Need You for Keeps (Heroes of St. Helena, #1)(32)
And they were back to Sheriff. “It was either that or let Warren go off half-cocked and take your pets away.”
“I could have handled it,” she argued. “Easier than having to be served by the guy who had his tongue down my throat the night before.”
And there it was. The topic Jonah had been dying to bring up. Yet, hearing her talk about their kiss in direct relation to his official visit wasn’t how he’d imagined it going down. Neither was the hurt he saw in her eyes.
“Ah, Shay,” he said, wanting to pull her to him. “I came so you could have some kind of warning and a chance to find as many of your pets homes as possible before animal control stepped in.”
“Oh,” was all she said, because the truth of it was, he’d come for her. And now they both knew it.
“Yeah, oh.” To him, they were two separate events from two completely separate areas of his life. But to her, they obviously weren’t. And that was a big problem.
She studied him for a long moment, not shying away when he studied her right back. Nope, Shay held his gaze, never once backing down when it went way past the point of companionable silence and into something deeper, something that had heat and honesty and an intensity that wasn’t going to disappear—no matter how hard they tried to ignore it.
Christ, that mouth. He couldn’t make himself look away.
Her lips were soft and full and a little bit naughty. And when she smiled like she was now, as if she had a secret guaranteed to rock his world right off its axis, all he could think about was being a part of hers. About kissing her again, soft and languid, taking his time to make it a real fireworks and mind-blowing kind of event, where thinking went out the window and all he could do was feel.
Damn it, he wanted to feel.
Being with Shay was like spinning out of control. It was exciting and terrifying and so damn addictive he’d be crazy to go there. She made him want to live in the moment, without regard for the future. And it was that exact train of thinking that had destroyed his life in San Francisco—destroyed several lives—and brought him back home.
Impulsiveness and unpredictability, even when laced with good intentions, had the potential to turn bad. Real quick. And Shay was all of those things. He had no idea why he found her from-the-hip attitude so endearing.
“Jonah,” she whispered, placing a hand on his arm, and he went as still as the night. That’s it. Just a simple touch and every reason he’d come up with for why this would never work between them, how they were bound to disappoint each other, didn’t matter right then. All that mattered was Shay. “We’re getting distracted again.”
“Was there anything left to discuss?” he asked.
God, he hoped there wasn’t. As far as he was concerned, there was nothing he would rather do in this moment than get distracted with a woman who, with one touch, made him feel like a man.
Jonah stared down at her for a long moment, watching how the moonlight played off her creamy skin, then leaned even closer. He couldn’t help it. She smelled so damn good. Like a summer storm and the girl next door all mixed together in some crazy combination that defied logic. She defied logic. All those sharp, guarded edges surrounding that soft soul she kept hidden from the world.
She wasn’t hiding it now—not from him.
Shay swallowed and scooted even closer, until she was on her knees and they were facing each other and he could feel the warmth of her breath against his mouth. And when she whispered, “Nope,” popping the P extra hard, her lips flicked against his with enough pressure to scramble his brain.
“To be clear.” He ran his hands up then back down her sides before settling them on her hips. He’d prefer her breasts, because he was pretty sure that the top she had on, efficient as it was, doubled as a bra. Meaning only one degree of separation, not two. And if he got anywhere near those full Cs, she’d be naked in two seconds flat. And that wouldn’t work because they were outside and he was a gentleman, after all. “Is this another aiming issue? Or are you going to kiss me right now?”
“You’re the detective,” she teased, her voice going heavy, kind of like his breathing. Her gaze square on his mouth, telling him they weren’t just in sync, but that this was about to get real.
And if that wasn’t enough of a green light, she placed one knee, then the other, on either side of his thighs, brought her breasts to eye level, and everything else up close and personal.
Her hands? Yeah, those went to work too, giving him all the evidence he needed, running over his shoulders and down his arms until they were interlaced with his. And just when he thought his night couldn’t get any better, she took him on a tour, across her flat stomach and then down and around to—best day ever—cup her spectacular ass.
“So, Detective, you tell me.”
He didn’t get the chance to tell her that he wasn’t a detective. Or the sheriff. Or even that she had the best ass he’d ever had the privilege of meeting, because he was too busy enjoying the hottest kiss of his life.
Shay kissed like she lived, wild, fierce, and taking it so far past the edge he felt free. She didn’t go for soft or languid, hell no, she used her teeth and tongue to nip and tease at his lips, taking it from kissing to so-f*cking-hot-he-couldn’t-breathe in one touch. But who the hell cared? He had Shay Michaels, the tough, mouthy woman with the bite-me attitude, kissing him like he was her only lifeline. And in that moment, she felt like his.