His Southern Sweetheart

Nate hid his smile.

“Boy, you better hurry up and get over to the table,” Grandmamma Helen barked, “instead of standing over here drooling like a fool. Parker will done scoop Amelia right out from under you.”

“Grandmamma...” Cay said, frowning with disapproval. “I’m sorry, she’s ready for her nap.”

Out the corner of his eye, he saw Cay wheel her grandmother away under loud protest. The commotion she caused captured everyone’s attention. Parker Ward, the fireman, turned and nodded his head in Nate’s direction. Nate scratched his beard, not sure what to do. Did he interrupt them? Now this was complicated. Clearly they had been an item once before. Was it puppy love or her first real love? Nate didn’t want to find out. Instead of turning around like his brain told him to, he stalked across the room toward the table. Parker stood and extended his hand, probably to show he was being the bigger guy.

“I came to collect you,” Nate said to Amelia after showing he was the bigger man by shaking Parker’s hand.

“Where has the afternoon gone?” Amelia clutched the pearls at her throat again and stood up. “Parker, I enjoyed catching up with you.”

“Maybe you’ll save me a dance at Emily’s wedding,” Parker went on. “She told me she ran into you last night.”

And wasn’t it Emily who wanted to keep her visit to the pizzeria a secret? Nate smirked as a thunderous cloud darkened the window. “Hey, we better get going if we’re going to beat the rain before it gets to the house.”

Amelia offered a wave goodbye before following Nate outside. He didn’t slow his pace so she could walk beside him. Instead of walking to the beat of his heart, he stormed out to the beat of his pounding anger. Amelia’s flat shoes walked quickly behind him.

“What the hell is your problem?” she screamed over another clap of thunder.

“I don’t have one.” Nate maneuvered his way through the parking lot, hating himself. “Let’s go.”

“I think I’ll walk.” The patter of Amelia’s flat shoes ceased. He turned to face her, finding her standing on the curb with her hand on her hip. Fat drops of water hit the ground, sizzling away with the heat.

Nate smirked. “Walk, or go inside and catch a ride with Parker. Maybe that’s what you want.”

“I don’t understand what’s going on with you, Nate,” Amelia said. Rain began to fall harder. Nate stalked back toward her, damned if he let Parker save the day—again.

“I don’t share.”

“We’re not children and this isn’t kindergarten.” Amelia squared her shoulders. Water pegged the two of them. His chest rose with desire as the material soaked her dress.

“I don’t share,” he said again.

She opened to protest but he captured her by the back of her neck with one hand and dragged his face down to hers for a deep, soul-silencing kiss.

Chapter 7

The front seat of his SUV crackled with sexual tension. Like this morning, they drove in utter silence. Unlike this morning, Nate understood where this was going. The kiss he shared with Amelia generated its own lightning. He drove like a madman down County Road Seventeen to get back to the house. He thought nothing was going to stop them, but up ahead the red lights of the train tracks began to flash. Not wanting to chance the timing of the train, Nate veered to the right and pulled off to the side of the road into a cut of the woods in case other cars pulled up to the flashing lights. Heavy raindrops pounded the rooftop, filling the inside of the vehicle with a deafening noise when he cut off the engine. The darkness of the trees, thanks to the dreary clouds, helped conceal their position if anyone drove by.

Amelia turned in her seat to face him. The window behind her fogged with her body heat. Her red, completely kissable lips opened with question. Nate leaned across the console between them and pressed his lips against hers as if to answer. Her sweet breath touched the corners of his mouth. Aroused beyond desire, he pressed further into the kiss. The damn console prevented him from truly getting to her like he wanted, but he settled for a trail of kisses along her neck.

Amelia cupped his neck; her thumb traced his bulging vein, throbbing with desire. The material of her dress, now soaked, clung to her skin. A damn good way to find out she wasn’t wearing a bra. Nate smiled and dipped his head lower, tracing a finger along the swell of the top of her breast. Her chest expanded, urging him to probe further. The side of his forefinger brushed against a bud and twirling it between his two fingers he manipulated it into a hard nub.

Soft fingers caressed against the nape of his neck. Nate dipped his head a little lower and captured her other nipple in his mouth. A mew escaped Amelia’s throat. Hips thrusting forward, Nate took his cue and reached between her thighs. She propped one wet foot on the seat and opened her legs wider for him. A wave of desire washed over him as his fingers pushed aside her panties and sunk into the wet flesh. The shoulders of the white dress stretched and he pulled them down, exposing her deep pink nipples to him. His mouth watered. His other hand reached behind and to the side to lower her seat. From his new angle, he was able to have better access to her other breast and still toy with the wet folds. His fingers delved farther and the palm of his hand ground against her. She grounded her hips back. Harder. Longer. Amelia’s hands grasped for the headrest.

Why she’d decided to hold out on him for the last few nights was beyond him, but this pent-up desire only proved his point. She wanted him. The strain against his jeans indicated how much he wanted her right now, but he was too busy watching the rise and fall of her chest from breathing so hard with each deeper stroke he made into her with his hand. They moved in unison just as he remembered at the hotel. Faster. Nate leaned back in his seat, watching Amelia’s face as she came in his hands. The corners of her eyes crinkled. Her mouth made the cutest O shape and when she clenched against his fingers, her face softened angelically.

“Oh, my God,” she breathed. The raindrops slowed as her breathing regulated. Lazily she rolled her head to the left and opened one eye. “Why are you staring at me?”

“Because you’re beautiful.”

Amelia covered her face with her hands at the reality of what they’d just done. “Oh, God, this is crazy.”

“Crazy is denying us this,” Nate said, taking her hand away from her face. He caressed her soft cheek.

“I didn’t buy you for this.”