LITMIR.BIZ

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at each other like googly-eyed teenagers, but thank goodness, the back of the booth where Dev sat prevented almost everyone in Joe’s Bar from seeing them. Brynna didn’t want to part company just yet, and fresh air would probably do her good.

      “Okay.” She stood and led the way through the dimly lit room to the table where her friends were sharing a basket of buffalo wings. Rae Ann was missing, and Brynna spotted her on the dance floor. “We’re going for a walk,” she said to Emma and the other two nurses.

      Emma reached under the table, brought up Brynna’s backpack and gave the couple an innocent smile, but Brynna knew as soon as the door closed behind them, tongues would wag. “See you later,” Emma said.

      As soon as Dev touched the small of her back, guiding her toward the exit in a decidedly possessive male way, a shiver ran up her spine. He grabbed a black Stetson from a row of similar hats on hooks, slowed to allow Joe, the resident rottweiler who guarded the door, to sniff them as they passed, then held open the door.

      The air was damp, but cool, the refreshing summer scent bringing with it a sense of starting over. The dark shiny pavement indicated it had rained while they’d been inside Joe’s.

      Dev took her bag and slung it over his shoulder. “Which way?”

      She didn’t want him to think she was inviting him to her place, which was straight ahead down State Street—and which was what she would really have liked to have done—so she pointed left on Main. “That way.”

      “You live alone?” he asked after they’d walked a few paces.

      She nodded.

      “Have family in Rumor?”

      “My younger sister Melanie and her family live west on Logan. She’s married and has two boys. My brother Kurt just turned twenty-four, and he’s the pharmacy tech at Value Drug Store. My little brother Tuck is nineteen and stays with each of us off and on. He’ll be going to college in the fall.”

      Right next to Joe’s was the Rumor Motel, and as they passed, Brynna thought maybe it would have been better to go the other way. Dev might think she was hoping for an invitation.

      If he thought anything, Dev didn’t reveal it or react; he simply walked on past the Rooftop Café and led her across the street where they turned and strolled toward the library.

      “What about you?” she asked. “Family?”

      “My cousin runs a spread about fourteen miles that way.” He pointed ahead in a southeasterly direction. “You probably know the Holmes Ranch.”

      She nodded. “Colby is your cousin?”

      “Yep.”

      He wasn’t volunteering information, so she asked, “Where are you from?”

      “Raised in Seattle.”

      “Your parents live there?”

      “Yep.”

      “Montana is quite a change from Seattle.”

      “Ever been there?”

      “No. I’m just imagining.”

      They passed the courthouse, the lawn lit by old-fashioned converted gas lamps, just as a gentle rain began to fall, a cool sprinkling against Brynna’s warm skin. Dev led her toward the shelter of the shadowy white gazebo. He climbed the stairs and dropped her bag on a bench, and she followed, standing and gazing out at the rain falling on the street.

      When she turned back, he was only inches away, having removed his hat. He studied her, his green eyes black in the dark. The dampness brought the clean scent of his shirt and skin to her nostrils. That heavy feeling in her abdomen returned full-force, and she had an overpowering urge to touch him. What would he think of her if he knew—if, heaven forbid, she had the boldness to actually act on her desires?

      She didn’t have to find out, because he raised his hand first, his fingers brushing hair away from her cheek and lingering to caress the strands between his thumb and forefinger. They stood so close, she could feel the warmth radiating from his body. It was crazy, but she could feel herself being drawn toward him like a magnet.

      “I want to kiss you, Brynna.”

      Her heart skipped a beat. Finally. She’d never done anything this impulsive, but she’d never wanted anything more than she wanted to experience his kisses at this moment.

      “Yes,” she said without hiding the impatience in her breathy voice.

      She met him in an eager embrace, and the question of his kisses was answered to her delirious pleasure. His mouth tasted like beer, warm and yeasty; his lips were firm and he applied just the right amount of pressure. He allowed her to breathe and enjoy and even pull away, if she had wanted.

      She didn’t.

      No, no, no, she didn’t….

      Senses reeling, she melted against him, placing a hand flat against his shirtfront and angling her head for closer, deeper contact. Immediately he folded her against his body, splayed the fingers of one hand over her spine and the other behind her neck, in her hair, his thumb along her jaw. Like the parched ground eager for sustaining rain, she couldn’t get enough of him.

      She drank him in, absorbing warmth, comfort, passion, without any inhibition.

      Brynna was a sensible woman, a woman with responsibilities who planned meticulously and took care of other people. Doing something just because she wanted to was out of her limited experience. It felt strange.

      It felt scary.

      It felt wonderful.

      If there was such a thing as a biological clock, hers hadn’t merely been buzzing—it had been gonging like Big Ben, but for the past several years she’d been hitting the snooze button. Though she loved her job, she wanted a relationship. A family.

      Not a one-night stand with a man she’d just met.

      Their lips parted, giving them time to breathe, and, in those heart-pounding seconds, Brynna tried to collect her thoughts. Dev still stroked her cheek with his thumb. The touch went all the way to her breasts and hardened her nipples. Greedy for the feelings he created so easily, she closed her eyes on the erotic sensation and dropped her head back. It seemed as though she’d been waiting for his touch forever.

      Dev took the opportunity to dart his tongue against the sensitive skin of her neck, press a dewy kiss under her jaw…beneath her ear. “You taste so damned good,” he whispered, and she shuddered with the pleasure of his damp breath in her ear. He slid his other hand from her back around to cup her breast. Even through the fabric of her shirt and bra, his caress was hot and her nipple stiffened. He found it with the tips of his fingers.

      Brynna sighed, almost a hiccup, almost a sob, but definitely a sound of sensual delight. Her knees had turned to jelly, and she didn’t know how much longer she would be able to stand like this, without melting into a puddle.

      This man made her lose all reason, and she was tired of denying herself, tired of thinking about nothing but school and work and sensible things. It was time to take a chance. She deserved a sexy cowboy with slow hands and mesmerizing kisses. She deserved Devlin Holmes…and the pleasure he promised.

      Chapter Two

      She buried her face in his neck and inhaled the intoxicating scent of his skin, then instinctively tasted him. “If we cross the street and run through those backyards, we’ll come out right at the back of my apartment building,” she said softly, brazenly, her heart leaping at her daring as well as the thought.

      He leaned back enough to see her face in the dim glow of the distant street lamps. He stood with her pressed against the entire length of his body and her blood thrummed in her veins. “Are you sure?” he asked.

      “It’s my birthday,” she replied, as if that explained her decision to throw caution to the wind with a stranger, and

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