He put his hands on the bars. “Hey. Are we still on for tomorrow?”
I shook my head, snorting. “No, I don’t think so. I ran into Davin earlier, and he let spill that you’ve been using me. I think I’ll pass on anything else with you beyond professional courtesy.”
He cursed and then leaned his head against the rusty bars. “I know it looks bad, Bree, but I can explain. It’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Yup, here’s the explanation.” I crossed my arms. “You’ve lied to me twice now. And I suspect there’s something supernatural curling under your skin. Something you don’t want to tell me. It’s one more thing you haven’t been honest about.”
He swallowed hard, and I found myself glowering into his eyes while keeping up whatever mental protections I could. Because I was no fool. Something about him drew me, and whatever supernatural sauce he had, he’d been using it to get close to me. In that, he wasn’t a lot different than Crash. He closed his eyes again. “I’m as much of a bastard as my cousin. Just in a different way.”
“You introduced him to Davin,” I said, that piece of information reminding me that he—Corb—had done more damage than he’d probably ever intended. “Davin helped him screw me over. And it looks like Davin wants me out of Savannah. Why?”
Corb opened his eyes and frowned. “What? Davin helped him? I didn’t know that. I swear, I didn’t!”
I didn’t even know if I could trust that small bit of surprise. I took a step back. “Thanks for letting me stay with you, Corb. That was a good thing you did. And for cleaning my clothes that one night. And for kissing me to make Alan jealous. All good things. Honest. But that’s where it ends. I’m done with liars.”
I turned my back on him and walked down the street. The gates creaked open, and then a hand on my arm spun me around.
“I didn’t kiss you to make him jealous,” he said, moving toward me. I didn’t expect what was coming next, honest.
Because suddenly that cheeky bugger was kissing me again. Only, it wasn’t a casual kiss that felt nice and had a little spice behind it, or even the panty-melting kiss he’d planted on me in front of Alan.
This kiss felt like the ocean crashing over me, drowning me in salt water that slid under my flesh, caressing every inch of me with this man’s touch and his taste, making my skin shiver in anticipation. This kiss had an oomph that I’d previously felt only with Crash, except instead of fire, it filled me with night air and the pull of the ocean tide. I dug my hands into his hair and held him tightly, feeling like there was something just outside the edge of my reach if I could only find it. I might have groaned. I’m not really sure, or maybe it was him.
His mouth slid off mine before I could grasp that elusive something, and it was then that I realized we were all tangled around each other—my arms around his neck, his arms around my back, one of his hands in my long hair and the other firmly grabbing my ass. To top it off, my legs were wrapped around his waist, which meant I could tell all too clearly just how happy he was to have me plastered over him.
Corb’s breath came in gasps as if he too wasn’t sure what had happened there. “Sorry. I’m sorry. But please don’t push me away. I haven’t felt like this about anyone for a long time, and I can’t just let you walk away. I don’t see you as someone to use. I don’t. No matter what other people might say. Even if yes, that was the original job. It changed very quickly, Bree. You have to believe me.”
I unwrapped myself from him, getting myself back onto solid ground. Robert’s finger bone dropped to the ground, and he appeared once more at my side and let out a growl, which helped pull me back from the brink of forgetting that Corb had been lying all along.
“How can I trust you?” I said, hating how breathy my voice was with all those hormones rippling through me. Hot damn, that kiss had been something else and every part in me was tingling with a desire I couldn’t shake.
He smoothed a hand through his hair. “We start again. You be honest with me, and I’ll be honest with you.”
I quirked both eyebrows up. “Just what have I lied about?”
“Nothing.” He held up both hands. “It was a figure of speech. Please let me take you out tomorrow. We can talk then. I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”
Well, that was interesting. I still wasn’t sure I wanted to get closer to him—my body’s reaction was way too strong and that made me stupid—but I had nothing planned for the next night and my brain and hormones were scrambled badly, which meant that I wasn’t really thinking about saying no. “Fine. One dinner.”
And that was how I ended up going on my first real date in almost twenty years with a man younger than me, who held a wallop of power he’d been keeping hidden, and seemed determined to gain my interest back.
Yup, just call me a cougar.
9
The walk back to my gran’s house helped shut off all the wild hormones, the pulsing of blood in my veins that called me back to Corb’s arms. But not even the coolness of a Savannah night could burn off everything he had awakened in my body.
Which only left me feeling more confused. If you’d asked me after my kiss with Crash that morning, I would have told you that nothing could be hotter and there was no one I’d rather roll around naked with for hours on a plastic sheet with a heck of a lot of oil.
But the kiss with Corb had been just as strong, in a different way, and at a certain moment I’d wanted to just . . . I couldn’t even find the words, but the closest I could come to was press myself into him. To sink under his skin. To let him wash over me.
I’d gone from being married and having zero sex to having two smoking hot guys kissing me in one day. Younger me would have been horrified. Older me was somewhat fascinated that this was even happening. And just kind of running with it. I mean, I didn’t really have to choose between them, and I still didn’t feel like it. Even if Crash had basically told me we’d be terrible together and Corb had lied to me.
“Weird, this is too weird,” I whispered to myself.
Robert grunted and I glanced at my companion. “Robert, you don’t like Corb?”
He gave a rolling shrug as he swayed along but said nothing. So I tried again. “What about Crash?”
Another rolling shrug and I burst out laughing. “Robert, you don’t like either of them?”
“Friend,” he said softly. And held out a hand.
“Ah, Robert. It really sucks when the sweet guy is the dead guy.” I put my hand in his and his skeletal fingers tightened over my mine.
That’s how I ended up walking all the way home holding hands with a skeleton. See? I told you Robert wasn’t the worst date I’d ever been on.
I left Robert under the sprawling oak tree in the front yard, Spanish moss hanging low off the branches, swaying only slightly in the breeze. Kinkly gave me a wave from a branch partway up the tree, turned her back to me, and wrapped her wings around herself.
Up the front stairs I went, pausing on the threshold of the door.
Above my head was the distinct sound of furniture bumping rhythmically around.