That first touch had been a rush, but then an even larger pleasure had pulsed through her, growing bigger and bigger as his hand slid higher and higher. The knowledge that he’d touch bare skin, that he’d know, that he’d find out. She wasn’t what people thought she was. She wasn’t a shy, modest local girl afraid to venture far from home. She was naughty. She was wicked. And she loved it.
His hand had finally found the top of her stocking. He’d discovered that secret. And unlike most men, he hadn’t missed a beat. One touch of her wickedly bare thigh, and Alex had pulled the bike over to discover whether or not she meant it. She did. She always did.
Sophie squeezed her thighs together again, gasping at the shock of that sweet pleasure.
God.
She could deny anything she wanted, but he saw the truth.
Sophie bit her lip, trying to bite back her need, but it didn’t work. She wanted to see him again. He’d touched her exactly the way she needed to be touched. He was right. She needed more.
She slowed the car to a stop at the side of the road and calmly withdrew a tube of lip balm from her purse. She smoothed it over her abused bottom lip, then stared at herself in the mirror. Her face looked calm, but her cheeks were flushed and her eyes bright with an excitement she recognized.
She had to tell Alex the truth, but as she slipped her sunglasses on and pulled back onto the narrow dirt road, she could no longer pretend that she regretted the lie.
ALEX TURNED HIS phone on, confirmed that only his brother had called—four times—then switched it off. The only calls he was interested in taking were about work or a certain naughty librarian. But she hadn’t called. Not that he was surprised. He’d seen that in the stubborn way she’d said “Good evening,” when she’d gotten off his bike. He’d watched until she got inside her house. She hadn’t looked back once.
Fuck, she was hot.
He knew he’d have to see his family today. He’d considered meeting them for dinner the night before, but then he’d seen Sophie, and he’d decided not to screw up a good evening. He’d see them on his terms, on his time, and first he wanted another glimpse of Sophie.
She only lived a few doors down from his mother, so he parked his bike in front of his mom’s and walked toward Sophie’s little place. She might not be home. She might not want to see him. But Alex still felt a smile try to tug at his mouth as he approached.
The smile finally won out when he spotted Sophie before he even got to her house. She was working in the flower beds along the front of her house, and looked even more prim than she usually did. Instead of a dress, today she wore khaki capris and little white sneakers and a flowered button-down shirt that almost hid her slim curves. But he knew them now. There was no hiding them. Especially when she bent over and he caught sight of the perfect rounds of her ass.
Damn. He wanted to see her just like that, except naked and begging.
But for now he stepped onto her front walk, avoiding her carefully tended lawn because he thought she wouldn’t like him grinding it down with his big boots. Even in September, her grass was just starting to lose its green.
Her head rose when his boot caught a rock and kicked it toward the front stairs.
“Oh!” The trowel dropped from her hands as she stood. “Alex.”
He liked the pink that rushed to her cheeks. “Sophie,” he said softly, and her cheeks turned crimson, as if her name was something intimate.
“Um, hi,” she stammered. Her eyes darted toward his mother’s house, then back to him. “Did you come to talk?”
He leaned against the front porch banister and looked her up and down from behind his sunglasses. No one would guess in a million years that this innocent-looking woman had come like an animal last night.
She swallowed hard. “You’re intimidating with those glasses on.”
“Am I?” he asked.
“Yes. I can’t see your eyes, and your mouth always looks so serious.”
He liked making her nervous, but he still slipped off his glasses. “Better?”
“Yes,” she said, but she still licked her lips and glanced down the street again. “Alex, I’m so sorry.”
“You don’t need to apologize. Unless you’re about to pretend you can’t see me again.”
“I can’t.”
“Come on. It’ll be fun.” He lowered his voice and raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you think it’ll be fun, Sophie?”
The color had begun to fade from her cheeks, but they blazed red again. Alex let his gaze sweep down her body and let her see him do it. Her pretty mouth parted as she drew in a quick breath. But she still shook her head.
“I really can’t. There’s something I didn’t tell you.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “This is a little early for ‘We need to talk,’ isn’t it?”
But the way she worried her bottom lip let him know she was serious. And just like that, he knew what it was. Why she played so coy. Why she’d met him in secret. Why she didn’t want to go out again.
She was seeing someone else. She was taken.
Alex didn’t particularly care.
“Okay,” he said. “I think I know what you’re going to say.”
“I don’t think you do.”
He shrugged. “Fine. We’ll talk. Go out with me, or invite me in, or I’ll take you for a ride. I’ll let you choose.”
That snapped her eyes up to his. “Oh, you’ll let me?”
He laughed. “Definitely. Whatever you want. You want things, don’t you?”
She shrugged and slipped off her gardening gloves. “You’re handsome when you smile,” she grumbled.
“But not when I don’t?”
“No. Handsome isn’t the word I’d use then.”
He tipped his head a little closer as if she were revealing a secret. “What word would you use?”
He’d expected a flip answer, but she seemed to take his question seriously. Her brow furrowed as she looked up at him, and a dozen heartbeats passed before she answered. “I’d say you’re...”
During her pause, he watched closely, studying her eyes, waiting for her answer. But it never came.
“Get away from her!” a woman yelled from a distance.
A strangled gasp tore from Sophie’s throat as she straightened and took two steps away from Alex. He was a little slower, checking idly over his shoulder to see what neighborhood drama was going down. An old woman was storming up the street. It took him several seconds to realize that old woman was his mom. He still wasn’t used to the change in her.
“Alex!” she screamed.
Jesus. Alex shook his head. “Whatever’s about to go down, I apologize for it.”
“Alex, I’m sorry. I meant to tell you. I swear.”
“Tell me what?” he asked. When she didn’t answer, he looked away from his charging mother to see Sophie twisting her hands together, her face tight with something like fear. “Hey. Don’t let her scare you. She’s just—”
“You get away from that whore!”
“Hey!”