“You’re moving out of the hotel?”

I gestured toward the office at the back of the cavernous warehouse. “I’ll buy a cot or a small bed and sleep back there while we’re undergoing renovations.”

Ruth walked to the door of the office and peered inside, her small nose wrinkling at the dust her movements had kicked up. “You’ll need to hire a maid first.”

“I might.”

She turned, leaning against the door frame as she watched me come toward her. “Then you’re staying in Ellaville.”

“For the foreseeable future.”

“What about your family back in Memphis?”

“Some are supportive. Others think I’m running.”

“Running from what? Your ex-girlfriend?”

“Yes.” I didn’t see the point in lying to her. “She works at our company headquarters.”

“Really? Is she an…what did you call it?”

“An operative. But, no, she’s actually my older brother, Brent’s, personal assistant.”

“Isn’t that awkward?”

“It was. But it won’t be anymore.”

“Because you’re here.”

I touched the side of her face, the backs of my fingers brushing against her warm skin. “That, and because I have other things to occupy my thoughts now.”

She blushed, but she welcomed me when I moved in for a kiss. Another three days had passed since her brother came to see me. I told her what he said and offered to stop coming around, but she’d insisted that she was going to make her own choices. And she chose me.

My hand wandered from her face to her hip, drawing her close to me. She came willingly, her hands slipping over my sides, her palms pressed fully against my ribs. A part of me wished desperately that there was already a bed in that dusty old office, even as this little voice in the back of my head warned me that she wasn’t ready for that, even though I was desperately ready. More ready than I think I’d ever been. Blue balls were no longer a joke I laughed at with old friends. Cold showers could only do so much.

But there wasn’t a bed, and she pulled away, sliding under my arm as she made her way back across the warehouse.

“Will you stay after the renovations are done?”

“I don’t know. Someone will have to manage the office.”

“But your family is back in Memphis.”

“You keep pointing that out.”

“You don’t think you’ll eventually get homesick?”

“I might. But it’s an hour’s flight back. It’s not like we’re in Europe or something.”

“True.” She turned to look at me. “You think you could be happy living here in Ellaville?”

“I think it’s the people that make a place a home.”

She blushed, that familiar blush that touched her cheeks a dozen times every time we were together.

“The things you say,” she sighed.

“I wasn’t necessarily talking about you,” I announced. “I do have other friends here. Harry, my buddy from the DEA. And Alli and her girls out on the highway. And I’ve gotten to know the girl at the donut shop pretty well.”

She glanced at me, hurt in her eyes. But then she saw I was teasing and shook her head, marching across the room toward the front doors.

“We should go back. Someone might stop by the bookstore and notice I’m gone.”

“It’s nearly midnight. Who would do such a thing?”

“My brother.”

I snagged her hand before she could reach for the door and turned her around, stealing another of those impossibly sweet kisses. She slipped her arms around my neck, pressing her body hard against mine. I took advantage of that, pushing my hands into the material of her skirt as I took handfuls of her bottom and lifted her up, holding her like a child in my arms. But she was as far from a child as a woman could get.

Our kisses had taken a decidedly passionate turn these past few nights, her curiosity taking control over her innocence. She did things with her tongue that threatened to push me over an edge. I’d had to leave her alone in the bookstore last night because my balance on that edge was dangerously precarious.

I was back on that edge tonight.

I tugged at her skirt, pulling it up high enough to slip my hand underneath. Her skin was warm and silky, almost as sweet against my skin as it tasted on my tongue. I ran my fingers up along the outside of one thigh, dancing across her flesh with hesitation, waiting for her to reach down and stop me. But her arms remained locked around my neck, her lips firm on mine. That made me bold.

Her panties weren’t panties, but long briefs that were more like shorts than underwear. It took some work to get my hand inside, but I managed it. Amazing what strong determination could do. My fingers brushed the swollen lips of inner core, and she stiffened, pulling back from my lips.

“Jack…”

“I just want to touch you,” I whispered roughly against her lips. “Please, let me touch you.”

She groaned, but she didn’t pull away when my fingers brushed that spot again. I had to adjust my stance, move my hand around a little, but managed to find that place that had the power to drive a woman into a frenzy of pleasure. She gasped when I touched her again, and then her eyes slowly closed, her lips warmly parted. I leaned forward and nibbled at her bared throat as my fingers went to work, showing her just a sliver of the pleasure I had to offer her.

I watched her face as we did this dance. The beauty that played there was entrancing. I couldn’t have pulled my eyes away even if I’d wanted to. And the moans that slipped from between her lips were like the bass notes that made the music perfection. She dug her fingers into my arms as she reached her pinnacle, a moment that nearly sent me over that cliff, that nearly took my control away. I had to close my own eyes and remember that this woman was different from the others I’d been with. This woman was special and deserved to be treated that way.

I nuzzled against her throat when it was done. “You okay?”

She made a funny sound low in her throat. “I don’t know. Is it always like that?”

I sighed against her ear. “I like to think so. Most of the time.”

“Then I guess I understand now why so many people are obsessed with this.”

I laughed softly. “You’re certainly making me obsessed.”

She laughed, too, slipping her arms around my neck. “I know I’m going to hell because of you, but I don’t really care in this moment.”

“Good.”

I kissed her roughly, letting myself lose just a touch of control for that brief moment. She moved against me in such a way that suggested she was ready to lose a little control, too. But my cell phone rang, and the sound of it pulled me out of that bubble she always pulled me into.

I tugged the device out of my pocket, recognizing Alli’s number immediately. “I need to take this.” I set Ruth on her feet and stepped back, turning from her as I pressed the phone to my ear.

“It’s Harry. You’ve got to come now.”

“The shop?”

“No. The hospital. He’s been in an accident!”