“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Sure you do. You’ve got it bad. Real bad.”
“I do not.”
“Oh, you’ve got it sooo bad.” His grin spread. “And for a city girl at that.”
“Jud-”
“I know. I’ll shut up just as soon as I get to my point.”
“You have one?”
“Very funny.” Jud shoved in another bite and shook his head. “Mmm, that girl really got it right this time.”
“Your point,” Riley said through his teeth.
“Ah, yes.” He wiped his mouth with a napkin. “My point is, I’ve been worried. I thought you were going to let love pass you by. It disturbed me, because if ever a man was made for having a family around him, it’s you, Riley.”
“I have family. I have my dad. I have-”
“A woman. I mean a woman. And your own kids.”
“Whoa.” Riley lifted a hand. “Just stop right there. I’m not even close to thinking about that stuff right now.”
“Ah. You’re still thinking with your zipper.” Jud nodded smugly. “That’s okay, too. I figure you deserve that, the rest will come.”
“Jud-”
“She’s a fine woman,” Jud said quietly, nodding to Holly. “I misjudged her, and so did everyone else. Get her to stay, Riley.”
“Are you kidding? Soon as she’s able, she’ll hightail it out of here.”
“She likes you.”
“No.”
“Do I need to remind you about those flour handprints?”
Jud let out a low laugh. “Wants me, maybe. But like? No.”
“Son-”
“And even if I’m wrong, it’s nothing that won’t go away when she’s tired of slumming.”
“I think you’re underestimating the both of you. Get her to stay.”
“That’s not up to me.”
“Sure about that?”
They both looked at Holly, who was smiling a bit nervously at Dan. Dan pointed to his glass of ice water, and must have made a crack about where Holly had spilled it the last time she’d served him, because she blushed.
Blushed. Looking nothing like the sophisticate she had only two weeks ago, Riley couldn’t tear his eyes off her. “I’ve gotta go,” he said to Jud, who merely lifted an eyebrow and smiled knowingly.
“Of course you do, son.”
RILEY CORNERED HER in the storage room, where she’d gone to get more napkins.
“Riley?” she gasped in surprise when he slammed the door behind them, pressed her back against a shelving unit and slid his hands into her hair.
“What are you doing?”
“This.” He took her mouth with his. He had to. And it was no gentle, hey-how-are-you-today kiss. It was a hot, fiery mark of possession, which might have given him pause, if he could think.
“Wait.” She tore away after a long, breathless, soul-searching connection. “Wait just a minute.”
“No.” He leaned in for more, and she gave it, until with a weak laugh, she put a hand to his chest and pushed.
“Riley…I can’t think when you do that.”
“Thinking isn’t required. You look delicious. All messed up and off balance.”
Her hands went to her hair. “I’m messed up?”
He laughed at her horrified expression. “Perfectly. Damn, I’ve got to taste you again.”
This time the kiss lasted until they both broke it off, panting. She stared into his eyes, then dropped her gaze to his mouth. She licked her lips, looking dazzled, dazed, and so damn hot he groaned and reached for her once more.
Laughing a little, she pushed at him again. “I have customers!”
“And two employees. Let’s go to my place, Holly.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh, my God-” She broke off on a moan when he trailed his mouth over her jaw to her ear. “So fast. Too fast. I’ve only known you for a week.”
“Two. How long is long enough?”
She bit her lip, her eyes wild with the desire she was attempting to control. “I’m not sure.”
“Another month? Another week? Another day? It’s not going to make a difference in how I feel, Holly. The only difference will be you could be gone.”
“I- Yes,” she whispered.
“So, why wait?”
“I’m not leaving yet.”
“Do you want me?” His fingers played with the back of her dress, which had a cutout over her spine. When he skimmed over her bare skin he shuddered in delight.
So did she. “Yes. Yes, I want you.”
He moved closer, shifted a hard thigh between hers and slipped his fingers beneath the material of her dress.
“You’re not playing fair,” she said, pressing closer to him.
“Neither are you, looking so wicked in that dress.”
She laughed, though she seemed a bit wary now. “It’s old, but it’s also the only item of clothing I have left that hasn’t been stained.”
“I told you to stick with that pink apron.”
“Riley.” Again she looked at his mouth, and her longing was unmistakable. So were her reservations. “I can’t. Not with you. I just…can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because you-you’re-” She closed her eyes.
He felt cold suddenly, and forced himself to move back, to separate himself from her. “Yeah.” It shouldn’t hurt like this, not when he’d known it would happen. “Too small town for you, right?”
He’d opened the door and stepped out when she put her hand on his arm. “Riley, you don’t understand-”
“Believe me, princess, I understand.” But he didn’t have to like it. “I understand perfectly.”
THE DAY TURNED OUT to be an entire waste of makeup.
Yes, the evening at the café could only be considered a success. Maybe they hadn’t filled every seat, but they’d satisfied every customer. It was more than Holly could have hoped for.
Businesswise, things were perfect.
Personally, things weren’t so perfect.
After Riley had left, she’d been unable to concentrate on anything but the way she felt inside, all humming and throbbing and panicking at the same time.
She’d hurt his feelings. The big, easygoing, laid-back sheriff who’d seemed so invincible, and yet she’d hurt him. She’d let him go knowing he thought she felt herself above him instead of the truth-she couldn’t allow herself to be with him because he was different from all the other men she’d known.
He alone could hurt her, and yet she’d hurt him.
She had to go to him and fix things, but there was only one way to do that, which was to give in to the physical attraction between them.
It was silly, especially since he’d never said he wanted more than sex.
So, what was holding her back? It’d been a long time for her; surely she deserved a little spice.
Right?
Wrong. Because even she, the master of ruining her own happiness, knew that getting a “little spice” with Riley wouldn’t end there. Couldn’t. Not the way she was beginning to feel about him.
With all that in mind, it was no wonder she took the streets a tad fast. She’d seen all her customers fed and out the door happy.
And now she was headed straight to the grocery store, in need of an entire carton of ice cream all to herself-double-fudge chocolate. It was her most secret, most standard comforter in times of need.
There’d been many such times over the years.
But right now she felt more needy than usual. The store was nearly empty, for which she was thankful. She bought a carton and a spoon because there was no way she could wait until she got home to begin pigging out. She was in crisis mode and needed immediate gratification.
A hug might have worked just as well.
The thought came from nowhere and she had to let out a rueful laugh. There was no hug available at the moment, so she’d do with empty calories.
She drove with one hand on the wheel, the other spooning ice cream into her mouth from the open container between her legs. At the red light she had to shove the full spoon into her mouth to down-shift, and she was still sucking on it when the light changed.