doe eyes blink up at me a smooth lime green, and I want to lose myself just staring in them. “Usually I hear the opposite from Cole and Mom. You know—do as you’re told, not as you wish. Not that I want to quit school or anything. I just got here, and I really like it so far.” Her face lights up pink as cotton candy, and I swallow hard at how fucking gorgeous she is—how preciously sweet. I wish she wasn’t. I wish she was hell on heels, wearing the bitch suit of armor twenty-four seven—that she was just some girl in a sea of Whitney women. I might have done her by now if she was either of those things, but she’s not. Baya has the face and body of an angel. She has me shaking every time she’s around, and yet she’s off limits. Not because of anything Cole said, but because I say so.
“I’m glad you’re sticking around.” I take a breath. I can tell by the way she’s been looking at me all day she’s feeling something. I should probably end this right now before things get too out of hand. Baya deserves someone as gentle as she is—someone who’ll tell her he loves her and mean it before ever thinking about taking her to the bedroom. A part of me would die to be that person, but deep down I know I can’t.
A barfly pops up at the counter—a plastic girl with a spray on tan, hair bleached of all its natural color, leaving a dry straw-like mess in its wake. That’s who I should be pining for tonight. For sure I shouldn’t be entertaining Baya with her wonderstruck lust for me. I’m not the person she thinks I am. I’m not even close.
I head over to the blonde who’s already trying to impress me and my dick by showing off the cherry stem she’s tied in a knot with her tongue.
“It takes a talent.” I lean in and smolder into her, letting her know with every nonverbal cue, she’s about to get lucky tonight. I glance back at Baya and catch the viral look of grief sweeping across her face.
Crap. I can’t do this.
“If you need something, just ask Jim.” I call the backup from the other end of the bar and head over to Baya. “Now where were we?” I press out a sad smile. “Oh, that’s right, we’re both really glad you came.”
The rest of the night Baya glows and shines as she swindles customers out of their hard-earned dough with nothing more than that million-dollar smile. I watch her tight little bottom in those barely-there shorts as if I were her personal security team. Each passing minute I try to picture what it would be like to hold her, to twirl my tongue in her ear just to hear her moan and giggle. I watch as her lips curve and imagine she were doing it for me while lying beneath me without any clothes on—how soft her perfect body might be.
The clock strikes three, and we do the world’s fastest close before I whisk her into the cool night air.
The lamp from the parking lot illuminates her like an angel. The lot has cleared out, leaving just my truck for as far as the eye can see. It’s just Baya and me. And no matter how hard I want to resist it, I like it like this, a whole hell of a lot.
“So what’s the haul?” I nod into her overstuffed shorts.
“I think it’s over a hundred, but I’m afraid half of it will blow away if I try to empty my pockets.” She rubs her bare arms, and her teeth clatter like castanets.
“Here.” I pull off my sweatshirt and glide it over her so fast, she can’t protest.
“It’s so warm .” She yanks it down past her knees, and it springs back up to her bottom.
Baya looks up and gives a shy smile, her sweet perfume pulls me in, and I can’t help but get caught up in the moment. It takes everything I’ve got not to bury my face in her hair, pull my lips over her neck. Earlier today she wanted a kiss. I’ve been to the rodeo enough to know what’s about to go down, and she outright begged for one while we were on that boulder. Every part of me wanted to give it, but I held strong. I’m not feeling too strong right about
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