He laid his forearms over the steering wheel as he turned to look at her then, his green eyes capturing hers as all amusement fled his expression. “Are you ready?”
Kelly inhaled slowly. “I’ve been ready for years, Rowdy. You’re the one that took his own sweet time.”
He was dying for her. Rowdy clenched his teeth as he placed his hand at Kelly’s back and led her along the floating dock to the Nauti Buoy. At this rate, his c**k was going to permanently carry the imprint of his zipper. Every step he took the scent of her filled his head; beneath his hand the silken feel of her flesh tortured his senses.
In his other hand he carried the food, which meant he was going to wait to consume Kelly. And waiting wasn’t high on his list of priorities today.
The knowledge that the bastard who had attacked her was watching her burned at him. The son of a bitch. Rowdy had known he was watching, could feel it, but the proof of it sent fury surging through his veins.
Just five minutes with the bastard, he thought, that was all he needed. Hell five seconds. Just long enough to relish hearing the son of a bitch’s neck break. Rowdy swore if he got his hands on the man who dared to hurt her, he would die. Never, not ever, would he threaten Kelly again.
“Where are your cousins?” Kelly asked as they neared the Nauti Dawg. Rowdy’s boat was now sitting between Dawg’s and Natches’s.
“I didn’t ask their schedule.” He grinned.
They were around, watching. Seeing who was paying attention to the three boats now parked off to themselves in the temporary docks normally reserved for those boats waiting transporting out of the lake. Later tonight they would be positioned on the hill above the house instead. It was time to catch this bastard, before he went completely off the deep end.
He swore he felt a shiver race up her spine and hid his smile. Kelly was curious, but wary. Until he let her know Dawg and Natches wouldn’t be there, she hadn’t totally relaxed with him.
“Do you think I would push them on you, Kelly?” He asked softly as they stepped onto the Nauti Buoy and he unlocked the glass sliding doors.
“No, I didn’t.” She shrugged as he glanced over at her. “And I do know how to say ‘no,’ Rowdy.”
But would she say ‘no’? It was something he hadn’t wanted to think about. He deliberately didn’t think about it simply because each time the subject came up he got heartburn. He’d never had heartburn a day in his life, but lately, it was becoming a daily malady.
“Yeah, I know you know how to say no,” he grunted as he sat the food on the table and turned back to her. “That’s what you told me every time I tried to get you to help me in the yard when you were younger.”
“Tried to con me into doing the yard myself.” She gave him a knowing look. “Try another one hotshot. I knew your tricks. You would leave me to it and disappear with your buddies without worrying about me following you.”
He sighed heavily, but he wasn’t fooling her.
“I’m so misunderstood.” He shook his head as he neared her, his lashes lowered, his expression just sexy as hell as he passed her.
“Ouch!” She jumped as the palm of his hand landed on her butt before he locked the doors then pulled the heavy drapes over the glass.
“That’s what you get for being sassy.” He laughed at her frown. “Get over here and eat, woman, then you can show me your wax job.”
“I’m not a car, Rowdy.” She rolled her eyes despite the flaming awareness sizzling through her body.
She tried not to stare at him, tried not to sink into the brilliance of those green eyes, glittering with hunger and emotion. But it was damned hard not to.
The jeans he was wearing conformed to his hard thighs and emphasized the mouthwatering bulge between them. The shirt he wore stretched across his broad chest and molded to his hard abs. If there was an ounce of fat on his body she couldn’t see it.
“Come on, sugar girl.” His voice lowered as he moved to the table, turning on the small light hanging overhead. “You empty the bag and I’ll get the beer.”
Beer and cheeseburgers. Kelly couldn’t remember a meal she had enjoyed more as she sat across from Rowdy and talked. They argued. They always argued. Over the weather signs, the best fishing holes, and life in general.
“I think you disagree with me just to have something to do,” Rowdy finally laughed as she tossed a French fry at his head.
“Probably. I’d hate for you to confuse me with all those women who swoon at your feet and beg for your attention,” she pointed out before finishing her beer and setting the bottle aside. “You’re spoiled, Rowdy.”
“I wish I was spoiled.” He sat back in his chair and looked at her. He just looked at her, his gaze intent now rather than teasing or flirting. “I remember the day I realized you were turning into a woman,” he finally said softly, his voice deepening. “You were going out with that little prick Charlie Dayne. Your skirt was too short, your legs too tanned and you wearing the necklace I had bought you that Christmas. That damned little heart was laying right on the upper curve of your breast because that shirt was cut too low.”
“You tried to get Mom to make me change clothes.” She remembered. She remembered seeing his eyes that day, seeing the wild fire in them that nearly stole her breath.
“You were sixteen f**king years old,” he whispered. “And all I could think about”—he shook his head—“I should have been shot for what I was thinking, Kelly.”
“I thought about you then too.” She was mesmerized by the fire in his eyes now. “I only went out with Charlie because I knew you didn’t like him.”
His eyes narrowed. “Donnie Winters?”
She leaned forward with a little snicker. “He liked you more than he liked me. He thought you were hot, Rowdy.”
He blinked back at her before realization dawned in his eyes. “You little minx.” He shuddered.
“I had six months of free hand washes for my car at his parents’ car detailing shop simply because he got to see you without your shirt on.” She laughed, moving cautiously from the table as he leaned forward in his chair, obviously remembering the fact that he had been outside working on his car that day. Shirtless. And the date had been unexpected, a spur of the moment decision Kelly had made.