Page 145 of The Troublemaker

“That’s not what you’re going to get from me. I...”

She knew what he was trying to say. Maybe if they had never separated things would’ve been different. Hell, they probably would’ve been married.

He probably would’ve been her first time.

They would’ve moved in together. They might’ve had a baby way too early.

They would’ve been stuck in the same cycle they had come out of.

She would never have gone to school. He would never have learned a trade. She would wait tables at the bar, maybe he would work at the mill.

No shame in it. None whatsoever. Part of her actually ached for it. For the future that wasn’t. The possibility that never would be. But she couldn’t regret where she was now.

And now... What he was saying was there was no way back to that place. And anyway, she wasn’t supposed to want. She had walked away for a reason.

This is hardly the same place you came from.

Yeah. It wasn’t. But all Jude James was, was unfinished business. The promise of something. The possibility of something that could never really be now. But maybe that didn’t matter. If there was one person who could make her play the part of bad girl just for an afternoon, it was him.

He was practically a stranger. Except he wasn’t. And that added an edge to the whole thing. A bit of excitement that fired in her veins.

“You said you had dinner plans,” he said.

“I’ll send a text and let them know that I got busy.”

“I hope you know exactly what kind of busy you’re acting like you want to get.”

“I know,” she said. “But you’re right. We wanted each other back then. We were just too young to do anything about it. But we aren’t now. You’re not a virgin and neither am I. We both know what this is. We ran into each other today. I think about you. I think about you a lot. And I... You’re the exact opposite of everything I go for now in a guy. Do you have any idea how exciting I find that?”

“Really. I think it’s a little insulting.” He took a step toward her, a dangerous light in his blue eyes. “You are the opposite of what I go for in a woman. You definitely don’t look like the kind of girl who’s out to have a good time. You look like exactly what you are. A girl out to buy some peaches and go home and have a family dinner.”

“I might surprise you.”

And right then, she decided to surprise them both. Before she could think it through, she took a step forward, wrapped her arm around his neck, and stretched up on her toes for a kiss.

And her world turned to flames.

CHAPTER FOUR

HERLIPSWEREso soft, her hand gentle on the back of his neck, and when she arched forward, pressing her lush breasts to his chest, he let out a groan of desire.

He hadn’t expected this. It wasn’t why he’d invited her over.

But you wanted it.

Well. Hell yeah, he had. He had hoped. That was the thing. That someday...

What he wanted to do someday was hold her in his arms. Indulge in the molten heat that had flared up inside of him when he was a teenager, wanting what he knew he wasn’t good enough to take.

He still wasn’t. She was... She was sweetness and light. Except, she wasn’t. There was an edge to her kiss that he hadn’t expected. Sugar tinged with a little bit of heat. When her lips parted his and their tongues met, he felt a shudder of desire roll through the both of them.

And that was when he found himself wrapping one arm hard around her waist and crushing her body to his.

He intensified the kiss, claiming her mouth.

She moaned, and he felt her hips walk forward, making contact with the rock-hard jut of his arousal.

He wanted her.

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