“Oh,” I say as understanding dawns. I grin. I let my eyes roam up and down her body. “You’re turned on right now.”
“Shut up,” she says, and she turns on her heel and marches toward the front of the store.
She sets the basket on the counter and I lean close to her. “Tell me I’m wrong,” I say quietly, my mouth right next to her ear. A noticeable shiver creeps up her spine as goose bumps travel across her chest. “You can’t,” I pronounce triumphantly.
“Shut it,” she hisses. Her cheeks turn even pinker and she’s so damn cute I can barely stand it.
Shy looks from me to her and back, over and over, a crazy grin on his face as he rings up all my purchases.
“You going to have a visitor at the lake, Ethan?” he asks as he analyzes all the purchases, putting them in bags.
“My son is coming to spend the night,” I tell him, a bit of pride in my voice.
“Glad to hear it.” He’s still looking from me to Abigail and back. “I hope you guys have a good time.” After I pay him, he leans casually on the counter. “Y’all have a good day, you hear?” He laughs to himself.
Abigail’s cheeks are still so pink that she looks like she’s been in the sun too long.
She marches out in front of me, and Shy calls my name just before I leave.
“Ethan.”
I turn back.
“I’d give just about anything to know what you were whispering that got her all twitterpated.” He chuckles.
“I told her she’s sexy as fuck,” I say with a wink.
He raises his brows. “That’s all it took?” He scratches his stomach. “If I tried that on my wife, she’d probably tell me to go mow the grass or something so I can expend some energy.” He laughs loudly and waves goodbye.
I find Abigail standing next to my truck, where she’s tapping her toe, her arms folded in front of her body. “You okay?” I ask her.
I take the bags and load them onto the front seat of the truck. She stands there, saying nothing.
“How long are you going to be mad at me?” I finally ask.
“I’m not mad.”
I let my eyes roam up and down her body. “I might have been away from women for a really long time, but I know when one is upset.”
“I’m not upset.” She sniffs. “You just surprised me, that’s all.”
I walk closer, pushing her back against my truck with my body ever so slowly. She steps back until the truck braces her, and my body lines up along hers, all my hard parts touching all her soft parts in exactly the right places. She lifts her hands to rest on my chest, like she’s going to push me away. But she doesn’t push me away. She does quite the opposite. Instead, she softens her hands against my chest.
She glances toward the front window of the store. “What are you doing?” she asks, her gaze checking to see if Shy is watching.
I really don’t give a fuck if he’s watching or not.
“I’m not sorry for telling you how I feel about you,” I say. I
lean down and kiss her cheek, holding her gently against the truck. Her pulse beats rapidly at the base of her throat; I can see it pounding beneath the tender pink skin. “I do think you’re sexy as fuck, and I want to move this relationship forward so bad that I can barely stand it.” I punctuate my sentence with a kiss to the side of her neck. “But I’m not sure how accepting you’re going to be when you find out who I really am, so I can’t do what I really want to do.”
“What do you really want to do?” she asks quietly, her eyes lifting to meet mine. I see the world inside those eyes, or at least everything that’s great about it. I see her kindness, her empathy, and I see that she wants me just as much as I want her.
“I want to make love to you. But I’d kind of like for you to know who I am, first.” I press a kiss to her temple. “That okay with you?”
She nods, and she leans forward to bury her face against my shirt. She sucks in a big breath, and I palm the back of her head, holding her close to me. “Is Shy watching?” she asks quietly, her voice muffled against my shirt.
I let out a chuckle. “I’d bet my life savings he’s in there taking pictures.”