Her smile shot through him, pulling him closer.

“You did? I love ice cream sandwiches.”

Buck barked. She frowned down at him. “Not for you, Buck. You’ll get sick.”

He snorted.

“He’s a pig. You can’t tell him no because he doesn’t care. I brought his bowls but I’ll keep him outside so he doesn’t get food on your floor.”

She laughed. “Do you feed him outside at your place?”

“No. But we have company manners.”

She bent and pulled out a placemat. “I’ve got toddlers over here quite often. They’re worse I bet. We’ll put the bowls on this.”

Once she’d fussed around and Buck had pigged out—and Joe and the dog both knew he’d just eaten at home—they settled in on her comfortable couch.

She clinked her bottle to his. “Cheers.”

“Why’d you stay in Petal?” He’d asked it so suddenly it surprised them both. “I mean, you didn’t have the best childhood here.”

She shrugged. “I didn’t. But Petal isn’t about my parents.”

No, but he’d noted the look in Dolly’s eyes when she’d taken Beth in. The thing about travel, even to dangerous shitholes where people shot at him all day long, was that he could see where he came from more clearly. Petal was a good place in many ways. But divisions existed. Class mainly, though certainly race as well.

“At first? I stayed because I didn’t have the means to go anywhere else. I had an accounting job, and it was good enough to get me some healthcare and to pay rent. Tate and Anne started the salon, and they needed some more capital. I bought in. My brothers started having babies, and then I couldn’t leave or how could I see those kids as often as I want to? Tate got married and had babies and she’s…well, she’s my touchstone. I could move a few towns over. I worked in Riverton a while before I came to the shop. But…I think I stayed as a big middle finger to the people who made fun of us because of our clothes and our parents. I’m still here because Petal is my home. Jill, my youngest sister, she lives in Atlanta. She’s got a fancy life and a great job. But boy do I miss her. She’s cut out for that life. Big and exciting. Fast paced. I like it here. I like the slower pace.”

She’d been tearing the label off her beer and looked up, her gaze locking with his.

He wanted to kiss her really badly. Jesus.

He sucked a few gulps of his beer down and tried to break that moment, but she wasn’t letting it go.

“You should take pity on me.”

She smiled. “I should? How’s that?”

“You should stop being so hard to resist.”

She leaned forward, placing her beer on the low table. And then she climbed into his lap, settling in, her body facing his, the hottest part of her sliding over his cock.

“Am I then?”

Her hair slid across his forearms.

He couldn’t find his words, so he nodded. This close he could see the freckles over the bridge of her nose, the gold flecks around her pupil. She smelled good. Soft and sweet. Sexy.

She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Resist me then,” she whispered, her lips just shy of touching his.

He barely registered putting his bottle down. All he remembered later was the feel of her as he caressed up her arms. The warmth of her skin, the weight of her body in his lap as he shifted, his hands sliding into her hair to cup her neck, pulling her close.

And the electricity as the kiss began.

Her taste rolled through his system, taking over, filling him with a need so sharp he couldn’t stop himself from rolling his hips, pulling her tighter against him. She moaned softly, tightening her grasp around his shoulders.

He swallowed that moan, taking it into himself right before he left her mouth, kissing across her cheek to her ear, tasting, nibbling. Her head tipped back, and he feasted there on the tender skin just below her ear. Her breath stuttered and he smiled against her throat.

Her fingers sifted through his hair, holding him in place. “You like what you like, don’t you, darlin’?”

She laughed, straightening to dip and grab a kiss. “I do.”

“You taste good.” He nipped her bottom lip.

She leaned close, licking over his bottom lip. “Yeah? Ditto.”

Beth couldn’t believe she was finally in his lap, his arms around her, her lips swollen from his kisses.

And it was a million times hotter than she’d ever imagined.

He smelled so good it drove her nuts. Her skin was hypersensitive. Where his hand cradled her neck, the heat of him sent waves of sensation outward. He was big and powerful, and yet the way he held her, the way he touched her was totally controlled.

He settled into a kiss like he was on a long, slow Sunday drive. He held her exactly how he wanted her. It sent a shiver through her.

Then he pulled her hair. Just enough to get her head back so he could kiss down to the hollow of her throat.

She was pretty sure she’d never been so turned on in her whole life and all her clothes were still on.

Her nails dug into the muscle of his shoulders as she writhed, grinding herself into him, needing more.

“Hold on there, darlin’.”

The way he said darlin’ made her all hot and needy. Hell, what he was packing inside his jeans made her needy too.

She managed to drag her eyelids up as he pulled her upright.

“Why am I holding on? We were getting somewhere good.”