TWELVE

Kelly waited at the door of the spa, watching as Rowdy pulled into the parking area in the pickup. She felt naughty as she waited for him, her body waxed and buffed, smoothed and lotioned.

As he stepped out of the pickup she pushed open the door and moved out to meet him, returning his smile as she felt the flush across her cheeks.

“Ready?” He opened the passenger-side door as she neared the truck, his green eyes intent as he watched her closely.

“All ready.” Her voice trembled, dammit. Then she trembled all over as his hands gripped her hips and he lifted her into the seat of the truck.

She could feel the blush deepening in her face.

“Damn, that blush is pretty.” Rowdy cupped her face, turning her face to him for a quick kiss and a wicked grin.

“And you’re bad,” she laughed as he moved back, winking at her before closing the door and heading back to the driver’s side.

Within seconds, the interior of the truck was once again filled with his scent. Male. No cologne. Just the scent of primal heat teasing her senses.

“Hungry?” he asked as he slid the vehicle into reverse and pulled out of the parking spot.

“Starved.” Her stomach was convinced she hadn’t eaten in weeks.

“Why don’t we pick up a few greasy cheeseburgers and fries and head out to the boat for awhile?” He suggested smoothly, glancing at her from the corner of his eye as she felt her heart race.

Alone on the boat with Rowdy? And he had to ask?

“Sounds good.” She nodded as her thighs clenched and her breasts suddenly felt heavier, more sensitive.

There was something in his expression that warned her he was tired of waiting. A ready stillness, a tension. Rowdy had shown amazing restraint to this point. She had a feeling that patience had come to an abrupt end.

“Will we be taking the boat out?”

“No. The marina is pretty empty today,” he said as he made a quick turn into a local fast-food restaurant. “I thought we’d eat, laze around, drink a few beers, and talk.”

“Talk,” she repeated slowly.

“And other things.” There was no smile this time, no teasing, no edging around what they both wanted as he stared back at her. “Still want to go?”

“Yes.” Kelly stared back at him, trying to regulate her breathing, to still the excitement climbing inside her.

He nodded slowly before turning his gaze back to the drive-thru he was pulling up beside.

Good to his word, he ordered greasy cheeseburgers, several of them, and masses of fries.

They were silent as he pulled forward, paid for the food, and collected the bag before driving back onto the road. Kelly watched the miles pass, staying quiet. She had waited for this, for too long she sometimes thought. And now, knowing that the waiting was nearly at an end, she could feel her nerves rocketing.

She was a virgin. There wasn’t a chance in hell she knew near enough about the male body to please him the first time. Suddenly, she almost regretted waiting. Maybe she should have gone for some kind of experience, but there had been no desire to become intimate with the men she had dated.

Not that she normally dated them long. Dawg and Natches were always too close, always butting their noses into her dates. She had found it amusing over the years, but now she wondered if she should have put a stop to it. Should have at least tried to learn how to please a man.

She wanted to please Rowdy. She wanted to know how to touch him, how to excite him.

“Stop worrying so much,” he chastised gently as they neared the marina.

“I’m not worrying.” She forced a smile to her face. She was not going to act like a nervous teenager.

He snorted at her denial, his gaze knowing as he glanced at her again. “I know you, Kelly. You’re sitting over there biting a hole in your lip. That means you’re worrying.”

Damn. Busted.

“You don’t know everything, Rowdy Mackay.” She stuck her tongue out at him as she tossed her head defiantly. “You just think you do.”

“I know damned near everything about you,” he argued, his lips pulling into a sensual smile as he turned the truck along the lakefront road. “When you’re biting your lip like that, you’re worrying. And there’s nothing that’s going to happen between us that you need to worry about. Anticipate maybe.” There was that wicked smile again. “But nothing to worry about.”

Her face heated again. Damn him. Blushing was not her favorite thing to do.

“What are you going to do if Ray comes out to the boat to check on us?” She leaned back in her seat and regarded him in amusement now. “You know how overprotective he gets.”

“Dad had to drive to Louisville this morning.” Satisfaction filled his voice. “Your mom went with him. They have the Colberts minding the store and pumps while they’re gone.”

“So while the cat’s away the mouse gets to play, huh?” she asked with a laugh.

“Mouse?” He frowned back playfully. “Sweetheart, trust me here, there ain’t no mice on my boat. But the big bad wolf might end up devouring a certain little lamb for sure.”

Kelly couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled from her throat as Rowdy pulled into the parking slot nearest the entrance to the upper end of the docks. The locked gate was normally for maintenance only, but the Mackay cousins used it rather than walking the distance along the docks to the main entrance.

He laid his forearms over the steering wheel as he turned to look at her then, his green eyes capturing hers as all amusement fled his expression. “Are you ready?”

Kelly inhaled slowly. “I’ve been ready for years, Rowdy. You’re the one that took his own sweet time.”

He was dying for her. Rowdy clenched his teeth as he placed his hand at Kelly’s back and led her along the floating dock to the Nauti Buoy. At this rate, his cock was going to permanently carry the imprint of his zipper. Every step he took the scent of her filled his head; beneath his hand the silken feel of her flesh tortured his senses.

In his other hand he carried the food, which meant he was going to wait to consume Kelly. And waiting wasn’t high on his list of priorities today.

The knowledge that the bastard who had attacked her was watching her burned at him. The son of a bitch. Rowdy had known he was watching, could feel it, but the proof of it sent fury surging through his veins.

Just five minutes with the bastard, he thought, that was all he needed. Hell five seconds. Just long enough to relish hearing the son of a bitch’s neck break. Rowdy swore if he got his hands on the man who dared to hurt her, he would die. Never, not ever, would he threaten Kelly again.

“Where are your cousins?” Kelly asked as they neared the Nauti Dawg. Rowdy’s boat was now sitting between Dawg’s and Natches’s.

“I didn’t ask their schedule.” He grinned.

They were around, watching. Seeing who was paying attention to the three boats now parked off to themselves in the temporary docks normally reserved for those boats waiting transporting out of the lake. Later tonight they would be positioned on the hill above the house instead. It was time to catch this bastard, before he went completely off the deep end.

He swore he felt a shiver race up her spine and hid his smile. Kelly was curious, but wary. Until he let her know Dawg and Natches wouldn’t be there, she hadn’t totally relaxed with him.

“Do you think I would push them on you, Kelly?” He asked softly as they stepped onto the Nauti Buoy and he unlocked the glass sliding doors.

“No, I didn’t.” She shrugged as he glanced over at her. “And I do know how to say ‘no,’ Rowdy.”

But would she say ‘no’? It was something he hadn’t wanted to think about. He deliberately didn’t think about it simply because each time the subject came up he got heartburn. He’d never had heartburn a day in his life, but lately, it was becoming a daily malady.

“Yeah, I know you know how to say no,” he grunted as he sat the food on the table and turned back to her. “That’s what you told me every time I tried to get you to help me in the yard when you were younger.”

“Tried to con me into doing the yard myself.” She gave him a knowing look. “Try another one hotshot. I knew your tricks. You would leave me to it and disappear with your buddies without worrying about me following you.”

He sighed heavily, but he wasn’t fooling her.

“I’m so misunderstood.” He shook his head as he neared her, his lashes lowered, his expression just sexy as hell as he passed her.

“Ouch!” She jumped as the palm of his hand landed on her butt before he locked the doors then pulled the heavy drapes over the glass.

“That’s what you get for being sassy.” He laughed at her frown. “Get over here and eat, woman, then you can show me your wax job.”

“I’m not a car, Rowdy.” She rolled her eyes despite the flaming awareness sizzling through her body.

She tried not to stare at him, tried not to sink into the brilliance of those green eyes, glittering with hunger and emotion. But it was damned hard not to.

The jeans he was wearing conformed to his hard thighs and emphasized the mouthwatering bulge between them. The shirt he wore stretched across his broad chest and molded to his hard abs. If there was an ounce of fat on his body she couldn’t see it.

“Come on, sugar girl.” His voice lowered as he moved to the table, turning on the small light hanging overhead. “You empty the bag and I’ll get the beer.”

Beer and cheeseburgers. Kelly couldn’t remember a meal she had enjoyed more as she sat across from Rowdy and talked. They argued. They always argued. Over the weather signs, the best fishing holes, and life in general.

“I think you disagree with me just to have something to do,” Rowdy finally laughed as she tossed a French fry at his head.

“Probably. I’d hate for you to confuse me with all those women who swoon at your feet and beg for your attention,” she pointed out before finishing her beer and setting the bottle aside. “You’re spoiled, Rowdy.”

“I wish I was spoiled.” He sat back in his chair and looked at her. He just looked at her, his gaze intent now rather than teasing or flirting. “I remember the day I realized you were turning into a woman,” he finally said softly, his voice deepening. “You were going out with that little prick Charlie Dayne. Your skirt was too short, your legs too tanned and you wearing the necklace I had bought you that Christmas. That damned little heart was laying right on the upper curve of your breast because that shirt was cut too low.”

“You tried to get Mom to make me change clothes.” She remembered. She remembered seeing his eyes that day, seeing the wild fire in them that nearly stole her breath.

“You were sixteen fucking years old,” he whispered. “And all I could think about”—he shook his head—“I should have been shot for what I was thinking, Kelly.”

“I thought about you then too.” She was mesmerized by the fire in his eyes now. “I only went out with Charlie because I knew you didn’t like him.”

His eyes narrowed. “Donnie Winters?”

She leaned forward with a little snicker. “He liked you more than he liked me. He thought you were hot, Rowdy.”

He blinked back at her before realization dawned in his eyes. “You little minx.” He shuddered.

“I had six months of free hand washes for my car at his parents’ car detailing shop simply because he got to see you without your shirt on.” She laughed, moving cautiously from the table as he leaned forward in his chair, obviously remembering the fact that he had been outside working on his car that day. Shirtless. And the date had been unexpected, a spur of the moment decision Kelly had made.

“You sold my body for a few car washes?” He asked slowly.