He shifted on his feet, feeling the hunger all the way to his toes. “I would love to drag you behind the nearest building and kiss you until you couldn’t stand up by yourself.”
Her lips parted on a shocked breath. She turned toward Teddie, not looking at him. “I would love it . . . if you did,” she blurted out.
“Oh, God,” he groaned.
“‘Four score and seven years ago’,” she began reciting Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.
She turned around again and he looked down at her in shock.
“It’s what I did at school when I got all embarrassed and couldn’t think of what to say to somebody,” she explained, and flushed, and then laughed self-consciously.
He burst out laughing. “I started calculating the absolute value of Pi,” he replied, and now his dark eyes were twinkling.
“Lincoln’s address is much shorter,” she pointed out.
He grinned. “So it is.” He caught her hand in his and linked their fingers together. “People will talk,” he added softly.
Her fingers tangled in his. “Let them,” she said huskily.
He pulled her along with him and they went to find Teddie.
* * *
Teddie, of course, noticed the new attitude between both the adults in her life, and she smiled mischievously when they got back to the ranch house.
“Thanks for driving us, Parker,” Teddie said on the front porch, and impulsively hugged him and then ran to unlock the front door. “Happy Halloween!” she called back as she went inside. “I’m going to eat candy and watch TV!”
“Not too much!” Katy called after her.
“Okay!”
Parker chuckled. “She doesn’t miss a trick, does she? I guess we might as well be wearing signs.”
“She’s intuitive,” she agreed.
He reached out lazily and pulled her to him. “How about a movie Saturday night?” he asked. “We can take Teddie to see that new cartoon one that came out.”
“I’d love to go to a movie with you.”
He bent his head toward her. “We can’t make out in a theater,” he whispered. “Probably a good thing.”
“Probably a very . . . good . . . thing,” she agreed as his mouth brushed slowly over hers.
“Come up here.” He lifted her off the ground against him and his mouth grew gently invasive. “You taste like honey,” he whispered, and smiled against her lips as he drew her closer.
She smiled, too. She loved the way he kissed her. He wasn’t impatient or demanding. He was gentle and slow and seductive.
“I like this,” he whispered.
“Me, too,” she whispered back.
He drew in a quick breath and slowly lowered her back to her feet. “One step at a time,” he said huskily, holding her just a little away from him. “We could get in over our heads too quickly.”
She nodded. She was staring at his mouth. It hadn’t been enough. Not nearly enough.
He read that hunger in her. “Too much too soon is dangerous,” he said firmly.
She nodded again. She was still staring at his mouth.