“I tried the friends-with-benefits thing. It didn’t end well.”

She laughed. “Dude, I don’t want a friends-with-benefits thing. You and me? If we get naked and horizontal? We’re in a relationship. I’m not saying I want your ring. But the f**kbuddy thing never works. Well, for you all—meaning boys—it does. But I know my strengths. If you were out there banging other women, I’d be miserable. I don’t need to be with you every minute of the day. You’re busy. I’m busy. But when we’re not busy with other people, we can hang out.”

He gave her a look. “This is the weirdest conversation I’ve had in a long time.”

“You’re from the South and you’d say that? Pfft.”

He laughed. “Okay. How about I take you out on a real date? Like to a movie or something first?”

She was in his lap again, Buck barking happily in the background. “Are you worried for your virtue?”

“I’ve never met anyone like you before.”

She kissed him quickly. “Yeah. I’m one of a kind.”

She was. Damn it. He never should have agreed to any of this. But it was a way he could have her. And he really wanted her.

“It’s Friday night. Why don’t we go to the Tonk and dance?”

“No. It’ll be noisy and full of people I try to avoid on a daily basis.”

He kissed her chin. “How about a bike ride then?”

Her frown changed. “Really?”

“Yeah. I haven’t had much of a chance to ride lately. Because you’re such a horny woman, I only had two sips of my beer. We’ll go for a long ride. I’ll put a blanket in the saddlebag and we can make out under the stars.”

“You’ve got a deal.”

Chapter Six

He wasn’t sure why he wanted to do a date type thing instead of f**king her right then. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to. He wanted to get her naked so much his hands had shook.

Joe couldn’t remember the last time he’d wanted something so much. Especially something so fine as Beth Murphy with her bawdy mouth and her wise eyes. She’d seen a thing or three. He knew it because they had come up together.

She’d had it worse at home. He’d been poor too, but she’d been…worse. Her house was a battleground. A sick trash heap of abandoned hope. Of the bottle, of fists and angry words. He didn’t know the whole of it, the details. But he understood enough, even from the outside.

Joe carried around a lot of rage. So much that he choked on it every day. But she didn’t appear to. And of the two of them, she deserved to far more.

William had darkness inside him. He and Joe had been close enough to have gotten into more than a few fights together to blow off steam. He still had it, Joe could see, at the edges, though he now had a family, which had clearly centered him.

Beth though, Joe wasn’t sure how she’d managed, but there was no anger there. No darkness that he could see. She was irreverent. Funny. Smart, especially about people. And dogs. But the hardness her mother had, the anger of her father, seemed to be absent.

She was beautiful and special, and while he couldn’t give her the sort of relationship she deserved, he could give her a little bit of time before he tore her clothes off.

Joe grabbed an extra helmet, and Buck gave him a look, but accepted the new rawhide chew after he’d come back inside. There was a doggie door and everything, but Buck had been with Beth, in her house where everything smelled good, and now he was going to be alone for a few hours while Joe took her out for a ride.

“Dude, I want to spend some time with her. She’s never been on a motorcycle she said.”

Buck snorted but settled in to chew, preparing for an evening of napping. He raised one brow as if to tell Joe not to mess it up.

“See you later. Don’t let anyone burgle me.”

She opened her door, smiling as she walked right up to him, put her arms around his neck and tiptoed up, pulling him down for a kiss. Then she walked past, to his bike. She circled it, and goddamn if it wasn’t sexy the way she touched it here and there. Peered at it, clearly impressed.

“This is a seriously sexy motorcycle. I’m just sayin’.”

He licked his lips and moved to her, grabbing the extra helmet, handing it over. “Yeah? Just wait til it’s between your legs.”

She let out a shuddery breath and he let the satisfaction steal over him. He liked affecting her that way. It shouldn’t all be one sided.

“I’m looking forward to it.”

He got on and she followed, allowing him to help.

She didn’t need to hold on. He could have told her she could sit up and hold the seat. But when she snuggled close against his back, those thighs of hers to either side of his body, the hot notch of her pu**y against his back, he said nothing.

Her arms slid around his waist and he leaned back a little. She pressed a kiss to his neck, and he smiled, pulling out and then slowly down her street, heading out of town.

She lost track of time. Aware only of the way his back felt against her body. Of the way his muscles tensed and bunched as they took a corner.

The night all around them was glorious. The twilight casting a pink-orange glow on the world.

He pulled down a long road out toward the lake and stopped but didn’t get off. He reached back, giving her an arm to help her down. She was tall, but he made her feel small. Not helpless. She liked it even as it sort of kept her off balance.