Page 39 of I Want Crazy (Loco, Texas 3)

Before she could finish, he was reaching into the tackle box and pulling out a plastic baggie and a bowl.

“What’s up, Norman?” Red asked, his tone practically jolly.

It took Jessie a second to realize he was talking to the possum. “Did you just call that thing Norman?”

He walked over to a clump of trees and set the bowl down, emptying the contents of the bag into it. “Jessie, this is Norman. Norman, this is Jessie.”

Suddenly, Jessie realized she was soaking wet and cold and all because he’d made friends with the local wildlife. “Aren’t there laws about feeding wild animals?”

“Norman is a bit of an odd duck. I’m pretty sure he was someone’s pet, and they dumped him out here when they got tired of him. I’ve been coming here for most of my life, and the last four years, Norman here has shown up looking for handouts.”

Getting up on her feet, she tried to shake off, but the sound of his laughter froze her movements.

“You…backed…into the…water?”

His wheezing between guffaws pissed her off, and she glared at him. “I was sitting there, minding my own business, and your fucking pet scared the shit out of me.”

The bastard had the audacity to hoot at her, and she took off her shoes, dancing from foot to foot as she wiggled out of her jeans.

“What are you doing?” he asked, sounding wheezy.

Slipping her shoes back on, she walked over to where he lay and threw the wet jeans in his face.

“Hey!”

While he was distracted, she shoved her hand into the front pocket of his jeans and grabbed his keys. Before he could grab her, she was running down the trail to his car, his angry shouts following her.

“Damn it, Jessie, get back here!”

She ignored him and kept running, her feet kicking up dirt as she raced to the car. He wasn’t going to be laughing long when she stole his car.

She was ten feet away when the sound of his shoes eating up the distance pushed her to go faster, but it was too late. His arms wrapped around her waist, and she let out an oomph as he rolled with her, taking the brunt of the impact. She tried to get up, but he wrestled her onto her back, his hands holding her wrists above her head.

He hovered above her, and she was achingly aware of his chest heaving against hers, her nipples tightening with every movement. Before she could catch her breath, he was pulling his keys from her fingers and shoving them into his back pocket, making him press into her harder.

“I can’t believe you were going to take off with my car.”

She was desperately aware of the cool air on her bare legs and that the thin cotton of her panties was doing nothing to protect her from the rough denim of his jeans.

And now she couldn’t remember why she was running in the first place.

Her tone flirtatious, she whispered, “Maybe I just wanted you to chase me.”

His eyebrows shot up, and she laughed out loud at his surprise. Laughter that stopped abruptly as he leaned over her, his lips inches away. With one hand, he still held her wrists, but she felt the other fall on her calf and start sliding up, heating her skin wherever it touched. As it slipped between their bodies, trailing fingers over the inside of her thighs, she sucked in her breath and her legs spread involuntarily. She didn’t even care that she was lying on a bed of dead leaves and dirt, not when his large hand cupped her between her legs and he ran one of his digits along the wet cotton, teasing her.

She whimpered as he pressed in, and his lips claimed hers, his tongue slipping inside her mouth to rub against hers. She pulled away from his hands, and when he released her, she reached up to push his jacket off his shoulders. He moved his hand from her heat and helped her, jerking his arms out of the sleeves and tossing it aside as her hands found the bottom of his T-shirt, bunching the fabric as she pulled it up his torso. His shirt followed his jacket, flying off to land next to the car.

He pulled away, and she devoured his wide shoulders and sculpted chest, wondering what she was thinking when she thought she didn’t like muscles. He was a thing of beauty in the soft moonlight and the blue-and-red glow…

Blue and red?

Suddenly, a siren and a loud speaker boomed. “Freeze!”

She turned her head to see a white police cruiser parking behind Red’s Charger, the blue-and-red lights on top spraying the dirt road with color. Red cursed but held his hands up, and if she wasn’t embarrassed as hell, she would have laughed.

The door to the cruiser opened, and an older man climbed out, one hand on his hip. As he approached the two of them, he pulled his gun, and Jessie held her breath as he trained his weapon on Red.

“Get up off the lady, big fella, and lie face down on the ground, slowly.”

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