Chapter 5 #2
Chemical pheromones. Instinctive biological needs designed to ensure continuation of the species. Thank the heavens for evolved brains that were above all that.
Nothing to do with her firsthand carnal knowledge of what he could do with his tongue. Or any curiosity over whether he’d be willing to give her another demonstration.
“You know what’s irritating?” he said.
“You talking?” she guessed.
“I was going to say you talking.”
She pulled herself out of her seat and stared him down.
Didn’t matter that he had well over half a foot on her and that there was a little voice in her head reminding her she’d been wrong more than she’d been right when it came to this man.
She was the daughter of a beauty queen, and beauty queens didn’t let anyone see them sweat.
“That’s not very gentlemanly of you,” she said.
“Your double standards are also irritating.”
Holy Moses on a stick, the man was staring at her mouth.
Maybe he did want to kiss her again. “Oh, I have double standards? Excuse me, Captain Make-The-Lady-Think-His-Grandmomma’s-Dying. And don’t get me started on what else you’ve done wrong.”
“And you’re changing the subject. You lost, fair and square. Say it.”
“You lost, fair and square,” she parroted.
She had, and they both knew it. But his eyes were swirling into matching black holes, and she was too far inside their gravitational pull.
“I’m starting to see why you’ve got an ex-husband.”
Ooh, that was low. “That supposed to be an insult to him or me? Because you’re missing the mark on both.”
“Do you just talk to hear yourself say words, or do you actually pay attention to what’s going on around you?”
“The average wingspan of a camel is cake times force triangulated.”
“Well, at least I know you’re not an idiot.” His sarcasm was lacking, those black holes had practically swallowed his irises, and she had the distinct impression that he could see the list in her soul that was bullet-pointed with every last one of her fears and insecurities.
Which was the only possible explanation for everything that went down next.
“Kaci? This chump bothering you?” Ron asked.
She had to blink twice before she could tear her gaze from the intensity that was Lance’s attention on her, and then she had to blink again before her brain processed that her ex-husband had his hand on her elbow.
She yanked her arm away. “Don’t touch me.”
“If he’s a problem—” Ron started.
If he was a problem? There was a problem all right. Her ex-husband wouldn’t leave her alone, and she was having irrationally pornographic thoughts about a freaking irritating, arrogant military pilot.
“He ain’t a problem,” she said. “He’s my new boy toy, and this here’s called foreplay.”
And before her brain could catch up, she yanked a fistful of Lance’s polo, went up on her tiptoes, and pulled him down to lay a smacker on his lips.
Except somehow, that smacker turned into something more than just lips smeared together.
Somehow, his hand cupped her neck.
Somehow, his mouth parted over hers.
And somehow, his teeth scraped over her lower lip, and then his tongue licked the sting away, and then a surge of primal lust made her want to wrap her thighs around his hips and see how much cowboy this flyboy had in him.
“Move along, folks,” Tara said somewhere in the hazy distance. “Nothing to see here.”
She wrenched her mouth free, immediately wishing she could put it back while simultaneously wondering if she shouldn’t have gone into researching time travel so she could rewind the past ten minutes to before she got a wild hair to make Ron jealous with Lance.
Again.
Ron was still there, waving his grumpies like a flag in a hurricane, his scowl so big it needed its own ZIP code. “Was that really necessary?”
“No, but it was damn fun,” Lance said. He had one hand on her ass, and though he’d answered Ron, he was staring at her.
As though he couldn’t decide if he’d lost his marbles or if he’d found the next best thing to chucking pumpkins.
Her belly quivered.
This man wasn’t safe. Or reliable. Or even nice.
At least, not in her experience.
“You go on home,” she said to Ron. “My business isn’t your business anymore.”
Ron turned the colonel stare on Lance. “If you hurt her—”
“Sugar, my momma’s got me covered,” Kaci interrupted. “And she don’t get him till after I’m done, and I know you know how I handle men who hurt me.”
Ol’ Grandpappy gave a heavy sigh, but he moseyed away with a parting, “We’ll talk more tomorrow.”
Kaci swallowed hard, then put on her daughter-of-a-beauty-queen posture and peered down her nose at Lance, even though she had to look way up to do it. “I do believe you can consider that debt paid in full. I trust we won’t have any reason for further communication after this.”
“Sure,” he said. “We can do that.”
She blinked. Seriously? It was that easy? “So glad you—”
“If you can convince me that kiss didn’t make you feel anything.”
Lordy goodness, that kiss made her feel something. That kiss made her feel everything.
And that was terrifying. “Anything good, I assume you mean? Because I’m gonna tell you right now, you’re not backing out of this deal when I tell you that—that kiss, as you call it, made me feel bored.”
Those black holes in his eyes were using their gravitational force to suck away her defenses.
“It turned you on,” he murmured.
She swallowed. “You being turned on ain’t the same as me being turned on. That’s called projecting, and you slobbering all over me didn’t even register with my lady bits.”
She was such a liar.
But the alternative was admitting this man got to her. And she was in a no-men zone. She had to be. Her research, her job, getting to Germany all took priority. “Tara, let’s get out of here.”
“You talk a good talk, Pixie-lou,” he said, “but you felt something. Can’t deny it.”
“Can and did.” She faked a yawn. “Y’all enjoy your night.”
“You afraid to feel?” he asked. “Or are you afraid to feel with me?”
“Wow, how much did you have to drink tonight?” Tara gripped Kaci’s arm and tugged. “Hope one of your buddies is driving you home, Captain.”
Breaking eye contact physically hurt. Like plucking a suction cup off the inside of her elbow. But Kaci tore her gaze away anyway, then turned to follow Tara.
“Still expect payment on that bill,” Lance called.
Kaci kept her head high, but she couldn’t find the oomph to put a swing in her step too.
That man was downright terrifying.
Not because she felt violated by his kiss.
If Ol’ Grandpappy could’ve kissed her like that, they might still be married.
No, she felt violated by his insight into her psyche.
“He’s so dadgum full of himself,” she said to Tara. “I got me half a mind to make him pay for putting me in a spot like that.”
“For kissing you like that?” Tara said dryly. “Because I’m not sure that deserves vengeance so much as it deserves an encore. At least, if it were me, I’d be going for the encore.”
“For teasing me,” she said. “And sending me that ridiculous bill.”
Tara slid her a sideways glance. “You want war?”
Kaci sagged against her Jeep. Did she want war? Or was she already at war? “What’re you proposing?”
“I know a guy who used to be in the 946th, and I also know where they keep their mascot. If you ask me, the captain’s good for a battle.”
“Tara Shivers, you are a terrible influence on me.” But, oh, did taking his mascot sound tempting. He wanted her to feel something? He wanted her to pay a big bill? She’d dang well get her money’s worth.
“You can thank me later,” Tara said.
Kaci grinned at her. “You bet your britches I will.”