THEY ATE THE appetizers Loretta had ordered, then ended up staying for dinner. She had a wonderful grilled chicken salad, which tasted so good when washed down with the iced tea she’d switched to for the meal. After the hard work of the game, she was hungry.

Deacon had a grilled chicken salad along with iced tea as well.

“Good?” she asked.

“Yeah. I was hungry.”

“Me, too. Running bases works up an appetite. I’d forgotten how many calories I burn playing softball.”

He grinned. “You’ll be sore tomorrow.”

“No doubt.”

“Did you have fun tonight?”

She grinned. “I had a great time.”

Everyone decided to leave after dinner since it was a work night for most of them. She hugged all of them for coming to her defense.

“You’re all my heroes. Thank you. And thanks for letting me play on the team.”

“You’re one of us, now, Loretta,” Sam said. “Though you were one of us before the softball game anyway.”

Sam hugged Josie, too. “And you’re one of us, too. Especially since you were ready to brawl. Here you are, all sweet and unassuming, and you were the first one threatening to kick the shit out of those women.”

Josie laughed. “Well, no one threatens my friends.”

“Obviously we need to keep an eye on you, Josie,” Bash said, slinging an arm around her. “You’re a good ally to have.”

“And a good friend,” Molly said. “So you might as well get used to all of us.”

Josie looked taken aback, but she smiled anyway. “I really appreciate it. It’s good to feel like one of the group.”

Loretta pulled Josie aside. “Thanks again for having my back.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Oh, and that book you ordered is in, if you want to stop by after school tomorrow.”

“Thanks for letting me know. And I will.”

Loretta and Deacon left the bar and got in Deacon’s truck. He headed north toward her ranch.

“That was an eventful night.”

She laughed. “I’ll say.”

“Did you enjoy the softball game?”

“Very much.”

“So you’re in as far as playing again?”

“I’d love to. And I know Hazel would enjoy coming along to watch once she gets back home.”

“I’ll bet she will.”

When they got to her place, she opened the front door. Otis dashed outside and attacked them with love.

“Otis, down,” she said, not that it did any good. She turned to Deacon. “Want to come inside for some iced tea or water?”

“Sure.”

She was happy he didn’t hesitate. He followed her inside, and she dropped her things at the front door, then headed into the kitchen to pour the iced tea. She turned, and Deacon was right behind her.

“Oh. I didn’t know you were there.”

“Sit.”

He was frowning. And then she frowned. “I am not Otis.”

“But you are limping. Sit so I can take a look at you.”

She laughed. “I’m fine. I can do that later.”

“Your elbows are scraped from that slide at home plate. I want to see your knees.”

She cocked her head to the side. “Oooh, you want to see my knees? Is that some secret man code for ‘I want to get you naked’?”

“No. If I want to get you naked, Loretta, you’ll know it. Now sit.”

Damn. She was hot and bothered and more than prepared to strip naked, as long as Deacon would be willing to do the same.

“Where’s your first aid stuff?”

She lifted her gaze to his. “My what?”

“First aid stuff, Loretta.”

“Oh. Under the hall bathroom sink.”

“Okay. I’ll be right back.”

She watched him walk away, her focus on his butt. He’d always had a great behind. It was even better now. She’d loved to put her hands on him. She remembered grabbing handfuls of his butt when he was on top of her and—

“Okay, I think I’ve got everything I need,” he said as he came out of the bathroom.

She watched him walk toward her.

Yeah, he definitely had everything she needed.

But he wasn’t looking at her in the way she wanted him to. Dammit. She supposed she should get the fantasies of sex with Deacon out of her head. Or should she? Even watching him walk toward her was a turn-on. He moved like a predator stalking its prey.

Maybe she wanted to be the prey. Then again, maybe she was just reading things into his walk that weren’t there.

But as he sauntered toward her, his hips swaying in a dangerous fashion, she didn’t think she was imagining the sexy. The man was just downright hot, no doubt about it.

And when he knelt down in front of her, she felt a little faint. Which was ridiculous, of course. This was Deacon, a man she’d known almost half her life. Nothing new here, right?

Except everything with him seemed new and different now, from the way they reacted around each other to the way he looked at her. And maybe the way she behaved around him, too, as if this was the first time . . .

“Ouch.” She snapped her attention from fantasyland to downright pain.

“You bled. Your pants are stuck to the dried blood on your knees. This is going to hurt. I’m sorry.”

He said the words calmly, as if he’d been the one to cause her knees to be scraped.

“It’s okay.”

He lifted his gaze to hers. “You ready?”

She was so ready—not for the first aid, but for him. She nodded. “Yes.”

He gently raised her capri pants over her knees, taking his time pulling the fabric away from her skin.

This wasn’t the first time she’d scraped her knees. She’d done it plenty in high school, so she knew the drill.

“Not so bad,” he said as he looked her over, then wet a cloth and wiped the blood away.

It stung, but she held still and let Deacon wash off the blood and dirt. After he cleaned the wounds with soap, water, and hydrogen peroxide, he applied antibiotic ointment and bandaged them.

“These pants are toast, ya know.”

She shrugged. “I’ll get over it.”

“Good. And you should slip out of them so they don’t rub against these bandages. Here, let me help you up so you can take them off.”

Now things were getting interesting. He held out his hand and helped her stand. Which she could do just fine, but hey, she wasn’t going to give up the opportunity for touching.

“You do the top part,” he said, “and I’ll hold the bottom part out so they don’t pull the bandages away, okay?”

“Works for me.” She shrugged out of the pants, grateful she’d done laundry last night and had decent underwear on today. The pink silk ones, too. She hoped Deacon would notice.

She grabbed on to the waistband of her capris and tugged over her hips.

Deacon stilled.

“Something wrong?” she asked.

He cleared his throat. “Uh, no.”

His voice had gone deeper. Her lips curved, because she caught him staring at her underwear.

Awesome.

She shimmied the pants down around her knees, then Deacon carefully drew them over the bandages and down around her ankles. She stepped out of them.

He looked up at her. “That’s better.”

Definitely better for her. “Thanks.”

“Now sit again and we’ll do your arms.”

There were other parts of her she’d like him to “do,” but she kept her thoughts to herself. For the moment, anyway.

He sat next to her on the bench. “You should probably pull your shirt off so we don’t have to drag it over the wounds.”

“Oh, sure, get me half naked while you’re fully clothed.” She drew her shirt off and set it aside.

Oh, yeah, buddy, matching pink satin demi bra. Ogle away.

And he did. Though he didn’t look happy about it.

He leveled a most frustrated look at her. “Loretta, this isn’t a game of Strip First Aid.”

Her lips quivered into a half smile. “It’s not? Because that sounds like all kinds of fun. We each take a piece of clothing off, and then take turns bandaging each other’s . . . parts.”

She took a quick glance at one of his parts, which was semierect.

Most definitely all kinds of fun.

“No.”

She looked up at him. “Oh, come on. Where’s your sense of adventure, Deacon?”

“I’m trying to help you out here.”

“Yes, but you know, Deacon, there are other ways you could help me out.”

He laid the clean washcloth in his lap, right over his erection. Too late—she’d already seen it.

“Loretta.”

“Deacon.” She made a point of giving him a look that told him in all raw honesty how she felt.

He dipped the washcloth in the water. “You’re going to have to stop doing that.”

“Stop doing what?”

He gently washed the scrapes on her elbows. “You know what. Looking at me like you want to eat me alive. Like you’re hungry.”

That was one way of putting it. “I want you, Deacon. I think I made that clear the other night.”

He dragged in a breath, rinsed out the washcloth, and put the bowl on the kitchen table. He opened the bottle of hydrogen peroxide to clean her scrapes. “Stop it.”

She let out a soft laugh. “I can’t stop it.” She tipped his chin with her fingers and lifted his face so he was looking at her, not at her elbows. “You don’t really want me to stop, do you?”

“What I want is to bandage your elbows.”

She took the bandages from his hands and laid those on the table, too. “You know what? My elbows are fine. I heal really fast.”

She slid onto his lap and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. “What I’d really like is for you to kiss me.”

“We’ve been over this.”

“Yes, we have, but now I’m trying again and hoping you’ll say yes.” She teased her fingers into the silky softness of his hair.

The look he gave her was dark and dangerous, like a man cocked and loaded with desire and just about near the edge of restraint.

Just where she wanted him.

“You know, Loretta, if you play with fire you just might get burned.”

She shuddered as she drew in a breath. “Then burn it all down, Deacon, and take me with you.”

When his mouth captured hers, it was like a strike of lightning. Hot, fast, and burning her up from the inside out.