I hefted a shoulder. “Just passing through.”
I felt the movement to the right of me. The disturbance in the air as the woman who’d hooked me shifted in her seat. Her scent wrapped around me like ribbons, this rosy sweetness that made me itch to turn my head and bury my nose in her neck.
Inhale.
My gaze moved that way, a smirk already on my face when she tipped her chin so she was meeting my eye.
A tremble ripped down my spine.
Fuck.
One of the things that made me most successful? I could almost immediately get a read on people.
I instantly knew who was shady, keeping secrets and harboring ulterior motives, and who could be trusted, their cards laid on the table because they had everything to lose or everything to win.
Sitting a foot from me was a strong woman. Convicted. Fucking gorgeous, but I already knew that.
But the alcohol coursing her system had chipped away a few of the bricks that lined her defenses. Exposing a bit of something vulnerable in the depths of those emerald eyes that sparked as I met her gaze.
“Hi,” I murmured, so low I was sure it was a growl.
I watched the thick bob of her throat.
Fear and attraction.
“Hi,” she whispered.
“This is my Lily Pad, who was in dire need of a little fun,” Nikki suddenly said as she leaned farther across the table.
I forced myself to look at her.
The girl admittedly was gorgeous, too, but in an entirely different way, not even close to being able to hold my attention the same way as this raven-haired beauty.
But with the way she was clearly trying to have a silent conversation with her friend, I knew she had as little interest in me as I did with her.
She was definitely playing fairy matchmaker for her friend.
With a flourish, she touched her chest. “And I am the Nikki Walters. We welcome you to Gingham Lakes. The bestest, smallest, coolest city in all the South.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Nikki.”
I shot her a knowing wink before I slowly edged back to look at her friend.
The movement was weighted, igniting a crackle and a spark in the atmosphere.
Her lips parted.
“I’m Brody.”
She seemed to hesitate before she finally let a smile ridge her perfect, delectable mouth.
God.
I wanted to eat her up.
“It’s nice to meet you, Brody. I’m Lily…only that crazy thing over there”—she lifted her hand, palm out as she pushed it in her friend’s direction—“gets away with calling me Lily Pad. And it seems she has me at a disadvantage tonight.”
“Disadvantage?” I asked, playing it coy.
She rolled those fucking stunning eyes, and a tiny giggle slipped from her lips. “I’m not normally this loose.”
The second she realized what she said, she slammed a hand over her mouth. “Oh my God,” she cried against it. “I did not just say that.” Her eyes squeezed tight as she shook her head.
Totally mortified.
And totally adorable.
Maybe that was the issue. The way she was dressed, she exuded power and strength, which I’d always thought of as the single quality required to get me hard.
But there was something soft about her, too. Something intriguing and equally charming, this attribute that had me wanting to shift forward so I could get a better look.
“God…your shoulders…” She caught me off guard by blinking at me when she suddenly uttered the words.
“What?” I prodded, my voice deepening as I erased another inch of space between us.
“They’re…” Her head barely shook as she struggled to find the words. “So big,” she breathed.
A chuckle rumbled free as my brow arched. “You think it’s my shoulders that are big.”
She suddenly reached out, fingertips tracing my knuckles, sending a spiral of lust shooting through my veins.
“Like these hands?” she murmured with the shiver that took her whole.
I leaned forward, my mouth at her ear. “Among other things.”
“I think that’s my cue,” Nikki suddenly said. Her stool skidded on the floor as she pushed it back, hopped to her feet, and grabbed her cocktail. “I’m actually over here getting hot and bothered watching the two of you.” She waved her drink toward the same bartender who’d poured mine. “I’m going to flirt with Ollie over there and see if I can finally get that man to crack.”
Lily giggled. Again. And again, I fucking liked it.
What the hell was wrong with me?
“Good luck with that,” Lily said.
“With that man? God knows I’m going to need it,” Nikki said before she spun and skipped toward the bar.
We both watched her go, saying nothing as a silence built in the space between us, growing thicker when I returned my hungry gaze back to her.
“So, Lily…tell me about you.”
She wrapped both hands around her half-empty cocktail sitting in the midst of three empty shot glasses. She took a slow sip. “What would you like to know?”
“Everything.” It was out before I could think better of it.
She shook her head. “Don’t lie to me, Mr…”
“Brody,” I instantly supplied.
“Brody,” she settled on, as if maybe it too sounded as odd in her mouth as it did in mine. But there was something about sitting there that made me not want to be that guy who was here in her town to turn things upside down.
“Okay then, Brody, no lies. What do you really want to know about me?”
I reached out and wound a piece of her hair around my finger, moving in close, my nose just touching hers. “You really want the answer to this?”
“Yes.” It was a wisp of a word that filled my senses.
Intoxicating.
“What I really want to know is if you taste as good as you look.”
A soft gasp pulled into her lungs, and she edged back, watching me with those eyes. “Why do I get the feeling that, given the chance, you would swallow me whole?”
My mouth brushed the very corner of hers, the words a low promise where they grated from my tongue. “Believe me, baby, I might devour you, but you’ll enjoy every second of it.”
Her head rocked back a fraction, her lips parted, her breaths shallow. “I…” She blinked, as if she were searching for herself. “I…think I need to go.”
“I think you should stay.” She scooted back her stool and stood. She swayed as if she were struck with a wave of dizziness, her hands darting out to grip the table to keep her standing.
“Lily…why don’t you let me take you home. I’ll make sure you won’t regret it.”
She huffed a tiny laugh. “That’s funny…because you have regret written all over you.”
She leaned forward, and with a throaty murmur, her next words sank into me like a hook. “You stick around, Brody, come find me. Because I might be loose, but I’m not easy.”
My mouth watered, and I gulped around the hunger, watching slack-jawed as she grabbed her red coat and purse and wound toward her friend at the bar.
She barely cast me a glance when they both headed for the door.
My fingers twitched.
The hunt was on.
Chapter Four
Lillith