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You are not going to sleep with hiain, she told herself fir You’re only here now because you’re curious about him

And also because he’d looked hot today at the hospital Da, attracted-to-him-like-a-moth-to-a-flame-type probleood-bye on the night of the auction had been…abrupt Although nothing about what had occurred before that had felt abrupt Nope, everything had been…a

She stopped at the entrance to the line for the Ferris wheel When her inner dru turned into a prickle at the base of her neck, she turned in a slow circle

And found Ty watching her

He was leaning back against the pier railing, legs casually crossed at the ankles, looking for all the world like a guy who h to walk a beach pier

They both knew that wasn’t true

And good God, just looking at hi to her His hair was tousled, like he’d been shoving his fingers through it Stubble darkened his jaw, and his fir The scar above his broas new and shiny, and the lasses only added to the whole ruffian look he had going on

It suited hioes and a dark T-shirt snug across his broad chest and loose over his abs He looked big, bad, built, and dangerous as hell

And he was hers for the evening

Hers

Not one of her s her head It was about…being Living

Feeling

And the man definitely made her feel, a lot Already in their short acquaintance, he’d made her feel curious, annoyed, frustrated, and the topper…

Aroused

She was feeling that right now in fact, in spades She wanted to shove up his shirt and lick him from Adam’s Apple to belly button

And beyond

Slowly he pushed the sunglasses to the top of his head and his stark green eyes locked unwaveringly on hers She knew he couldn’t really read her uiltily anyway for where her thoughts had gone

He pushed away fro fluidly and utterly without thought She had no idea what she’d expected, but it wasn’t for him to take her hand in his and pull her around to the side of the Ferris wheel, out of view, between a storage shed and the pier railing

"W-what are you doing?"

He didn’t answer Hehands on her, lifted her up to her tiptoes, and covered her mouth with his

Her purse fell in a thud at her feet Her fingers slid into his hair And when his tongue slid over hers, all her bones melted away

Then before she knew it, the kiss was over and she eaving unsteadily on her feet, blinking him into focus "What was that?"

He scooped up her purse and handed it to her "I lost "

"And you’re not?"

His eyes heated "We could fix that"

"Oh no," she said "You said you weren’t a long-term bet You said you weren’t even a short one"

"But I’s"

"Yeah, about that I’ve rearranged the order of the list" This was a bold-faced lie She’d not rearranged the list He was the list

He raised a brow "Did what’s-his-naet ahead of me? The one who sleeps with anyone with boobs?"

"Maybe"

"I was at the hardware store today," he said "Anderson was there, flirting with so in, his mouth found its way to her ear "You can take Anderson off your list"

Oh no he didn’t He didn’t just tell her what to do "I--"

He pressed her into the railing and kissed her again Apparently he didn’t want to hear it That was okay, because she forgot her own naue in his mouth, her hands in his silky hair, and her brsts mashed up to his hard, warm chest She’d have climbed inside him if she could

You cao back to that, she squeezed her thighs, thinking keep theed hers, and then he slid a ood Drawing on soth she didn’t know she had, she pushed on his chest For a beat he didn’t budge, then he stepped slowly back, his eyes heavy-lidded and sexy

"Okay," she said shakily "Let’s try so to lead to round two of sex in a public place" His expression was giving nothing away Not exactly open, but she was a woman of her word, and she wanted to knoas a ? Are you… she couldn’t seeet out of her head It was the way he carried hi, and that bone-deep stoicism Not to mention how he’d looked while at Ryan’s bedside--like he knew to the depths of his soul what Ryan was feeling

A lory laugh ru to ease into this then"

"Yeah" She was glad to see the smile "You don’t know this about me, but I tend to jump in with both feet"

"I noticed" He looked at her, his eyes res thata few cars"

This didn’t exactly answer her question, and in fact, only brought on more questions "So you’re a mechanic?" she asked

"While I’ht Why h it was a fair enough question He already knew that what they’d done that night at the auction had been a first for her, but what he didn’t know, couldn’t knoas that she’d only been able to do it at all because she’d felt soers "Like I said, it’d been a long time"

"So I was handy?"

"Well, Anderson already had a date, so…"

He growled, and she laughed "I don’t know exactly," she admitted "Except…" Just say it "I felt a connection to you"

He was looking very serious now, and he slowly shook his head "You don’t want to feel connected to me, Mallory"

"No, I don’t want to But I do And there’s ?" he asked

So he’d also overheard her entire conversation with herskills