Jardin's Gamble (Haven, Texas 9)

His hands clasped her cheeks, raising her face up so he could kiss her. And, boy, what a kiss. He devoured her, stole her every breath, her every thought until she was slumped against him, grateful for the support of the car behind her.

“Damn, you’re beautiful.”

She huffed out a breath, about to tell him how wrong he was but then she noticed the firm glint in his eyes. Okay, so he didn’t like it when she spoke the truth about herself. She’d need to learn to keep her mouth shut if she wanted to avoid that spanking.

Then again, she was pretty certain she didn’t want to avoid that spanking. She was no innocent, but she hadn’t been with a lot of guys; she didn’t have much time for that. But there had been a few who’d drifted in and out of her life. While she’d never been spanked by a lover before, she’d been with guys who liked to take control in the bedroom. It was pretty hot.

She’d bet with Carrick it would be even hotter.

“Drive home carefully. I don’t like that I’m not taking you home and seeing you safely inside, so make sure you text me when you get there, or you’ll earn yourself that spanking I’ve been promising. I’ll see you in the morning?”

She cleared her throat. She’d never had anyone tell her to text when she got home. It had been a long time since anyone had cared she was safe. The boys loved her, but they weren’t old enough to worry about her like that. It was her job to worry about them.

She was kind of in a daze, from the epic kiss and his words, as he opened her door and she climbed in. She started the car.

“Wow, it’s never started so easily before.” It sounded like a whole new car.

“I’m guessing it’s been a while since any work was done on it,” he commented without judgement. She figured what old Joe had done didn’t really count.

“Thank you for dinner and for fixing my car.”

“Thank you for letting me bribe you into having a date with me.”

“I feel like it should have been me cooking for you.”

“Next time,” he told her warmly.

So, there was going to be a next time. Thank God.

“Good night, Carrick.”

“Aren’t you forgetting something?”

“Oh.” She thought they’d already had their goodnight kiss. But she leaned up to brush her lips against his, which wouldn’t have been possible if he wasn’t bent down already.

He cleared his throat. “As nice as that was, rocket. I was talking about your seatbelt.”

“Oh right. Yep.” She blushed. Whoops. Messed that up. Idiot.

She buckled her seatbelt. It wasn’t something she usually bothered with. Then he surprised her by swooping down, wrapping his hand around the back of her head and taking her lips with his.

“And that’s how you give a goodnight kiss. See you tomorrow.”

Her heart was still racing when she got home. She drove up the small, potholed driveway to park outside the dilapidated garage. She hadn’t parked inside it in years, she didn’t trust it to still be up in the morning.

Climbing out of the car, she moved toward the house still wearing her flip-flops and searching through her handbag for her keys. She should have left a damn light on. She hated coming home in the dark.

Walking inside, she immediately felt a dark blanket of despair slide over her. Without the boys there, the place was cold and lonely. There was no ignoring how awful it was. She sighed and moved into her bedroom, sitting on the side of the bed.

At least she’d had a good night. A great night. And her car was fixed. Things could be worse.

Her phone started to ring and she smiled, grabbing her bag and searching through it. He’d been too impatient to wait for her to text him, huh?

Her smile fell as she saw the name on her phone.

“Danny? What’s going on?”

Danny was an old friend from school who worked at a bar down in the Bywater district.