He was totally lost in thought, she could tell. So she let him stew over whatever it was that bothered him as she went into the bathroom and cleaned herself up and changed into a new outfit. Seemed she wasn’t the only one with demons. Hadn’t he said as much last night?
When she was presentable, she returned to the living room and asked, “So where are you taking me for lunch?”
“Italian.”
Liza frowned. In a little Hill Country town called Wilder, Texas? “You remember I’m from New York, right?”
He gave a short laugh. “Trust me, city girl.”
“Okay.” She followed him out the door and to his truck. The brooding thing was a little challenging to decipher. She couldn’t tell if his mood had shifted immediately after he’d come, during her phone call or when Reverend Bain had shown up. Or anytime thereafter. It sucked to have so many options from which to choose.
When they reached his truck, he didn’t bother with the rung below the door. He simply clasped her waist from behind and all but hefted her up. She had to laugh at the He-Man power play. “I was expecting a hand on the ass.”
Jack grinned that slow, easy, sexy smile that drove her wild. Dimple and all.
Yet another quick change in mood.
“If I touched your ass, we’d never make it to lunch,” he said with a flash of white teeth and a wicked glint in his eyes.
The ache deep in her cunt came back full force. “And that would be a bad thing?”
Seriously, she’d skip a meal or two or ten if it meant falling back into bed with him.
Jack reached for her, gently taking her chin between his thumb and forefinger and easing her head to his. He kissed her, long and leisurely, as if he didn’t have a care in the world. An odd contradiction to the ominous mood he’d been in previously.
But that was ancient history now. One scorching-hot lip-lock from this guy and Liza was melting all over again, completely forgetting about the strained attitude in her cottage and the unexpected visit from the good reverend.
When Jack eventually pulled away—and it felt as if he’d kissed her for at least ten minutes—she sighed. Her eyes were closed and the corners of her mouth lifted. “Another hot one,” she said.
Jack groaned. “You’re making me hard again.”
“I’m up for skipping lunch.” Unfortunate
ly, her stomach protested, choosing that exact moment to remind her they’d worked up one hell of an appetite in bed.
The Devil chuckled. “There’s time for more sinnin’ later, city girl. Let’s get something to eat.”
She opened her eyes and sighed. “Never thought a man would choose food over sex.”
He kissed the tip of her nose. “It was your stomach that growled.”
Oh yeah.
She tucked herself into the cab of the truck and latched the belt, much more steadily this time, as he closed her door and rounded the front end. Had it only been last night that she’d watched him do that very same thing? And had anticipated how the rest of the evening would play out?
A little flutter of excitement rippled through her.
What more did she have to look forward to where this handsome devil was concerned?
Chapter Seven
Town was always an interesting place to be on a Saturday afternoon. The citizens of Wilder were out in force—relatively speaking, of course, given a population of right around three thousand. Parents bustled about, grocery and shopping bags in tow, while their rambunctious kids raced up and down the sidewalks. There were a few cafés with outside seating, and plenty of people braved the summer heat and thick humidity for some fresh air.
Jack pulled the truck into a dirt parking lot and climbed out. He was already rounding the front of the truck to help Liza when she eased her way to the ground while trying to keep her short skirt from hitching up. He was disappointed to find she’d just about mastered that maneuver. A little hitching would have gone a long way with him.
Diverting his attention from her shapely legs, which he hoped to have wrapped around his hips later tonight, he shut the door behind her. Though the little head wanted to overrule the big one and take her right back to bed, he’d been raised with better manners than that. She was probably starving. He certainly was.
Of her independent nature, he said, “So much for the chivalry thing again. I could have helped you out of the truck.”