Tame the Beast : Small Beach Town, Single Mom Romance

“Nuh-uh.” He wiggles his finger in my face. “I saw that look on your face. I know you’re lying right now.”

“Since when do you think you know me that well?”

“Since I’ve been watching you from the moment you walked up to that front door.” He fixes me with a look. “And trust me, I’ve been watching you nonstop.”

I fight an urge to suck in a deep breath.

Yeah, his list of conquests must be a mile long.

“Fine, but I really don’t sleepwalk. At least I don’t think I do. But I can get a little…” I chew on my lip trying to figure out the best way to say this. “Violent.”

“Oh, this just keeps getting better and better.” He folds his arms across his chest.

“Next question, and oh look, it’s my turn,” I deflect, and he shakes his head.

“No, no, no. If you don’t want me to dig deeper into your violent tendencies, I get another go.”

“I don’t remember that being part of the rules.”

“That’s because it never was.”

“Then how come you’re switching it up?”

He leans over the bar, bringing his face closer to mine and his sweet breath from the cocktail teaser my skin, raising every hair on my body. “Because I get to make my own rules in life, Sunshine.” He winks, leaning back as if he didn’t just send that wink all the way to the bottom of my stomach.

Oh, this guy is dangerous. He is nuclear because he represents everything I’ve never had. He is freedom and danger all in one. Life and death. He is everything I shouldn’t want, yet do anyway and I feel my resolve slipping inch by inch.

“Are you holding your breath?” he asks when I don’t respond for a few seconds.

“Yes,” I quickly say and stop breathing again.

Please don’t ask why.

“Why?”

Seriously, universe?

I can lie, tell him I got hiccups or something but for whatever reason the truth just spills out of me.

“So my marbles don’t get off their places with a gust of wind.” Because I’m this close to doing something stupid. Something off the plan.

He tips his head to the side, considering my statement for a bit but he doesn’t laugh at me like I thought he would. He puckers his lips in concentration. “What about a tilt of your head? Would that knock them off? Cause you’re tilting it now.”

“Shit.” I blow out the air I was holding. “I didn’t think of that. Well, I guess I can blame it on the tilt.”

“Blame what?”

I must be losing it. But what else do I have to lose?

“This,” I say before I can think any better and reaching over the bar I grab a fistful of his shirt, hauling him close as our lips collide.

At first, I stiffen from the shock of my own action but that only lasts a second before wild euphoria takes over my body and both of my hands fist his unbuttoned shirt, drawing him closer to me. I feel pressure, scorching heat and raw desire on my lips as this sexy stranger complies with my insanity and kisses me senseless.

I forget everything. I forget I’m in the middle of a now very busy bar or that I shouldn’t be doing this. I forget he is much younger than me. I forget about all the hurts and problems I have waiting for me outside this space.

I forget it all and exist in this kiss as our lips devour each other and before I know it, he slips his tongue past them and tangles it alongside mine, groaning into my mouth and making me shiver with desire.

Dear God, this is the hottest kiss of my life, and I don’t want it to stop. But after a few more seconds he slowly pulls away, yet not too far and his eyes are fixed firmly on my now red, puffy lips.