As he glanced up into the room, light was shining from the window's torn paper, illuminating the space around Kerry. She looked like the ethereal being that he imagined.
“Landon, did you find it?” she asked, that accent he remembered hearing the night before slipping free.
“Yeah, sorry,” he said as he dropped the papers on the counter, leafing through them to make sure he had everything. “Uh, make sure you fill out everything fully. Knowing this town, the sheriff will probably want to do a background check and everything himself.”
She giggled at his joke and Landon felt like a million dollars at that moment.
He watched Kerry reach for the first page and then search around for a pen before reaching into her bag and grabbing one.
“Mind if I cut on the television while you fill that out?” He waited for her to respond, and when she didn’t, he reached for the remote and turned on a national news station. He was more interested in European football stats, but assumed Kerry didn’t want to hear him hollering at the television.
From behind, he watched as she fumbled through the questions, scratching through her name and pausing at her address.
“Um. . .I don’t have my address available. Today was the first time that I’ve been there and I left the slip of paper in my car.” Kerry turned to face him, looking expectantly with her wide eyes. She nibbled on that plump bottom lip that had him reaching out with his thumb and loosening the flesh from her teeth.
Gliding his hand from her cheek to her hair, Kerry turned fully on her stool to face him.
“So, you’re here permanently?” he asked, taking a step closer to the woman that had him tied up in knots.
“It appears that way.”
“You know,” he began as he slipped his other hand around her waist, loving the way that her breath hitched from his contact. “I do have one regret from last night.”
“You do?” she whispered, her chest moving up and down in a
fast pace as his fingers slipped beneath the hem of her shirt and glided across the skin of her stomach.
“I regret leaving you this morning. If I hadn’t had to be back here to sign for a delivery, I would have stayed. I wanted to stay.”
“You did?”
“Yeah. Would you have let me stay?”
“I would have extended the room stay,” she told him. Kerry’s eyes were shimmering in delight as he took in her words.
Having her this close and insinuating that she had wanted more with him unleashed something deep inside Landon. He practically launched himself at her, crashing their mouths together. Their teeth chattered as they met in the collision.
“You know,” he groaned as their lips and tongue fought for control. “I shouldn’t be doing this with an employee.”
Reaching for the edge of his shirt, Kerry yanked at the material until it pulled over his head. Her hands slid across his abdomen as she pressed kisses against his pecs, swirling her delicate tongue around his nipples. “Well, it’s a good thing that I’m not your employee yet.”
A growl sounded in the room and Landon was sure that it had come from somewhere deep inside him where he kept an animal caged inside. That feral beast was ready for its escape.
“Fuck.”
Landon used his arm around Kerry’s waist to lift her from the stool and placed her aggressively on the freshly polished counter. The papers for her application scattered down to the floor, but he didn’t care. All Landon cared about was getting his next fix of Kerry. And as she wrapped her long legs around his waist, he knew that she wanted the same.
***
Kerry never imagined that when she left Asheville this morning, she would end up here, in Carson, with her legs wrapped around Landon in his bar. The moment she realized that it was him standing behind the shiny counter, she faltered. Granted, once the shock wore off, she was honest with him; it was curiosity that had piqued her interest and rebellion that had her walking side, but staying and making conversation with him was one hundred percent her lady bits staking their claim.
Just watching him dry the glass with a tattered dish rag had her internal muscles clenching in need. She was a lost hope when it came to him. Not only was he devilishly handsome with tattoos that snaked across his arms and chest, but he had a hint of an Irish accent that sent her for a whirl.
When he reluctantly handed her the job application, she faltered at the most basic criteria. Her name? Should she put her real name or the fake one, she used for security. Address? Well, she hadn’t been lying about the local address. She honestly couldn’t remember. And the job experience? Kerry had none officially. She supposed that she could list her charity work and duties assigned by the crown. It was the closest thing she could come to as an answer.
But all of her questions were tossed out the window the moment Landon’s fingers caressed her skin. He was like a tranquilizer that turned her brain to mush. The only coherent thought she had was that she needed him and she needed him right then.
He lifted her onto the bar counter and she ignored the way her skirt lifted to her waist, exposing her thighs and lace-covered bottom to the cold wood. Her skin was so incredibly heated in desire that she gasped at the contact. Luckily, Landon silenced the sound with his mouth against hers.