“Yeah. Looks are deceiving.” He shot Sophie a side glance. “You women are ruthless when you want to be.”
“We women? What about you men? You can be impossible.”
He pulled off the road, taking an exit that led to an old building and empty parking lot. Joe parked in the lot, turned the engine off, and faced her. “Do you know what’s impossible? Thinking this would be a comfortable and practical relationship. I don’t regret picking you, but it’s not comfortable or practical.”
“I’ve been nothing but practical. Whatever you want, I’ll do—”
“Now you’re just torturing me.”
“How?”
“Girl, all I want is you. And you’re the one thing I can’t have.”
She huffed a shocked laugh. “What are you talking about? We’re married. I’m your wife. You have me.”
“Not where I want you,” he growled, the sound deep and husky and distinctively male.
The sexy rasp in his voice made her heart race. “Where do you want me?”
“Under me, on top of me, next to me, against me.”
Sophie’s cheeks burned hot and her lips parted in a silent gasp.
“Nothing?” he said. “Have I shocked you?”
“No,” she whispered. “Not shocked. Maybe surprised.”
“Surprised?”
“I know we have some chemistry when we kiss—”
“This isn’t chemistry. This is insanity. I think about you, and making love to you, twenty-four seven. I shower three times a day just to try to deal with how much I want you. It doesn’t help that you sleep down the hall from me, and give me such chaste little kisses, but I don’t want your chaste little kisses. I want more. I want you.”
“Then take more.” Her voice cracked. “Take me.”
“Take you?” he repeated, voice rough and low. “Don’t tease. I’m close to losing my mind.”
“Can’t have that,” she said, unbuckling her seat belt and slipping from her seat to settle onto his lap. She was facing him, her hands resting on his big silver belt buckle. “Don’t want to make you crazy. Things are complicated enough as they are.”
In the dark, Joe’s eyes searched hers, and then he dropped his head and his mouth covered hers in a slow, hungry kiss that sent electric darts of feeling from her mouth to her breasts, and from her breasts to her belly and beyond. He reached up to clasp the back of her head, angling his mouth closer to better taste her.
Sophie rocked forward, pressing her chest to his, craving the friction of his denim covered erection against her inner thighs.
Joe’s tongue swept her mouth, stirring tiny nerve endings, and reminding her how it felt to have a man want her, love her. And maybe Joe didn’t love her, but his kiss made her feel alive and beautiful. His kiss made her hum and shiver with need.
She’d thought she’d never feel this way again. She thought she’d lost the chance to be wanted, desired, cherished and yet this new husband of hers was kissing her senseless, turning her body—and heart—inside out.
Suddenly, Sophie couldn’t get close enough, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing herself to him, welcoming the hard planes of his big muscular body against her softness. And just when Sophie thought he’d unbutton her blouse or unzip her jeans, he drew back and stared into her eyes.
“What do you want, Sophie?” he asked, cradling her warm, flushed face between his hands. “What do you want from me?”
Her pulse thudded so hard. She fought to catch her breath. “I want you to want me.”
“I do. What else?”
She took another breath, trying to steady her racing pulse. “I want you to like me.”
“I like you so much it’s got me tied up in knots.”
“Don’t be in knots. I like you, too. A whole lot.”
“Do you now?”
“Yeah,” she said, smiling into his eyes, and tugging on a strand of his crisp straight hair.
“What else do you want?” he asked.
She shrugged. “I don’t have a list of demands, Joe. I want you happy, and I want to be happy, too. I’m hoping we can be happy together.”
“What did you want from Leo?”
She shook her head, uncomfortable. “It’s in the past. It doesn’t matter.”
“Not that far in the past. It was just December.”
She leaned against Joe’s chest, his body so warm she wanted to get lost in him. “I thought I was in a forever relationship,” she said slowly. “But it wasn’t. And I lost faith in me, and I lost faith in him. I guess the part that still bothers me is that I didn’t see the end coming. I didn’t see that there were problems.” Her shoulders lifted and fell. “But maybe I didn’t want to see the problems. Maybe that’s why I’m cautious with you. I want us to be the real thing. I want us to work, to last.”
“We will. That’s a promise.” Joe gathered her long hair back from her face and neck, and pressed a kiss beneath her ear. She shivered, and he kissed her again, a little lower, on the side of her neck where she was sensitive. Sophie arched and sighed, unable to hide her pleasure.
And then his hands were under her blouse, his palms so warm against her skin, sending streaks of dizzying sensation throughout her body. It had been months since she’d been touched, months since she’d felt attractive or desirable. As his hands caressed over her stomach and up toward her ribs, his knuckles brushed the underside of her breasts and that light, fleeting touch made the air catch in her throat, and her pulse drum in her veins.
When he stroked her through her bra, she whimpered at the pleasure.
Suddenly a bright white light shone through the back window of the truck, and focused on them, blinding Sophie. She lifted a hand to shield her eyes.
Joe swore beneath his breath. “It’s either a ranger or a sheriff,” he muttered, lifting her back onto her seat and tugging her top down before adjusting himself.
Sure enough, a uniformed deputy approached the truck, his flashlight swinging, checking out the interior of the truck cab.
Joe rolled the truck window down. “Logan,” he said, greeting the deputy sheriff. “How’s it going?”
“Good. How are you, Joe?” the deputy said, trying to look severe but failing. “Everything okay, here?”
“Everything’s fine,” Joe answered.
“Truck didn’t break down?” Logan asked.
“No. We’re just trying to get a little alone time.” Joe gestured to Sophie. “Have you met my fiancée yet, Sophie Correia?”
“I haven’t.” The deputy extended his hand through the window to Sophie. “Logan Tate.”
“Nice to meet you, Logan.”
“Same,” Logan said, before glancing at Joe. “When’s the wedding?”
“A couple weeks,” Joe said gruffly. “It’ll be at Emerson’s Barn. You should come.”
“Send me an invite and I will.”
Chapter Nine
Sophie giggled as Joe started the truck and they headed back onto the highway heading for Marietta. “That was embarrassing,” she said, “but also funny. I don’t think I’ve been caught making out in a car since I was a junior in high school.”