Tantalizing Maria (The Temptation Saga 7)

Maria winced. She hadn’t meant to bring that up. “Then we’ll come here to get our peaches.” Oops! She clasped her hand to her mouth. She’d said too much. How presumptuous could she be? She didn’t want to scare Jeff away.

She’d fallen madly in love with Jeff in one day, but she knew better than to think he was feeling the same way.

His strong hands gripped her shoulders and his smoky gaze met hers. “Yes, we’ll get our peaches here, Mia.”

And then his lips were on hers, sliding, coaxing her open, diving in, and consuming her. She reveled in the kiss, in Jeff, in the orchard, in the vibrant blue sky. Perfection. Simply perfection.

He broke the kiss and nipped at her cheeks and her neck. “Mia,” he whispered into her ear. “How can I feel like this?”

She had no answer. After a day? To be in love with him was ridiculous. Yet she was. With all her heart. It was as true as the kiss they’d just shared. The pure truth.

“Mia,” he said again, nibbling at her earlobe, “there’s something so special about you. So perfect.”

I love you, Jeff! How she wanted to cry out the words so they floated up to the azure heavens and then rained down on the entire earth. But she couldn’t. It was too soon. She’d scare him away.

Instead, she simply sighed against his warm neck. She inhaled his musky scent. She’d never tire of his woodsy fragrance.

He found her lips once more and consumed her again.

Chapter Eleven

Once Angie was settled in her room in the hospital and her little boy had been taken to be weighed and measured, Jeff breathed a sigh of relief. Rafe was less than an hour away now. He would take good care of Angie.

Jeff walked down the hall and through the lobby to the small coffee shop near the hospital entrance. He ordered a black coffee, then stood and sipped it, staring at nothing in particular. A jolt of contentment speared through him. A grandson. Jeff Bay had a grandson.

“Hello, Jeff.”

Jeff’s eyebrows shot up at the familiar voice. He turned to regard a man he hadn’t laid eyes on in three decades. He’d put on some weight, and his hair was mostly gray now, but the hazel eyes were the same.

“Max?”

The man didn’t smile. “The one and only.”

“How are you, man?”

“Been better.”

Jeff’s heartbeat thumped. He remembered that look in Max’s eyes. This wasn’t going to lead to anything good.

“So they let you out,” Max said.

“Yup. They did. I was innocent, after all.”

“Word is that DNA evidence exonerated you.”

“Yeah. There was blood on the gun. Turns out it wasn’t mine.”

“Why would they let out a guy who pleaded guilty?”

“Because I was innocent, that’s why. I copped a plea. It happens all the time. It was a stupid decision, but I felt I had no choice at the time. Plus, I got out for good behavior and time served. I was there over thirty years, for God’s sake. I did my time. Especially considering I was innocent.”

“I think you and I both know whose blood was on that gun.”

Yes, Jeff knew. Neither sample had belonged to him. However, one sample was very similar to his—the one that had given him the chance to go to prison after he thought Mia had betrayed him, the one that he’d petitioned the court to have re-examined when DNA tests later became more accurate. The one that, even though he’d confessed at the time, had given him the ability to recant his confession and get released on parole for good behavior.

The other belonged to Max.

“What are we gonna do about this, Jeff?”