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.I think I can get her out of town unnoticed, now that some of the pressure is off.Can we come for a visit?”Sam sank down onto the desk chair.“Damn, Hunt.I want that more than anything.I’m just terrified to say yes.”“Say yes, Sam.We really need to see you.Give us a couple of days.Then we’ll come back to Duck Creek.”Sam couldn’t hold back his desire to see his girl and his brother.Caution flew out the window as he melted into the chair.“Yes.Bring her.When can you come?”“Dude, we can be there this weekend.”“Okay.Listen, Hunter.I know this hasn’t been easy for you.Thanks for looking out for her.I owe you everything.”“You…you don’t, man.You don’t owe me anything.”“I love you, Hunt.”“Love you, man.See you in a few days.”After they hung up, Sam sat staring at the phone.After almost three months apart, he was going to be reunited with Ever.Even if it was just for a little while.Did it only have to be a little while? Why couldn’t it be for good? A prospective future in Nelson Island bloomed beautifully before him.He had a job; he was making money.He could get a place for the two of them.If Hunter wanted, he could find a job and move down, too.They could do this.It had been enough time.The cops were still looking, but they hadn’t figured out that Ever was still speaking to him.They thought he was long gone.And he was.They could do it.They could start a life together.The comfort that thought provided surrounded him, soothing him from the inside out.Made him feel like he had his old purpose back again.Then his thoughts drifted to Aston, and he came crashing back down to earth.He would have to be around Aston all the time.He worked for her father.At least until the end of summer, they’d be together.They’d gotten to a place where they could work together, completely ignoring the electricity that sizzled between them when their hands accidentally touched.They managed to avoid eye contact altogether, because meeting one another’s eyes led to an unconscious movement toward one another.But he couldn’t ignore the conversations they shared.The little tidbits of knowledge he was gathering about the girl he called Princess were worming their way into his heart.Inevitably, they were growing closer with every hour they spent together.Maybe having Ever around would fix it.Whatever was wrong with him when Aston was around, Ever could change it.The front door opened and Reed strolled in.“What the hell, dude?” he asked indignantly.“I’m sorry, Reed.You just walked into my place, and you’re the one saying ‘what the hell’?”“Well, yeah.I haven’t seen you in weeks, man.We’re supposed to be friends, remember? And what the fuck are you wearing?”Reed stared at him, aghast.Sam looked down at his black slacks.He’d rolled up the sleeves on his plain white dress shirt, but he still looked more formal than Reed had ever seen him.He spread his arms and grinned.“I had to grow up sometime, Reed.Don’t worry, it’ll happen to you, too.”“Shut your dirty fucking mouth.Get that shit off, Sam.We’re going to Sunny’s tonight.”Sam groaned and fell back onto the couch.“Come on, man, I’ve worked all day.I have visitors to get ready for.I don’t have the time or energy to go out tonight.”“Sam, if you don’t get off that motherfucking couch right now, I’m going to call Blaze,” Reed warned.“And what fucking visitors?”“Fine,” Sam answered.“But I’m taking my bike.I need to be able to come home on my own when I’m done.”Reed nodded.“Agreed.What visitors?”Sam grinned.“My girl’s coming to visit.”“No fucking kidding?”“Yeah.And my brother.”Reed’s eyes narrowed.“This will be interesting.We’ll take them out this weekend.I’m out.I’ll see you at Sunny’s in less than an hour, right?”“Right.”“Don’t make me send Blaze, Sam.”Sam placed his hands in the air, surrendering.“Never.”Thirty minutes later, Sam rode into the parking lot of Sunny’s and killed his engine.He removed his helmet and got off the bike.His boots crunched in the gravel as he carried the helmet with him up to the door.“Well, that was a whole ’nother kind of hot.” Aston’s remark blasted him from the shadows beside the door.“Oh, man.” He paused in his path to the door, searching for her in the darkness.“In about a month, I’ve gone from shit under your feet to hot.This is definitely progress.”She stepped out into the light washing down from the door, and Sam’s breath got lost somewhere between his mouth and his lungs.She wore a lacy black bustier-style shirt that screamed at him every naughty thing he’d ever thought.As hard as he tried, he couldn’t keep his eyes from traveling down to the cleavage spilling out of the front.The lush skin at her neckline played peekaboo as the creaminess contrasted sharply with the tight, black fabric.Her cutoff jean shorts had him aching for home, and she was wearing a pair of black cowboy boots.Cowboy boots.It was the boots that almost pushed him over the edge and stopped his feet from continuing their forward progress.Years of containing his natural urges and attractions nearly came crumbling down around him.He couldn’t handle Aston Hopewell in boots.She could walk around in her spiky stilettos and expensive sundresses.But cutoffs and boots? Now she was speaking a language that led straight to the place that he tried so hard to fight; his groin twitched just enough to remind him that he was still a living, breathing man.“Aston.” He spoke slowly, working against the inappropriate images that flooded his mind.He couldn’t disguise the tight strain in his voice no matter how hard he tried.She stepped up beside him, dropping her cigarette on the ground beside her and stamping it out.Surprise registered on her face as she peered up at him.“You mad at me, Waters?”Her scent, always so spicy and sweet, wafted over him as she stood there with hands glued on her hips.He braced himself with one hand against the wooden doorjamb.“No…no, I’m not mad.It’s just…you’re wearing, uh…”Shit.Now he couldn’t even form a full sentence without stuttering all over himself.Aston and her damn outfit were turning him into a drunken idiot, and he hadn’t even set foot inside the bar yet.She leaned against the other side of the doorway.A teasing smirk played over her lips, and he knew…he knew she could read his thoughts like she was reciting them from a book.“I’m wearing what, Sam?”He closed his eyes briefly.When he opened them again, she was still standing there, eyes burning into his.Hers were an ocean of azure, and they were smoldering.The heat in her gaze sent a shock of caffeine straight to his lower extremities, causing an immediate erection and he cursed himself for losing his shit over a girl who was so far from being his.He struggled for control of himself.Fought the urge to reach out for her hips so he could drag her up against him.Reminded himself that he wasn’t allowed to do any of it.Her boyfriend was probably waiting for her inside.His girlfriend was his whole reason for breathing.“Boots.”She stared down in open shock.“You like my boots? I’m a Carolina girl, Sam.Of course I own a pair of boots.”Sam stared at her, standing under a halo of yellow light from the fixture above the door.Looking for all the world like the darkest, sexiest kind of angel and causing him to forget where he came from.With just a look, she was doing things to his body he’d never felt before, never allowed himself to think about.“Aston,” he said, his voice barely a whisper [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]