by Jess Bryant
A jolt of heat shot through her system when she met those intensely green eyes. Thunder crackled overhead and she wondered momentarily if she’d been struck by lightning. Only she knew that wasn’t why her blood was heating despite the chill in the air. Wasn’t why her nipples pebbled and heat curled low in her belly.
Her body reacted instantaneously and logically she knew what it was. Lust. Desire. A straight up appreciation for the gifts God had bestowed on this beautiful man.
The part that wasn’t logical or rational or easy to explain was why her body reacted to this particular man the exact same way it had when she was nothing more than a hormonal teenage girl, as if she hadn’t aged a day, as if nothing had changed when in truth everything had.
His name patch said Lowry but she hadn’t truly needed it to know who she was looking at. She’d have known him anywhere. She should have. Because she’d known him all her life.
She knew his eyes were actually a beautiful blue-green color up close and that they were a family trait. She knew that if he smiled deep dimples would appear in both of his cheeks. She knew that he’d gotten the small white scar on his otherwise flawless jawline from a brazen head-first dive into home plate that had won his baseball team the district championship in high school. She knew that beneath that awful uniform there was a tattoo that he’d gotten when he was a teenager and had briefly dabbled in rebellion against his Sheriff father.
She knew almost everything there was to know about him because he had been her secret childhood crush when she was a little girl. She’d followed him around like a pesky shadow, asking him questions and begging for his attention. She’d been half in love with Shane Lowry when she was seven years old but she’d thought she had outgrown her fascination. Standing in the rain, with his big, hard body mere feet away and those gorgeous green eyes studying her, she felt like the same silly, foolish little girl she’d been back then.
Because she wanted him. Instantly. Uncontrollably. It didn’t make a lick of sense, it never had, but her body knew what it wanted and being all grown up only made the feeling more intense.
“Miss?”
Lemon blinked for what felt like the first time in hours and her surroundings came back into focus. She was standing outside in the rain, in her mother’s garden no less, and Shane Lowry was glowering at her. He had one hand on the butt of his gun, as if she might be a threat, and she was standing here imagining him naked.
Idiotic.
She’d met her fair share of gorgeous men since she became famous. Men that used their bodies for their career. Singers, actors, models, athletes, she’d rubbed shoulders with them all. She’d slept with some of them, had relationships with some of them, hell she’d married and then divorced one of them, but her body had never once reacted so viscerally to the sight of them. Not the way it did when faced with the good-looking, small-town police deputy in his ugly brown uniform.
She’d spent a lot of time and energy as a teenage girl trying to figure out exactly what it was about this man that got to her but she’d never been able to narrow it down to one thing and she still couldn’t. It could have been the way his dark hair stuck up in every direction, making her fingers itch to run through it. Or it could have been those intense eyes that had a way of looking a different color depending on the light but had always seemed to really see her. Or it could have just been that he was smoking hot and she hadn’t been laid in a really long time.
Yeah, that was probably it. She was in a serious drought and add to that she was emotionally compromised. She’d been homesick and as strange as it might be, Shane Lowry represented home and safety to her just as much as this small town or the house behind her did. At one point in their lives, he’d been her protector, her guardian angel or a surrogate big brother figure, though she’d tried to distance herself from that thought the moment she hit puberty.
They’d known each other for as long as she could remember. His parents and hers were practically inseparable. Their fathers were best friends that worked together, golfed together and that meant by default their families did things together. As a little girl, she’d called his parents Aunt Rosa and Uncle Hank for God’s sake. His younger brother, Seth, had been her best friend and for the most part that meant Shane had been forced into the role of babysitter if not surrogate older brother. She had most definitely been the annoying little sister he never wanted right up until the moment she left town even if she’d long since stopped thinking of him that way.
“Um… hi.” She tried for casual, waving and only realizing when he raised one eyebrow that she was still holding a rock in her fist. She dropped the rock and tried to wipe her dirty hands on her jeans, “Uh, sorry about that.”
His eyes skated down her body at the movement but jerked upwards again quickly, “What seems to be the problem here miss?”
She paused in the midst of rubbing her hands on her thighs and stared at him for a long moment. She didn’t want to wonder what he saw when his eyes skittered over her like that so she refused to think about it. Instead she focused on what she did know, instinctively, from the fact that he kept calling her miss instead of by her name and using that cop voice as though it might convince her he meant business.
Impossible.
Lemon bit off a pout as she realized that Shane didn’t recognize her. In his defense, she probably looked like a drowned rat at the moment. She hadn’t immediately recognized him either even though he hadn’t changed all that much since she left. The dark scruff on his jaw was new and the lines around his eyes and mouth were deeper but he was still Shane. And that meant she had every right to use her advantage against him.
“The house is locked.”
He continued to eye her warily when she stepped out of the mud of the flowerbed and therefore closer to him, “Okay, but that doesn’t explain what you were doing when I drove up.”
“Um, breaking and entering? Duh.” She stopped just in front of him and finally gave in to the grin that was threatening, “You going to arrest me again, Deputy Do-Right?”
She waited but she didn’t have to wait long. She saw it the moment her insulting old nickname for him hit and recognition flared in his eyes along with something else, something far less familiar that she couldn’t place. His gaze darted down her body again and then back up and his jaw fell open as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“Lemon?” He blinked, equal parts confusion and surprise coloring his expression.
A shiver ran down her spine at the way he said her name but it wasn’t sexual this time. It was warmth and comfort. Familiar.
It reminded her of all the times he’d said it when she was a kid. She could vividly recall the way his lips had pursed into a thin, irritated line whenever he’d caught her doing something she shouldn’t have been doing. Just as she could vividly remember the way the corners of his mouth had twitched as he reprimanded her, because even when she’d annoyed Shane, she’d also always amused him.
And because those memories were so clear, so potent and warm and welcoming, she ignored the little voice in her head that said to be careful and impulsively threw herself into his arms for a hug as she yelled, “Surprise!”
Chapter Two
“Oomph.” Shane Lowry felt all of the air rush out of his lungs on a strangled breath when she threw her arms around him but he recovered quickly and grabbed her before they both tumbled to the ground.
It was a good save. At least he thought it was until he realized that it brought her body up tight against his. Until he realized that his hands had instinctively circled her hips and now rested dangerously close to the curve of her ass. Until he realized her breasts were pressed to his chest and she was obviously cold because he could feel the hard little points of her nipples through their clothing.
Clothing he had absolutely no right to be thinking would look better on the floor of his bedroom. Next to his bed. While he laid her out and explored every inch of her beautiful body.
Shane had to shake
his head to clear the very dirty, very inappropriate thoughts. Thoughts that had risen, unbidden, the moment he’d pulled his truck into his driveway, stepped out, and noticed the woman bent over provocatively in the yard across the street. He’d tried to tell himself that he came over to inspect the scene because he was an officer of the law, because Paul and Lorna Kelly were close family friends, but both of those reasons paled in comparison to the simple desire he’d felt to get a better look at the woman bent over with her ass waving in the air like an invitation.
And wasn’t that just like Lemon Kelly to completely throw him for a loop?
Somewhere between noticing the way the tight denim jeans clung to her perfectly shaped ass and getting a glimpse of a flimsy white shirt that was damn near translucent, his brain had shut off and he hadn’t seen the resemblance to the pretty girl he’d known all her life.
It wasn’t his fault that he hadn’t recognized her, that he’d reacted to her body like she was any other woman. A woman he was allowed to look at. A woman he was allowed to fantasize about. It wasn’t his fault he’d looked at her and seen things he shouldn’t have.
Not when she was soaked through and that ball cap hid most of her features. Not when her cheeks were rosy from the chill in the air. Not when that chill had tightened her nipples to the point that he could see them through the shirt plastered to her curves. Not when he could feel them slide against his chest when she wiggled in his arms.
He groaned and attempted to shake off another round of hard-core, debilitating desire. He began to untangle them and set her back on her feet when what he really wanted was to hitch her up just a couple of inches until she could wrap her legs around him. That would put those gorgeous breasts close enough he could tongue them through her bra and…
“Shane?” Her breathy voice saying his name jerked him out of that horribly inappropriate fantasy.
What the fuck was he thinking? He had to get himself under control. Now. He could not seriously and knowingly be lusting after Lemon Kelly. She was beautiful, sure. Maybe she always had been but he’d never given it as much as a thought. She’d always just been the annoying little girl from down the street.
The one that he’d been terrified was dead when she refused to come out of her hiding spot during hide-and-seek when she was eight. The one that he’d been stuck babysitting right along with his little brother when she was twelve. The same one he’d caught sneaking into his little brother’s window when she was sixteen.
He couldn’t remember a time in his life when Lemon Kelly hadn’t been wreaking havoc and causing problems for him so maybe this new impulsive desire he had to touch her was just all grown up Lemon’s way of driving him crazy.
“Is that a police baton in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?” There was laughter in her voice and he growled as he dumped her back to the ground unceremoniously.
She caught herself on her own two feet and laughed up at him. Big blue eyes flashing with mischief and more than a little knowledge, she looked a lot more like the girl he remembered at that moment. Her laughter was familiar, sweet and melodic with just a touch of teasing but in a comforting kind of way.
This was Lemon. An all grown up, soft and sexy Lemon. But still just Lemon.
He resituated his holster on his hips in an effort to hide the erection she’d already noticed. Luckily since he’d just come off duty, he did indeed have his baton on his hip. He could pretend they were talking about that and maybe have a shot in hell of not embarrassing them both.
“Well, well…” He cleared his throat, “If it isn’t little Lemon Kelly, up to no good as usual I see.”
Her grin only widened at the playful insult, “Well, well, if it isn’t Shane Lowry, still taking all the fun out of life I see.”
“Brat.” He shot back.
“Bore.” She stuck her tongue out at him.
And just like that, he got a grip on the hum of sexual energy that had begun to thrum beneath his skin as soon as he saw her. This, the teasing and taunting and name-calling, was a reminder of just how long he’d known this girl, how well he’d known her.
It brought back memories he hadn’t even known he had. Memories of a little girl with ribbons in her hair following him around asking questions about the universe. Memories of a teenage girl with a short skirt blowing bubbles with her gum and rolling her eyes at him. Memories of giggling laughter and arguments and fights, all memories from what felt like a lifetime ago when he looked down at her because she wasn’t that same girl anymore.
He’d have known that even if his sudden attraction to her hadn’t more than proven it. Her eyes didn’t sparkle like they used to. Even amused at his expense he could see the ghosts in her big blue eyes now, as if she was trying too hard to be light-hearted. She looked tired, he realized, and he felt another urge, this one far more common and far more acceptable than the one to get her naked. He wanted to hug her and tell her that she was safe.
He had no idea why he thought she needed to hear that but stifling the urge was damn near impossible.
He’d seen pictures of her over the years after she left for Tennessee. He had each and every one of her albums. He remembered the cover of the very first one, the one with her sitting in a field of wildflowers when she’d looked at the camera as if she had a secret she couldn’t wait to tell you. He’d seen her on his television at red carpet events and on the covers of magazines down at the grocery store. He remembered the candid shot from her wedding day that Lorna had framed and hung inside the house, the one where Lemon was looking back over her shoulder at the lens, smiling that same secretive smile.
But that wasn’t the smile she was using now and it somehow felt more wrong than his desire to kiss her until she grinned at him like she had when she was a kid up to no good.
“It’s nice to see you, Shane.” She softened as she stepped back from him, out of reach.
“I could say the same thing.” He shoved his hands into his pockets instead of reaching for her, “What’re you doing here, Lemon?”
“Uh, well…” She shrugged, her gaze darting all around, “I um, I’m visiting my parents. Duh. What’s it look like I’m doing?”
Shane pursed his lips as something else he knew about this girl twitched in his memory. She wasn’t a bratty teenager anymore but her lingo hadn’t changed much. How many times had she said duh since they started talking? He snorted at her ridiculously childish tell even though the fact that he knew it meant she was hiding something made all of his protective instincts sit up and take notice.
“It looked like you were breaking and entering, just like you said you were.”
“I was looking for the hide-a-key!” She groaned.
“To a house where you don’t live, which is breaking and entering.”
“Seriously?” She threw her hands in the air and then crossed her arms over her chest defensively, “I wasn’t breaking in, per se… I was just…”
She was still talking. He knew she was still talking. He could hear her sweet voice but he couldn’t focus on the words. Her defiant gesture, crossing her arms, had earned his undivided attention. Her arms framed her breasts in that position and he couldn’t look away. Her shirt was wet and clingy and completely see-through now. He got an eyeful of the black lace bra beneath and her nipples were hard points that just begged for his hands or mouth or tongue so he could…
“Shane?”
Her breathing had sped up, he knew from the way her chest heaved but it was her voice saying his name that broke the spell. He jerked his eyes back up to her face, feeling his skin heat with the knowledge that she’d caught him staring. She was smirking, as if his seemingly uncontrollable desire for her amused her to no end.
It probably did. The Lemon he remembered had always enjoyed a good laugh. She’d enjoyed causing trouble even more. She was probably getting a real kick out of seeing him react to her like a blushing schoolboy instead of a grown man.
“Yeah?”
“Are you starin
g at my boobs?”
He groaned and slammed a hand across his eyes. She just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to call him out. She hadn’t changed a bit. Trouble. That’s what she was. She couldn’t just let it go. She had to make things awkward by pointing out that he’d been aroused when she leapt into his arms, that he couldn’t help but stare at her breasts. If she had any idea the thoughts that had run through his head before he knew who she was she’d laugh her head off.
He had absolutely no suitable response so he fell back on the only thing he could think of to change the subject, “You’re soaking wet Lemon. Get up on the porch out of the rain before you catch cold.”
She rolled her eyes at him as he moved her ridiculously oversized suitcase up onto the porch out of the rain and stepped under the eaves himself, “Still trying to boss me around?”
“Still refusing to act logically?” He grabbed her by the wrist and tugged her beneath the cover, unfortunately, touching her proved to be another bad idea.
Her skin was soft, so soft. And warm, so warm. He was surprised steam wasn’t rising from her actually. She stumbled into him and sucked in a gasp of air as if she felt that jolt of electricity that sparked inside him at the innocent touch. Her free hand rose to steady herself, using his chest to give her leverage and he tried not to wince, certain she could feel the way his heart sped up at the contact.
What the hell was wrong with him?
This was Lemon. Bratty, obnoxious, nothing but trouble Lemon. She was his friend, or she had been at one time or another. Probably. He wasn’t sure he’d ever really thought of her as a friend though as much as he’d thought of her as a problem that needed solving. But whatever they’d been, he had never, not once, looked at her and wondered if her lips were as soft as they looked, never questioned what she tasted like or if she’d say his name in that breathy voice if he nipped at that plump bottom lip of hers and then soothed the sting with his tongue.