“Shhh, it’s OK,” I said.

But was it? Fuck, she was soaked, and the smell was intoxicating. The whole damn car smelled like Blaire’s arousal. I was so close to coming in my jeans it was ridiculous. She hadn’t even touched me.

I buried my head in her neck and tried to smell the sweet scent of her skin and get some control. Her arousal was about to kill me. “This is too fucking much,” I told her.

Then I moved my finger through her hot, slick opening, and she bucked underneath me and screamed out my name. Shit. Oh, fuck. Shit. I was panting. I couldn’t catch my breath. I moved my finger and slid into the tightness waiting for me, and her body squeezed me, sucking my finger in.

“Shit. Motherfucking hell. Wet, hot . . . so fucking hot. And Jesus, you’re so tight.” My words sounded as out of control as I felt. Nothing should be this fucking amazing.

“Rush. Please,” she begged me. “I need . . .” She didn’t finish her thought, because she was so damn innocent she didn’t know what she needed. God, she had me. That was it. She had me. I couldn’t let her go. Not now. I was owned.

I pressed a kiss to her chin, as she threw her head back and arched into me. “I know what you need. I’m just not sure I can handle watching you get it. You’ve got me all kinds of worked up, girl. I’m trying hard to be a good boy. I can’t lose control in the back of a damn car.”

She shook her head frantically. “Please, don’t be good. Please.”

Fuck me. “Shit, baby. Stop it. I’m going to explode. I’ll give you your release, but when I finally bury myself inside you for the first time, you won’t be sprawled in the back of my car. You ’ll be in my bed.” I would not take her in the back of this car. She was too damn precious for that.

I moved my hand and slid my thumb over her clit to rub it gently as I slipped my finger in and out of her greedy entrance. She began clawing at me and panting my name. The begging was about to kill me. All I could think about was what it would feel like to be buried up inside this heaven and have her begging me for release. Fuck, I was gonna come.

“That’s it. Come for me, sweet Blaire. Come on my hand, and let me feel it. I want to watch you.” I wasn’t sure if she even understood what I was asking her for, but I couldn’t be quiet.

“RUUUUUUSH!” She cried out my name and began riding my hand as she jerked and trembled. Her hands grasped for me like she thought she was falling. I held her as she chanted my name. My world exploded, and I bent my head to breathe her in as I shuddered, unable to believe what had just happened.

“Ahhhh, yeah. That’s it. Fuck, yes. You’re so beautiful,” I told her, as I let the waves of pleasure wash over me. She began to ease her hold on me as a sweet, lethargic smile touched her lips. I removed my hand from between her legs and enjoyed her smell before slipping my finger into my mouth and tasting her.

She tasted even better than I’d expected. Was that even fucking possible?

Blaire’s eyelashes fluttered, and she opened her eyes to look up at me.

I could see the moment she realized exactly why I had my finger in my mouth. The shocked look was followed by pink cheeks. She had just screamed my name and come apart in my lap, but the sight of me sucking her off my finger made her blush.

“I was right. You’re just as sweet in that hot little pussy of yours as you are everywhere else,” I told her, just to see if her eyes could get any bigger.

She closed them tightly, unable to look at me.

I started laughing. She was perfect. “Oh, come on, sweet Blaire. You just came wild and sexy all over my hand and even left some claw marks on my back to prove it. Don’t go getting shy on me now. ’Cause, baby, before the night is over, you will be naked in my bed.” And I meant that. I wanted her in my bed. And if this could possibly get any better, I wouldn’t let her out.

She peeked back up at me, and the interest in her eyes made me bite back a groan. I would not do anything else in this damn car. She was too good for a car. I wanted to give her the best of everything. That included the best of sex.

“Let me get you dressed, then I’ll go find Bethy and see if she needs a ride or if she found a cowboy to take her home,” I said.

She stretched her body out like a cat, and I clenched my fists to keep from grabbing her and claiming her mouth again. “OK,” she agreed.

“If I wasn’t hard as a damn rock right now, I’d consider staying right here and enjoying the sleepy little pleased look in your eyes. I like knowing I put it there. But I need some more,” I whispered against her ear.

She tensed, then eased back against me. Damn, I had to get her clothes on her—and fast.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

I reached for her bra and concentrated on dressing her. I pressed a kiss to her shoulder before I covered it up with her shirt. She had let me put her bra and shirt back on without protest, and the caveman in me was beating on his chest. I loved taking care of her, and having her let me only made me a little more insane where she was concerned.

“I’d prefer you stay out here while I go find Bethy. You have that well-pleased look on your face, and it’s seriously sexy . I don’t want to end up in a fight,” I told her once I had her covered up again.

“I came here with Bethy because I was trying to encourage her not to sleep around with guys who would never look at her for more than a fun time. Then you came with us, and now here I am in the backseat of your car. I feel like I owe her an explanation,” she said, looking worried.

I had assumed Bethy had been trying to ruin Blaire, but Blaire had been the one to reach out to Bethy. Interesting. My sweet Blaire was trying to save the world from itself. No one had ever saved her. Until now. Damn time someone showed her how special she was.

She was watching me nervously. Did she think she had just done what she was trying to stop Bethy from doing? Surely she understood this was different.

“I’m trying to decide if you meant that to sound like you were doing what you encouraged her not to do,” I said, as I moved over her and slid a hand into her hair. “Because I’ve had a taste, and I’m not sharing. This isn’t just for fun. I may be slightly addicted.” This was nothing like what she was trying to stop Bethy from doing. I would have never touched Blaire had I not been sure I was claiming her as mine. There would be no one else touching her.

I leaned down and kissed those lips I loved so much. Tasting her bottom lip with the top of my tongue had become one of my favorite things to do. She always shivered when I did it, and the taste was always delicious.

“Mmmmm, yeah. You stay here. I’ll get Bethy to come out and talk to you,” I whispered against her mouth.

She nodded but didn’t say anything else.

I moved away from her warmth and opened the door to get out. I had to find Bethy and get us home. I wanted Blaire in my room. In my bed. I wanted more of what we’d just had. I could fix the past. I could make it all right. I would make it right for Blaire. I had to. I couldn’t lose this.

Back in the bar, I looked around and found Bethy with some guy, taking a shot of something that didn’t look like another girlie drink. Great. I didn’t want a drunk Bethy to hinder my plans. Blaire couldn’t fix what had been messed up for years. Once Bethy had been different. I remembered her when she was younger. I’d seen her with Tripp once. They had been friends, I think, but then he’d run off, and the next time I saw Bethy was underneath a guy whose daddy owned condos along the Gulf coast. She’d been fucking the trust-fund brats ever since.

Her gaze landed on me, and I motioned for her to meet me outside, then turned and went back out into the night. I looked in the direction of my Range Rover and made sure Blaire was still safely inside.

“You two disappeared,” Bethy said, with a slur to her voice and a big grin on her face. I turned to see her walking toward me. Then she stumbled, and I had to reach out and grab her before she face-planted on the pavement. “Oops.” She giggled, going limp in my arms. “I can’t feel my feet,” she said through her laughter.

I wasn’t going to be able to leave her here. “Looks like I’m taking you home now, too,” I told her, and stood her up straight.

“What? No no no no. I dunwanna go yet,” she said, shaking a finger in my direction. “Blaire needs to come see the new cowboys I found. She’ll love ’em.”

I tensed and jerked her toward the car. “Blaire isn’t interested in cowboys anymore. Got that? No more guys for Blaire. She’s going home with me,” I said angrily.

Bethy stopped and swayed, then looked at me, her eyes round with understanding. “She lives at your house. Do you mean home to her room or home to your room?” she asked, then burped and covered her mouth.

“My room. Go,” I said, making her walk again.

“Oh, shit,” Bethy said in a loud attempt at a whisper. “You —oh, shit, Rush, you can’t fuck her. She ain’t . . . I think she’s a virgin.” Bethy was whispering loudly enough for the entire parking lot to hear her.

“Shut up, Bethy,” I growled, and opened the car door for her. “She wants to go home, with me. But first, she wants to talk to you.” This was not how I wanted to spend the drive back to Rosemary Beach. I’d hoped I could talk to Blaire. Now we had a drunk Bethy talking about Blaire’s virginity. Shit.

“Well, look at you. Making it with the hottest thing in Rosemary Beach in the back of his Range Rover. And here I thought you wanted a blue-collar man,” Bethy said to Blaire.

“Climb on in, Bethy, before you fall on your ass out here,” I ordered, wishing I could shut her the hell up.

“I don’t wanna leave. I liked Earl, or was his name Kevin? No, wait, what happened to Nash? I lost him . . . I think,” Bethy muttered, as she climbed inside clumsily.

“Who are Earl and Kevin?” Blaire asked.

Bethy reached for something to grab, then fell backward onto the seat and almost on top of Blaire. “Earl is married. He said he wasn’t, but he is. I could tell. The married ones always have the smell about ’em.”

I closed Bethy’s door and then walked around to get Blaire out of the backseat. She was going up front with me. I jerked her door open and held out my hand for hers. “Don’t try to make sense of anything she says. I found her at the bar finishing up a round of six tequila shots that married Earl had bought her. She’s trashed.” I wanted to clear up anything Bethy had said or was going to say that could upset Blaire.

Blaire slipped her hand into mine, and I squeezed it to reassure her.

“No need in explaining anything to her tonight. She won’t remember it in the morning,” I told Blaire.

She was worried about clearing the air with Bethy, and Bethy was doing exactly what she always did—just without the trust-funders.

I helped Blaire down, then pulled her against me and closed the door, leaving Bethy inside. “I want a taste of those sweet lips, but I’m going to deny myself. We need to get her home before she gets sick,” I said, not wanting this to spoil what had just happened with us.

Blaire nodded, staring up at me with those trusting eyes. I didn’t want to ever let that face down.

“But what I said earlier. I meant it. I want you in my bed tonight,” I reminded her, in case it was possible she could have forgotten.

She nodded again. I slipped my hand to her lower back and walked her over to the passenger door. I wasn’t going to pretend we were friends anymore. We weren’t friends. We had never been friends. It was more than that. With Blaire, it was always more.

“Fuck the friend thing,” I told her, before taking her waist and picking her up to put her in the seat. It was high, and I wanted a reason to touch her. I closed her door and walked around to climb in, and the grin on her face made me warm inside. “What’s the grin for?” I asked, hoping I had put it there.

She shrugged and bit her bottom lip. “ ‘Fuck the friend thing.’ It made me laugh.”

I laughed. Good, I had put that smile there. I’d also made her laugh. Why did it feel like I’d just solved world hunger?

“I know something you don’t know. Yes, I do. Yes, I do,” Bethy began chanting in a drunken singsong voice.

I didn’t want her distracting us. Messing this up. It was my time with Blaire, and I wanted that. Why couldn’t she just pass out or something?

Blaire shifted in her seat to look back at Bethy.