“Do you think she’s going to bring us more coffee?” he asked ruefully.
Both men looked back at the woman, estimating their chances for caffeine.
“If she knows what’s good for her.” Natches’s grin was wicked. “Or else, I might have to call Dawg back to sweet-talk her for us.”
Rowdy chuckled, though when he glanced back at Crista he could feel the frown tugging at his brow again. The fact that Dawg wanted her should have been all it took to produce a raging hard-on and more than a surfeit of interest. Instead, all he felt was an edge of sadness. Their lifestyle, the very truth of their sexuality stood between Dawg and a woman Rowdy knew had to be more than interested in the other man.
Women didn’t get that upset if they weren’t interested. If they didn’t care. Crista Jansen cared—it had been there in her eyes, in her anger. But he had to agree with one thing. She wasn’t the type of woman who would willingly share her man, anymore than Kelly was. And that was the clincher. She was a woman worth keeping, a one-man woman. And she needed a one-woman man.
TWELVE
Kelly waited at the door of the spa, watching as Rowdy pulled into the parking area in the pickup. She felt naughty as she waited for him, her body waxed and buffed, smoothed and lotioned.
As he stepped out of the pickup she pushed open the door and moved out to meet him, returning his smile as she felt the flush across her cheeks.
“Ready?” He opened the passenger-side door as she neared the truck, his green eyes intent as he watched her closely.
“All ready.” Her voice trembled, dammit. Then she trembled all over as his hands gripped her h*ps and he lifted her into the seat of the truck.
She could feel the blush deepening in her face.
“Damn, that blush is pretty.” Rowdy cupped her face, turning her face to him for a quick kiss and a wicked grin.
“And you’re bad,” she laughed as he moved back, winking at her before closing the door and heading back to the driver’s side.
Within seconds, the interior of the truck was once again filled with his scent. Male. No cologne. Just the scent of primal heat teasing her senses.
“Hungry?” he asked as he slid the vehicle into reverse and pulled out of the parking spot.
“Starved.” Her stomach was convinced she hadn’t eaten in weeks.
“Why don’t we pick up a few greasy cheeseburgers and fries and head out to the boat for awhile?” He suggested smoothly, glancing at her from the corner of his eye as she felt her heart race.
Alone on the boat with Rowdy? And he had to ask?
“Sounds good.” She nodded as her thighs clenched and her br**sts suddenly felt heavier, more sensitive.
There was something in his expression that warned her he was tired of waiting. A ready stillness, a tension. Rowdy had shown amazing restraint to this point. She had a feeling that patience had come to an abrupt end.
“Will we be taking the boat out?”
“No. The marina is pretty empty today,” he said as he made a quick turn into a local fast-food restaurant. “I thought we’d eat, laze around, drink a few beers, and talk.”
“Talk,” she repeated slowly.
“And other things.” There was no smile this time, no teasing, no edging around what they both wanted as he stared back at her. “Still want to go?”
“Yes.” Kelly stared back at him, trying to regulate her breathing, to still the excitement climbing inside her.
He nodded slowly before turning his gaze back to the drive-thru he was pulling up beside.
Good to his word, he ordered greasy cheeseburgers, several of them, and masses of fries.
They were silent as he pulled forward, paid for the food, and collected the bag before driving back onto the road. Kelly watched the miles pass, staying quiet. She had waited for this, for too long she sometimes thought. And now, knowing that the waiting was nearly at an end, she could feel her nerves rocketing.
She was a virgin. There wasn’t a chance in hell she knew near enough about the male body to please him the first time. Suddenly, she almost regretted waiting. Maybe she should have gone for some kind of experience, but there had been no desire to become intimate with the men she had dated.
Not that she normally dated them long. Dawg and Natches were always too close, always butting their noses into her dates. She had found it amusing over the years, but now she wondered if she should have put a stop to it. Should have at least tried to learn how to please a man.
She wanted to please Rowdy. She wanted to know how to touch him, how to excite him.
“Stop worrying so much,” he chastised gently as they neared the marina.
“I’m not worrying.” She forced a smile to her face. She was not going to act like a nervous teenager.
He snorted at her denial, his gaze knowing as he glanced at her again. “I know you, Kelly. You’re sitting over there biting a hole in your lip. That means you’re worrying.”
Damn. Busted.
“You don’t know everything, Rowdy Mackay.” She stuck her tongue out at him as she tossed her head defiantly. “You just think you do.”
“I know damned near everything about you,” he argued, his lips pulling into a sensual smile as he turned the truck along the lakefront road. “When you’re biting your lip like that, you’re worrying. And there’s nothing that’s going to happen between us that you need to worry about. Anticipate maybe.” There was that wicked smile again. “But nothing to worry about.”
Her face heated again. Damn him. Blushing was not her favorite thing to do.
“What are you going to do if Ray comes out to the boat to check on us?” She leaned back in her seat and regarded him in amusement now. “You know how overprotective he gets.”
“Dad had to drive to Louisville this morning.” Satisfaction filled his voice. “Your mom went with him. They have the Colberts minding the store and pumps while they’re gone.”
“So while the cat’s away the mouse gets to play, huh?” she asked with a laugh.
“Mouse?” He frowned back playfully. “Sweetheart, trust me here, there ain’t no mice on my boat. But the big bad wolf might end up devouring a certain little lamb for sure.”
Kelly couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled from her throat as Rowdy pulled into the parking slot nearest the entrance to the upper end of the docks. The locked gate was normally for maintenance only, but the Mackay cousins used it rather than walking the distance along the docks to the main entrance.