Page 34 of Sugarloaf Ridge Lies

The engine roars to life, country music filling the cabin. “What are ya doin’ tonight?”

My mood deflates. “Preparing for teacher interviews. I’ve got a full afternoon of them tomorrow.”

“But it’s Sunday. You gotta work weekends too?”

I shrug. “Sometimes. It’s my first year. And I owe it to those kids to give it everything I’ve got.”

Jerry smiles. “I hope they realise what lucky little buggers they are. No wonder Gracey thinks you hung the moon. You bend over backwards for those kids.”

“They’re worth it.” Eyes on the road, I imagine their sweet faces. That’s what will get me through the work ahead.

A short while later Jerry pulls up beside my car in the council carpark behind the antique store.

“Before you go, there’s something we need to do.” He turns up the volume and exits the car before I can ask him what.

Casey Barnes’ sultry voice and words about crazy feelings has goosebumps charging over my skin. I’ve never been a big fan of country music, but since moving here, it’s grown on me. Hope ropes its way around my heart as Jerry boogies to the music around the front of his Ute, two steps forward, one back until he reaches my side.

My door swings open and he offers his hand. “Come on.”

“What are you doing?” I laugh.

He angles his head back. “We need to dance.”

I scan the busy carpark as he pulls me to my feet. “Dance? Here?”

“Yup,” he says, popping the ‘p’. His arm snakes around my waist, drawing me into the vacant car space beside us. “One song. This one’s perfect.”

“Okay,” I say, almost breathless.

“God Took His Time on You” blares from the speakers as we move together. Jerry’s deep chocolate pools captivate me as he drills me with his heated gaze. He sings the lyrics, sure and true, as if he’s played the song a hundred times before. As if the words are his way of voicing how he feels about me. At least that’s what my heart wants to believe so, so much.

“This song is beautiful,” I say and smooth a wayward strand of dark hair from his face.

He blinks and clears his throat. “Ain’t got nothin’ on you, sugar.”

Jerry dips me and pauses before kissing me tenderly. His soft lips command mine, like a drug, the best kind. I want more.More, more, more.

“Wow.” My heart bashes against my ribcage as I heave for breath.

Jerry smirks as if he knows how he’s moved me. By the rise and fall of his chest, he must be experiencing the same.

In slow motion, Jerry draws me upright, grips my hips and plants his feet firmly beside mine. The simple act brings me back to Earth, slightly giddy, as if I’d momentarily been transported to another universe, where I’m held, cared for.Loved.

A wolf-whistle rings out nearby, and a tingle climbs up the back of my neck as a couple walk past, grinning and clapping.Nat and Carter?Boy, I’m never gonna hear the end of this from her.

It spurs Jerry on, spinning me around before hugging me and lifting me off the ground. I squeal his name as we whirl.

I cup his cheeks and slam my lips to his. Jerry chuckles against my mouth as he slides me down the front of his body, back to solid ground, against the growing hardness tenting his pants, which I can’t stop myself from pressing into.

“Not sure this was the best idea,” Jerry says through a chuckle, raising one brow.

“It was the best.” I beam.

His hair falls around his face as he shakes his head. “You screamin’ my name like that... And you lookin’ at me, like you are now, ain’t helpin’.”

A vision of the two of us in a tangle of crisp sheets vaults into my thoughts. “Like what? Hungry? Starved?” I tease, remembering his comment at the pub the other night.

Jerry wraps his arms around my shoulders and presses a long kiss to my forehead. “Bein’ with you... you make me wanna forget all my responsibilities.”

The song fades as a loud ring cuts through the sexy fog surrounding us, as if we’ve been splashed with an ice-cold bucket of water. “Like lunch,” Jerry says. “Penny’s gonna have my balls.”

I bite my lower lip. “Then you’d better go.”

“See you tomorrow? Maybe?” He grins, expectation in his eyes.

I have a big week ahead, but I need to make time for us too. There’s more to life than work. “Hopefully. Text me.”

We promptly say our goodbyes, because neither of us want Jerry to be castrated.

That’d be a damn shame.

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