Page 43 of Dandelion Sighs

I spread my hands along her back. There was too much suit, but her curves were still against me. “I’d take my time tasting you. Everywhere.”

Her lips parted.

Oh, Sheridan. I was only beginning. “I’d start at that mouth that just begs to be kissed, then kiss a line all the way down”—I traced a line from her neck to her cleavage—“here, where I’ll find out what color your nipples are. Are they nice and pink like your lips? Or a dusty rose?”

“Rose,” she whispered.

A groan left me. “And from there?” I slid my fingers down between her breasts and the sharp points of her nipples poking out until my hand was under the surface of the water. “I’ll work my way down to between those legs of yours that I want wrapped around me.”

Her eyes went soft and dreamy. Sheridan liked her dirty talk. “Then what?”

“My head will be between your thighs, and you’ll be wide open to me.” I spread my hand on her hip, unwilling to put space between us so I could wedge between her legs. I could wait until the right moment. “My tongue will be on that clit of yours that I know is going to be as sweet as kissing you is.”

A tremble racked her, moving from her to me. “Jasper.”

I dropped my head lower.

An engine roared and music blared, growing louder by the second. She tensed and pushed me away.

Damn. Just like that? I floated, keeping my hips angled down so it wasn’t clear what had been about to go on between us. My hurt feelings could get nursed later.

A car zipped into the parking lot, windows open and full of teens. Goddammit.

Sheridan sighed and went into deeper water until only her head poked out. “There goes our quiet beach.”

I put my feet down. “Nature of the beast.”

The country song they pumped through the air didn’t get shut off, just transferred to a Bluetooth as the kids unloaded and carried their towels and inflatables to the shore.

How far would Sheridan have let me go? When would I get to find out?

Chapter Thirteen

Sheridan

I climbed into Jasper’s hot pickup. He rolled down the windows, and I stuck an arm out, nearly getting burned by the interior that had been baking in the July sun. I didn’t quite look like a drowned rat, but the ends of my hair were curling in large clumps as they dried. The sun was strong enough that I wasn’t chilly, and I only wrapped my beach towel around myself instead of pulling my shorts and shirt back on.

After we had cooled ourselves off in the water, we sunned on the beach like nothing had happened. Relaxed but with a different tension in the air. An…anticipation. I had sifted through my brain for something to talk about that wasn’t asking him to continue telling me exactly what he’d do to me, but Jasper dozed. Solved that problem.

What would I have rambled on about? The weather? I told him the color of my nipples! I wasn’t built for playing it cool. My brothers called me a sweet summer child, and it hadn’t been a compliment. There hadn’t been any fondness. Naive and always needing a rescue. Jasper wasn’t doing that. Messing around with him was my decision. He was along for the ride.

I had made my decision, but that turned out to be the easy part. When? Where? He’d covered the how. Then he’d gotten a text from his brother, Alder, asking him to watch the kids while he and Daisy went out of town in an hour to help her mom. Uncle duty.

Wind whipped through the cab as he drove. My disappointment could choke me, but there was a relief there. I wouldn’t have to decide how over the line I was or if I’d jump further across it.

“Did you have fun?” he asked.

“I needed the sun and fresh air. You?”

“Until the kids arrived, I was having a great time.”

When he talked about me and how much he enjoyed touching me and looked forward to doing more, I felt like I won the guy lottery. Were men really this into their women? Or had I just picked some duds?

He parked in front of the garage at my mom’s place, backing in so my door was closest to the porch.

“Front step service. Nice.” I put my hand on the handle to get out, but I didn’t open it. Just a few more moments. He had to get going, yet I wasn’t ready for it to end.

“Wait. I can do better.” He hopped out and trotted around to the other side. His hair was shoved off his head and a dried lock had fallen over part of his brow. Without a shirt, he looked like a beach bum, but I knew how hard he worked. Awareness tingled through me, filling my limbs with a drugged achiness.