“I think she knows I’m flirting with you.”
I looked back at where Julie was whispering to the new customers, a group of teenage boys, and pointing our way. I laughed when she caught me looking and then blushed and looked away. “Is that what you’re doing?”
Thad took a pull from his shake and then eased out of his booth to slip into mine. He rested his arm on the booth behind me and leaned in to whisper. “I’m doing whatever I can to convince you that you like me.”
Chocolate teased me and I sighed into his side. “It’s working. You smell like chocolate. You tasted like chocolate earlier.”
He stroked his finger down my cheek and leaned in closer. “You tasted like mint. I wonder if you still do.”
I pressed my face into his hand and let my eyes flutter closed. He was touching my scar, but I didn’t feel like it mattered. I didn’t get the impression he was looking at it. My body kicked into an even higher gear when Thad brushed a kiss against my mouth. “More.”
He groaned but didn’t kiss me again. His mouth brushed my ear as he whispered to me in a rough voice. “If I kiss you again right now, I won’t be able to stop. Unless you want to be on the menu, I have to move.”
I made a noise embarrassingly close to a whine and opened my eyes to look up at him. “This is crazy.”
He moved back to his side and rubbed his face. “It’s intense. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted a woman more, Rain. I’m dying over here.”
I fanned myself with a napkin. “I know I’ve never wanted a man more. I’m burning up.”
His face tightened. “We don’t need food.”
I was about to agree when Julie showed up with our food. I thanked her with my eyes still on Thad.
“We’ll actually take this to go if you can box it up for us, Julie. Something came up.”
She giggled even more. “Sure, Thad. Momma said y’all are going to burn up this booth if you don’t get out of here soon, anyway. She’d come out to tease you herself, but she’s elbows deep in a cake for Sarah Davis.”
Thad finally looked away from me, breaking the spell, and threw money on the tabletop. He stood up and pulled me up from my seat, walking me in front of him to the front counter, where Julie was putting our food and shakes in to-go containers.
His grip on my arms was tight, but it just fueled the fire. I shifted back, needing to feel him, and felt my eyes go wide when his hard-as-steel shaft brushed against me.
Thad grunted and took our bag from Julie. “Thanks. I’m sure we’ll be back soon.”
“Get it!” A catcall came from the booth of boys and then a round of laughter and applause.
I turned to glare at him, exposing Thad’s hard-on, and making them laugh even harder. I looked up at Thad and tried to cover a smile. “Oops.”
He growled and walked me out of the place quickly. Before we even got around to my side of the truck, his hands were on my waist, turning me to face him so he could slide his mouth over mine. The bag rattled around in his hand as he slid it around to my ass and gripped it tight to pull me harder against him.
I gasped as I stood on my tiptoes to feel him press against me there and he slipped his tongue into my mouth. The taste of chocolate burst in my mouth and I moaned even as I shoved my hands into his hair and grabbed his head, needing more.
My back ended up against the truck as Thad bent me over it, kissing me like a man possessed. His hand slipped down my side and over my hip, hooking behind my thigh and lifting my leg so it wrapped around him. It opened my core up so his erection pressed into it.
I cried out, feeling like I was going to explode already, but unwilling to let it happen in front of place called Molly Moo’s. “Thad… Truck.”
He kissed down my neck and chest, licking under the neckline of my dress when it wouldn’t go down any farther. “What about it, baby?”
I dropped my head back on the hood and grinned up at the night sky. He’d called me baby. It was stupid, but I liked it. “Not here. Take me home.”
His head snapped up and he shook it. “Fuck. I’m sorry, Rain.”
I grabbed his head and lifted myself so we were eye to eye. “Don’t apologize. Just take me home and fuck me.”
His eyes flashed and he nodded. “Come on.”
I was shoved into my side of the truck a second later, my seatbelt jerked on, and then a few seconds after that, we were flying down the road towards his house. I rolled the window down, needing to cool off for a second. “Again, this is crazy.”
He glanced over at me and licked his lips. “Take your hair down.”
There went my chance of cooling down. With his voice all growly like it was, there wasn’t a chance I’d ever feel normal again. I yanked my hair down and ran my hands through it. “Now what?”
His hands tightened on the steering wheel as we got closer. “Now I get you home and get you naked.”
Feeling a wild abandon that I’d never felt before, I took my seatbelt off and reached behind me to unzip the dress.
“What are you doing? Put your seatbelt back on.” He slowed, always careful, but kept glancing over at me.
“You didn’t say you had to do those two things in order. I’m helping hurry things along.” I dragged the dress down one arm and then the other, holding it to my chest until Thad looked back at me and then letting it drop to my waist.
He swore. “Seatbelt back on.”
I lifted my hips and shimmied out of the dress completely before sliding closer to him on the bench seat. “You make me feel wild, Thad.”
Without looking at me, his hand moved to my thigh. His fingers dug into my skin as he blew out a breath. “Dammit, woman, your skin feels like silk.”
I was about to open my mouth to beg for him to touch me when a siren sounded out from behind us. Shocked out of my lust induced craze, I yelped and reached for my dress.
Thad waited until I was dressed and in my seat to pull over, the grin on his face infuriating once I could think clearly again. “Well, shit.”
I turned to face him and felt a bolt of heat shoot straight to my core when his eyes burned down my body, taking in everything like I was still naked. Groaning, I crossed my legs to try to ease some of the pressure I was feeling.
“You got us in trouble.” Thad glanced in the side view mirror and rolled his window down. “Sheriff.”
A guy a few years older than us leaned down and grinned a knowing smile at Thad. “Well, if it isn’t Mr. ‘I can’t get a beer with you, I’m working.’ That sweet little thing over there don’t look like work to me.”
Sweet little thing? I almost looked behind me because I’d never been called sweet.
Thad’s grin grew. “Can’t talk about it, Gray. You know how it is.”
The man named Gray turned his slow grin to me. “And you. What are you doing hanging around with this guy? I hear he gets boners in Molly Moo’s.”
That had Thad groaning. “This town should be ashamed of how much it gossips.”
Gray patted Thad’s cheek. “Wasn’t gossip this time. Brad Gathers’s boy put a picture up on his Instagram. You’re famous.”
I laughed. I covered my mouth when Thad shot me a look, but it was useless.
“I don’t know why you’re laughing. You’re famous, too. Looking straight at this idiot’s package with a look on your face that’s never been seen inside of a nice place like Molly Moo’s before.”
My laughter died and I frowned. “Make it go away.”
Gray shrugged. “It’s a pretty great picture.”
Thad shook his head. “Have him take it down. At least for a week or so.”
“Why?”
“One of those things I can’t talk about, but she shouldn’t be seen here.”
“You brought work home? And you’re screwing it?”
I scoffed. “I’m still sitting right here.”
Thad reached out and smacked the man’s head. “Don’t be rude. Just have him take it down for now.”
“Forever.” I chimed in.
“I’ll have him take it down for now. He’s going to expect something from you, you know he is. He’s just like his daddy.”
“Tell him to come see me and we’ll talk about it. Just make sure it comes down.” Thad looked over at me and the heat was still in his eyes, not dampened by the scare at all. “We’re going now.”
Gray laughed. “Slow the fuck down from now on. I get it, but you’re driving like a maniac.”
Thad mumbled something that sounded dangerously close to “you try driving with a naked woman next to you.” When I slapped his arm, he grinned. “See ya, man.”
Gray waved and nodded at me. “Stay safe. And when you realize this idiot is just that, you can find me around town.”
Thad scowled and put the truck in gear. “I should run over your toes, asshole.”
“And you should kiss my ass.”
“I’m leaving now.”
“Good.”
I leaned over and touched Thad’s thigh. “Take me home. You can argue with your boyfriend later.”
Both men scowled at me, but I didn’t care. I was still excelling at pushing everything out of my mind. I was ready to be alone with Thad.
He shook his head and pulled way, sending one last wave to Gray before glancing over at me. “You want to take your dress back off?”
I touched my neck and watched as his eyes followed my hand down to my chest and then back up. “I think I’ll keep it on for now.”
He grunted and sped up. “Just another minute or two until we’re home. Are you sure?”
“What’s beyond sure?”
“Fucking sure?”
“I’m that. I’m fucking sure.”
“Thank God.”
Not even a minute later, he was sliding into his driveway and jumping out to come around to open my door. As soon as he did, he grabbed me and tried to pull me out to him, but I was still in my seatbelt. We both pushed at it, unable to get it with both of us fumbling around. In a moment of insanity, he pulled a knife from his pocket and moved it to the seatbelt.
“Thad!”
He looked up at me with the knife against the material. “Yeah, that’s crazy, isn’t it?”
I’d already managed to get the seatbelt unsnapped, since his hands were out of the way. I held it up to his eyes and smirked. “A little crazy.”
He slipped the seatbelt out of the way and took my hand. “Coming?”
I intertwined my fingers with his and nodded. He hurried us into the house, making quick work of checking his security system, and then dragged me up the stairs after him.
My heart was beating an erratic rhythm. My palms were sweaty as he pulled me into the farthest room from the stairs and pushed me against the door. I reached for him even as he pressed the length of his body against mine.
“I’ve wanted to touch you like this since I saw you.”
I held onto his sides and pressed a kiss to his neck. “You were scowling at me like you hated me.”
“I was angry at Cash. But the feeling was instant. I wanted you. Like this. Hot and in my arms, a smile curling your lips.”
I ran my tongue across his throat and groaned as his hands roamed down my sides until they hooked under the skirt of my dress and touched my thighs. “You make me feel drunk and out of control. I don’t want it to stop.”
His fingers brushed over my panties and kept going higher, dragging the dress higher. When he touched the sides of my bare breasts, we both gasped. “Fuck, Rain. No stopping.”
Ever, my brain whispered.