“Sit down and I’ll get your boots off.” He pointed at the couch and she complied. He pulled the boots off, placing them in a corner.

Before she could get up again, he moved back to her, kneeling between her legs, his palms sliding up her calves to rest on her thighs.

“I do not accept your apology because it’s dumb.”

Her brows flew up so he leaned in to kiss each one.

“It’s not dumb.” Her bottom lip jutted out just a smidge and he nipped it.

“It is dumb because Benji was a fool and you don’t need to be sorry for dumbasses unless you’re the dumbass. And you’re not.”

“This isn’t the first time and it won’t be the last. It’s exhausting enough for me, but I’m used to it. You and your friends aren’t, and I’m sorry you had to deal with it.”

He frowned. “Girl, you don’t even know. This is a small town. Full of petty little asshats like Benji who have no shame about getting up in people’s business. Doesn’t matter that they don’t know what the hell they’re talking about. Beth has seen her family attacked time and again by small-minded jerks who judged those kids for the sins of their parents. For growing up how they did. Before Matt Chase married Tate, he punched someone in the face at the homecoming game after the guy was talking shit. People change as the times do, but some people are born jerks and they’ll be jerks until they die. Benji falls into that camp, and there’s no way I’m going to let you apologize for his bad manners.”

She wrapped her calves around him, pulling him closer.

He brushed his lips over her mouth and she slid her fingertips through his hair. She wrapped herself around him, and he liked the way she felt, soft where she was supposed to be but strong too.

She tasted good so he settled in for a long slow kiss, pressing her back into the couch, leaning into her as she received him.

“Don’t your knees hurt?” she murmured against his mouth just before he shifted to her jaw at her ear. She exhaled on a shiver as he licked against her pulse there.

Not as much as his dick hurt, but he wasn’t going to say that. Still, now that she’d mentioned it, his knees did hurt.

“But I’ll have to stop kissing you to move.” He nibbled the lobe of her ear and she sighed.

“Make it quick.” She yanked her head away from his mouth and he managed to get up on the couch. Which was even better when she spun, straddling his lap to face him.

“Damn, girl, you’re trouble. I like it.”

Her laugh made him shiver. Low and throaty and full of all sorts of dirty plans, he liked it. “Looks like I have you exactly where I want you.”

“I shouldn’t tell you because then you’ll know how easy I am for you, but you can put me wherever you like and have me any way you want me. I’m game for whatever you have in mind.”

One corner of her delicious f**king mouth tipped up. “Did you take your vitamins this morning?”

He grabbed that sweet behind of hers and pulled her close. “I think I can manage to muddle through.”

“I’ll be bringing my A game.”

“That might kill me. But I’ll die with a smile on my mouth.”

She undulated then, brushing the heat of her center against the line of his cock, and he groaned, his fingers digging into the ass in his grip.

Her hands slid into his hair, and she held his head as she kissed him, taking over, and damn he let her because she was sweet and hot and on fire in his lap.

It had been at least ten years since Caroline had just kissed and kissed a man for hours. The memory of it paled in comparison to how Royal made her feel. This long slow seduction was new for her. She wasn’t one to delay when she felt a sexual attraction to someone.

But he was different. This whatever-it-was between them was different, and despite her horror over the situation earlier that evening at the Tonk, letting him draw her in at such a delightful pace was thrilling.

His hands slid up to her waist, heating her skin through the material of her shirt, and she willed them higher and higher. But the vibrating coming from his pocket kept interrupting.

Finally with an annoyed groan, he broke the kiss. “I’m sorry. I can’t tell if it’s texts or a call.”

She snuck a look at the clock as he pulled the phone out of his pocket. It was two in the morning. Who was texting him that late? She chided herself for that. It wasn’t her business, and sometimes her friends texted her late too.

He mumbled something and typed quickly before he slid the phone back into his pocket.

“Everything all right?”

He kissed her again and sighed happily. “Yes. It was just Anne texting. She heard about what happened and was asking about it.”

“Oh.” She said this with what she considered her court face. No real emotion, just a recitation of a word.

She must have failed though because he blushed. “There’s no reason to be jealous.”

That made her laugh, and then she poked his side extra hard, his yelp making her feel better. “I’m not jealous, Royal. I don’t have cause to be. We’ve gone on two dates. I’ve been in your life for what? A few weeks?”

“Anne Murphy is one of my best friends. That’s it.”

Caroline rolled her eyes. “That’s stunningly male. That’s it. There’s no that’s it when it comes to a best friend. And certainly not when it comes to a best friend you used to love in a romantic sense. But as I said, it’s fine.”