Read Online Back To Us (Shore Secrets 3) by Christi Barth - Free Book Online Page A

that seared her down to her core.
    He planted his hands at her waist and lifted, lips never breaking contact. Lips, heck—
tongue
never breaking contact. Even as he raised her high enough that her feet left the floor, Ward’s tongue swept around every inch of her mouth. Every nerve-laden inch. Every sensitive, tingling inch.
    Piper needed to touch. Needed to greedily take him with the same heat he was lavishing upon her. Her hands fisted in his hair. Ward nipped at her bottom lip in response. So she wrapped her legs around his waist. That elicited a growl, and Ward braced her back against the wall. Then he pushed close. Pushed that muscled chest and those ripped abs against her body. Canted his hips to push something else even harder against the vee where her legs met. At that, they both moaned.
    The rasping brush of his stubble burned in an oh-so-sexy way as Ward angled down her neck. At her indrawn breath, he paused to suck and lick at the spot right on top of where her pulse fluttered rapidly. Because, oh, the things he did to her. The shivers that raced through her just from the strong, wide span of his hands at her waist. The way he crowded out all thought as he crowded his body against hers.
    Even the roughness, the harsh press of his jeans inseam and the scrape of the hair on his chin and the hard grind of hip against hip surged a sexy thrill from her head to her toes. Piper couldn’t squeeze her legs tight enough, couldn’t rake her nails down the back of his shirt hard enough, couldn’t recapture his mouth fast enough. Nothing was enough.
    On a gasp, Ward pulled away. His eyes had darkened to midnight and a satisfied smile played at the edges of his mouth. And when had his hands shifted down to support her ass?
    “That’s my pitch.”
    She tried—and probably failed—to sound aggrieved. “That? A kiss was your pitch?” Best. Marketing. Ever.
    “No. The pitch was my carefully laid-out reasons why a month of your time is more than reasonable to secure the land you need.” Another flash of that wicked grin that would’ve turned her knees to jelly if she’d been standing. “The kiss was my closer.”
    “It didn’t change my mind. I still need time to consider.” Piper was quite sure neither of them was fooled by her assertion. And miraculously her headache was gone—or relocated. Because now she had a distinct ache at the center of her body.
    “Then I’ll see you on Friday.” Ward gently lowered her back into the wing chair. At the doorway, he paused, one hand on the frame, big body filling the space as though it were a frame made to showcase him. “Think about it, Piper. Think about me.”
    That
required zero consideration. At this point, it’d be impossible to think about anything but Ward for the next two days. Just like when they were first dating. And just like when she’d worked so hard to recover from the shock of not dating him any longer.

Chapter Four
    Two days in a row up before the sunrise sure as hell didn’t put a spring in Ward’s step. He was no fan of early mornings. He just didn’t bitch about it endlessly like Gray did. But this was a stealth mission, and it was hard to be stealthy in this transparent small town when everyone was up and about their business. Which half the time was poking into someone else’s business.
    So here he was. Pre-coffee. Pre-dawn. Even the birds weren’t chirping yet. Ward parked his truck at the edge of the lot for Cosgrove’s General Store. If Dawn noticed it when she came to open the store, she’d assume he was on a run. Nothing out of the ordinary to see here.
    He slammed the door and hustled across the highway. Ward could’ve taken his own sweet time. Heck, he could’ve walked across on his hands, because he didn’t expect to see another car down this road for a good long while. But he didn’t just want to get this whole thing over with before someone saw him. Ward wanted to get it over with before he lost his nerve. Or second-guessed