Tanner shrugs. “Don’t care about an apology. Now let’s go. Unless you want some dessert?”
Tanner quirks an eyebrow at me, and I smirk. “I think I’ve got some dessert at home.”
He leans in and pulls me close, murmuring in my ear. “I don’t think I can last the long drive back to the ranch. You look so good in that dress; I’m about to lose it.”
His breath heats my bare shoulder, and I inhale, trembling. “Back to your motel room, then?”
“You read my mind, baby.”
Baby, he called me. Someone somewhere called me that once upon a time, but I don’t think I can even remember their face.
ChapterTwelve
Tanner
I drive us to the motel up the road from Willie’s with a hard-on the side of the Texas panhandle. Not that I’m bragging.
If my ego, or anything else, is inflated tonight, it’s all Casey’s fault. She’s buckled herself next to me, her thigh against my thigh, our shared warmth fogging up my windows.
My hands scramble to unbuckle Casey’s seatbelt when we arrive at the motel. I can’t wait until we’re inside to kiss her and decide the steamy windows are enough privacy for me to put my lips on her.
I cup her face in both hands as Casey reaches for the front of my shirt. Our lips meet in the middle, kissing hard and frantic.
She grips my shirt to pull me closer as if I’m going anywhere. I smile against her lips, lost in her taste, in the jasmine-scented skin and the soft brush of hair against the backs of my hands.
I suck her lower lip into my mouth, and the soft moan from her nearly does me in.
My eager Casey runs the tip of her tongue along the seam of my lips, teasing me open. I groan at the sensation of our tongues licking, teasing, and tasting. Casey tastes like peppermint, bringing all sorts of wicked thoughts about what that minty lip balm would feel on my dick.
Slow down, Tanner.
“You want to go inside before we break any laws?” I ask when I pull back from the kiss, breathless.
“Huh? Break what laws?” Casey brushes her hair back from her face, and in the motel’s security lights, I can see her lips are swollen and pink from our kissing, and her chin looks red from my bristles.
“Casey,” I rumble against her mouth, unable to stop kissing her. “If we keep this up, I’ll be undressing you right here in the parking lot, and we’re both gonna get arrested for public indecency. As much as I’d love to give this town something new to talk about, I don’t want that to be it.”
Casey lets out a small laugh, then loosens her grip on my shirt.
She lets go and sits back against the seat, her heated gaze taking on a seriousness that wasn’t there before.
“I need to know something before we go in there, Tanner.”
Weaving the fingers of one hand through hers, I reply, “Anything.”
“If I sleep with you tonight, will I see you again? Or is this just a fling?”
She blinks at me, her face soft but her eyes full of longing. “Sweetheart, you’ll see me again whether you sleep with me tonight or not. You’ll see me tomorrow, the next day, and the next day.”
She stares back at me, confused. “You have to be in Calgary tomorrow,” she reminds me.
I shrug one shoulder and throw out, “Not if I decide to retire early.”
I sense her body tense. “Tanner.”
I smile. “Casey.”
“You can’t just up and retire out of nowhere.”