caught her frown changing to a smile and almost released a sigh of relief. Just what he needed: to act all butt-hurt. That would be a surefire way to end things before they’d even started.

Katie took a bite of her burger and moaned. “Mmm.” Swallowing and dabbing her mouth with a napkin, she said, “No one makes burgers the way Jensen’s does. I love that he puts fry sauce on them.”

“I don’t know, there’s this diner my mom has worked at for twenty years and it has this special sauce that might make you change your mind,” he said.

“I’ll have to taste this sauce for myself. Can’t take your word for it,” she said.

“Why not?”

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