Twenty Times Tempted: A Sexy Contemporary Romance Collection

by Petrova, Em

  Her eyes lit up, and Linc relaxed as he watched her talk, getting lost in the depths of her whiskey-colored eyes. “Yes. I love it. I have always written, but just started writing for real a few years ago, to try to make some money. When my mom died, things around my house were strained, so I sort of slowed down. But I realized I couldn’t stop if I wanted to. Now, when I don’t write, the voices inside my head start yelling until I stop and get them out.” Her eyes dropped to the napkin she was fiddling with. “It’s sort of silly, but I don’t know how to explain it.”

  It seemed to Linc she was understating things, especially when her voice got husky talking about the strain when her mom died. Of course that would be hard; he could commiserate. But he didn’t press. Thankfully, there were interruptions. He filed her mother’s death away for another topic later. It was something they could talk about together, since his mother was dead, too. But it would have to come up again after he told her about his incarceration, since that’s when it had happened. His stomach clenched at the idea, and he knew he wasn’t ready to talk about that yet. As long as nobody in town said anything tonight, he wouldn’t have to.

  Tiffany dropped off two plates but didn’t stay to visit this time, as Tate Fucking Hughes slid into the booth across from them. Linc stifled his groan and totally lost his appetite. Vanessa stiffened next to him, and he wondered if Tate knew he had that effect on women in town.

  “Howdy, guys. How’s y’all’s Friday evening going?” he drawled lazily. It was a front, though. Linc knew more than anybody the conniving that went on behind those mirrored sunglasses and good ol’ boy façade. Traitorous asshole used to be his best friend before Linc had caught him fucking his sister when she was only sixteen-goddamn-years-old. Then, when Linc had gotten in trouble, Tate was the first one on the stand, throwing him under the bus, testifying against his character.

  “Good, thanks,” Vanessa offered before shoving an enormous forkful of lettuce in her mouth. Linc loved that. He tried to watch her, let her distract him with the sensual pleasure she took with her food, but it was useless with Tate Fucking Hughes sitting right across from them.

  Linc’s food turned to sawdust in his mouth, as he knew Tate had only sat down to piss him off. He was wrangling to get into Vanessa’s panties, just to piss off Linc. Or else, he was going to open his fat mouth and say something about Linc being in prison, being a murderer.

  “You must be Vanessa Power. The old Evans place, right?” Tate was fishing for information, and Linc’s mouth wasn’t cooperating. He wanted to tell the sheriff to fuck the hell off, but he couldn’t swallow the food in his mouth, and his gag reflex was threatening to overrule. Helpless, he watched the conversation unfold while he desperately tried to swallow and not throw up.

  Vanessa swallowed her mouthful and her tongue swiped across her lips, completely oblivious to the torn reaction from Linc, before answering, “Yes, that’s mine.” She wiped a napkin across her lips, and Linc wrapped his arm around her again, possessively. Tate quirked an eyebrow at him, but Linc didn’t give a flying fuck. She was his, and he needed Tate to know that, even if it was ammunition for the sheriff to use against him.

  “Settling in alright, Miss Power?” His continued use of her name was a subtle dig at Linc; the way he said her name grated on Linc’s nerves like a jackhammer.

  “Yes, very much so. Linc has been really helpful with fixing stuff. If it weren’t for him, I’d probably still be sleeping in my car,” she laughed.

  “Nothing’s come up missing?” Tate’s eyes were shrewd, and Linc felt his ire rise. Motherfucker just couldn’t let anything go.

  “Nope.”

  Motioning to Tiffany, Linc asked, “Hey, Tiff. Can we get something to take this with us? And two slices of your cherry chocolate cake?” He was done. There was no way he would sit here and listen to Tate’s innuendos.

  “Sure thing. I’ll just get y’all some to-go boxes,” Tiff called out, just as someone behind them muttered a barely-concealed, “Good riddance.”

  Linc looked and saw Julie Reeves staring daggers at Linc and Vanessa. Heat flamed his face. This was exactly what he’d been afraid of. Julie had been Amanda’s best friend. He’d heard the girl had something going on with Tate during the trial, too, but it hadn’t lasted when Tate went off to school. He turned back to face Tate, his ears on fire.

  “No need. I was leaving.” Tate slid out of the booth and stood, stretching innocently at the edge of the table. “Take care.”

  “We don’t have to leave,” Vanessa offered. Apparently, she hadn’t heard the dig behind them, and Linc wasn’t at all ready to explain his past. They had just gotten started. He wasn’t ready for them to end, yet.

  “I wanted to show you something, anyway.”

  She shrugged, clearly along for the ride. “Okay.”

  When Tiffany brought their cake to-go and some Styrofoam containers for their food, Linc boxed everything up and carried the tower out to his truck. “One more stop and then we’ll go.” Leaning toward her, he inhaled her clean, fruity smell before planting a kiss on her lips. He was relieved they’d made it out without a huge scene, even though it was clear he wouldn’t be able to go back there for a while. He felt lighter for leaving, and his chest swelled when she kissed him back. She tasted so sweet, her little tongue doing obscene things to him in his head.

  “God, I love kissing you,” he whispered, and she giggled in return, which only made him want to kiss her again. It was like a dam had broken, flooding his body.

  Instead, he got behind the wheel of his truck and started her up, ignoring Tate as he stood on the sidewalk, hat in hand, watching them drive off.

  ***

  Vanessa could kiss this man all night, but he apparently had other plans. As they drove around town, he ended up behind The Pint, and got out to run inside for something. Vanessa looked out the window at the alley they were in. It wasn’t really an alley, just a space between buildings, where lots of empty boxes were piled up. She thought something moved, and she looked closer only to jerk back.

  “What is it?” Linc had opened his door just when she jerked.

  “Is that… a person in the boxes?”

  Linc leaned over her to look, and damn if she didn’t get a nose full. God, he smelled so good—manly aftershave and his own clean smell underneath.

  “Yeah, that’s Gus.”

  “So he really is homeless?” It seemed strange in a town of this size to have a homeless population. Vanessa had always just assumed it was an exaggeration in Gus’s case. She looked closer and saw a man about their age, although he looked ageless with eyes that seemed to look inside her. He had a beard caked with mud and dirt, and even though she’d seen him before at The Pint, he looked like he belonged in the boxes.

  “That’s the rumor, anyway. He has always been a little weird, but he seems harmless. I heard he was in the foster system, and I guess he just never got his shit together.” Linc tossed a wave to the man who only rolled over and turned his back to them.

  “Huh,” was all Vanessa could think to say as Linc put a growler of beer between her legs on the floorboard.

  “Nick’s your bestie?”

  The low chuckle that did insane things to her panties sounded again. “Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

  They drove out of town a ways and ended up in a secluded area. There was a train track bridging out over a small lake. There were picnic areas nearby, but as Linc got out with all of their food and the beer balanced, he led her away from where anybody might come, onto the other side of the tracks.

  He dug around in his pocket after setting the food down and pulled out two pennies, then walked over to the track to lay them down. “You ever done this before?”

  She shook her head, totally enthralled in the way he moved. His long legs ate up the ground effortlessly, as if he’d never had a misstep in his life. As he came closer, she felt herself getting warm all over again, even though the night was a little bit chillier.

  �
��They flatten out when the train rolls over them. It’s a kid thing, but it’s still cool.”

  “In case you haven’t noticed, I sort of like kid stuff.”

  She poured them some beer out of the growlers while he pulled out the food, and they ate in silence a little while until he asked her the question she’d been waiting for. “So how long has the douchebag been an ex?”

  Vanessa sighed, completely willing to get this out of the way. “Almost nine months. My mom died a little over a year ago, and he didn’t handle it the way I needed him to. Then he proposed and I turned him down. It wasn’t pretty.”

  “Ouch.”

  “Yeah, well, before you go putting people on a jumbotron, you need to make sure you’re not an asshole.” She wasn’t sure how much of the story she wanted to get into with Linc. The memories were still pretty painful, but if he was going to be her boyfriend—and that word still made her shiver in a preteen sort of way—he would want to know all of it, eventually.

  His answering chuckle filled her with a now-familiar warmth. “Duly noted.”

  She took a bite of her salad while he ate a fourth of his massive sandwich in one bite and they chewed silently totally content to just be together. As they ate, Vanessa looked up at the sky to see a shooting star.

  “Look!” she said, pointing upward.

  Linc scooted closer, putting one of his arms behind her, leaning closer. “Tonight’s a meteor shower.”

  “Did you plan this?”

  His chuckle sounded again. “I wish. No, I’m not that good. But it’s awesome, right?”

  Vanessa looked back to see his eyes twinkle in the darkness, and she leaned onto his shoulder. “Yes. It’s pretty awesome.” She finished her salad, scooting closer and closer to him for no other reason than she just wanted to. She thought of the diary, and Isaack kissing Emily under the stars, and everything inside her got warm.

  “Ready for cake?”

  “Hell yeah! Cherry chocolate? Like a cherry cordial cake?”

  “Yup. It’s one of my favorites.” Linc opened the container and pushed the fork through the spongey cake, holding the forkful out to Vanessa. “Here. Try it.”

  She opened her mouth and watched his face as he slid the fork into her mouth. She tried to look sexy taking it off the fork, but felt stupid instead. Whatever, it seemed to do something to Linc, as his eyes sparkled with something hot, and he leaned closer, feeding her faster, not taking his eyes off her lips.

  A low rumbling vibrated through Vanessa, and she couldn’t take her eyes off Linc. He leaned closer, and his smell—the aftershave giving way to the masculine underscent he rocked—nearly knocked her over as he covered her lips with his. His tongue stroked her lips, and she opened willingly. Kissing Linc was at the top of her list of favorites, as they never failed to make her nipples pucker and her breasts heavy. That’s not even taking into account the swimmy feeling in her head and the pulsing in her panties. His hand gripped her waist, and the vibrations and rumbling grew harder. She would have given anything for the guts to crawl into his lap right now and straddle him, but she’d told herself after the other night this was his show. Still, those vibrations were killer, though. They rumbled through her belly, making all the other sensations more intense.

  “Train,” he mumbled against her lips before laying her down on the grass and crawling on top of her for some serious making out.

  Hell. Yeah.

  He kissed her long, slow, and deep. Vanessa was lost, totally unaware of her surroundings. She just wanted to kiss Linc forever. But when the train’s rumbling faded into the distance, he gyrated himself against her once, then climbed up.

  She spent the next five minutes catching her breath.

  Sweet baby Jesus. This guy was going to be the death of her.

  She sat up, still breathing heavily, to see him jogging back from the train tracks. Linc dropped something hot in the palm of her hand.

  “Ow!” She tossed it into the air and let it come back down into her hand, blowing on the flattened piece of metal she held. “It’s silver.”

  “Yeah, pennies aren’t really all copper.” He was grinning at her like a little kid, and Vanessa wanted to kiss the grin into submission, but she refrained. “Zinc. They’re made of zinc, and that’s silver-colored. Only the coating is copper. Cool, huh?”

  “Yeah,” she muttered as she turned the smooth piece of metal over in her hand. You could still see old Abe, but he was flattened and distorted on one edge of the metal piece which had elongated to about two inches long. “Really cool.”

  “I’m named after him,” he jutted his chin toward the smashed penny in her palm. “Abraham Lincoln Ward.”

  She giggled. “So, who’s Samantha named after?”

  “Samantha Houston Ward, if you can believe it. Our parents, the history buffs. Family vacations were torturous trips to historical markers all over the state.” He chuckled low in his throat, reliving memories that didn’t sound so bad.

  They talked for a while, telling stories of their childhood, commiserating about younger siblings, and Vanessa enjoyed listening to Linc talk so openly about hispast. The joy she saw on his face was a rarity, and she asked him a lot of questions, loving his open willingness to talk. After a little bit, he seemed to run out of steam.

  “So…”

  She looked up from her lap to see him staring at her with a quizzical expression on his face. “What?”

  “What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?”

  Oh, a change in subject? Not necessarily, but she saw the opportunity to flirt a little. “I don’t know… Hit on my handyman?” An uncomfortable giggle escaped her throat, and he smiled at her, seeming to get it.

  “I don’t think that’s crazy. You’re gorgeous. Surely he would have gotten the nerve up to hit on you eventually.”

  A thrill coursed through her at his words. He thought she was gorgeous, and he was freaking sex on a stick. “I don’t know, he seems pretty broody,” she prodded.

  “Only around women he likes.” Linc nudged her knee with his outstretched foot, and Vanessa once again resisted the impulse to launch herself at him.

  “What about you? What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?”

  His face took on a guarded look, and she knew whatever he was about to say was not going to be the truth.

  “Probably asking out my boss lady. But she’s hot. I couldn’t resist.” He licked his bottom lip then, and Vanessa’s breath hitched in her throat. She had all sorts of ideas, but he was still sitting way over there, and she wasn’t sure her ideas matched his. He’d certainly been taken aback by her forwardness last night, and she wasn’t going to repeat it tonight.

  “Hot? Really?”

  His eyes landed on her lips. “Yeah. She has this hair that’s amazing, and her eyes are like coffee. And she paints her toes this pretty pink color that I want to suck off.” Yeah, his words said one thing, but he was still sitting back on his hands, leaning away from her.

  “Linc?” she whispered, wondering what was next.

  “Yeah?”

  “What exactly do you want from tonight? Because if you keep talking like that, our first time is going to be in the dirt by the railroad tracks.” She let out a nervous giggle that sounded completely awkward as he sat up and rubbed the back of his neck.

  “Shit. I don’t know. I’m really enjoying just spending time with you, and I don’t want our first time to be out here. I don’t even want it to be tonight.” He looked at her, and his blue eyes fairly glowed in the moonlight at her. She knew that wasn’t possible, but damn, there it was. “But I want it. I just want to do everything right.”

  “Who decides what’s right? If it’s something we both want…” She didn’t finish the sentence, not sure how to.

  “It just feels wrong to lay you out in the grass and have my way with you. I want to take my time the first time, figure out what makes you get off, do it over and over again.”

  She almost told him to go a
head, that sounded great, but the earnestness in his voice stopped her. “Okay. So what’s next?”

  “Next, I think I should take you home.” Even though he didn’t sound like he really wanted that.

  Disappointment filled her as he stood and reached out his hand to help her up. He didn’t kiss her again as he led her to the truck, but he did entwine his fingers with hers, and for some reason, that was almost as good.

  They rode back to her house in a comfortable silence, one she was used to with Linc. He worked in her house all day, every day, and this was sort of the same. She liked being around him, even as sexually frustrated as she was right now. Something in his tone of voice when he spoke promised her sex. Maybe not tonight, as she’d hoped, but soon. And she would be ready for it.

  God, he was beautiful. Vanessa was struck dumb, staring at him. His honey-blond hair was tousled so sexily, his blue eyes shining in the moonlight, his strong jaw ticking with restraint.

  “You sure you don’t want to come in?”

  “No, I better not.” His fingers made a trail down her arm, ending at her hand, pulling her closer while his other hand settled at her waist.

  “Thanks for tonight. I had a great time, Linc.”

  “I’m glad. I know it wasn’t much of a date. The diner and the railroad tracks, but…”

  She stood up on her tiptoes and planted her lips against his to stop the talking. He responded by gripping her waist tighter and pulling her hand up between them, gripping it like a vise, as if he was afraid what his hand would do if he let go.

  His lips softened and parted, and Vanessa took control of the kiss, tilting her head to get a deeper angle. Her free hand stroked his cheek, moving up into his hair. If sex was like his kisses, it would certainly blow her mind, possibly change her world.

  All too soon, he put a stop to it. “I’ve got to go, Van.”

  “Sure.” She stepped into her house and turned on a light, shutting the door and leaning her head back on it. Vanessa let out a frustrated sigh as she looked around her living room, where her bed still was.

  Holy. Fucking. Shit.