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“I live half a mile from here,” she said, her voice coming out all breathy and low. So maybe she was attracted to me, too, or maybe my pheromones or the sexual charge in the truck were messing with the sound of her voice. Or was it all in my head?

I nodded, turning back to watch the light intently. When it blinked back to green, I tapped the gas pedal, but the truck lurched forward. “Shit.”

She laughed at me, and her tone became a little teasing. “This is an interestin’ turn of events, I have to say.”

Once more, I looked at her and noticed the smirk was still firmly in place, but I saw something else. It was in her eyes.

Hunger.

“You sure about this?” she asked.

I breathed, “Yes.” And now my heart pounded against my ribs. My fingers flexed on the steering wheel. I wanted to touch her.

“Okay then,” she said easily, relaxing back against the seat again. “I can’t wait to taste you.”

The truck swerved to the side of the road, and my foot slipped off the gas pedal. “Oh my God.”

So then, not all in my head.

CHAPTER THREE

ABEY

“It’s been a while for me,” Devo said as we climbed side by side up my stairs. I hadn’t touched her yet, but I was aching to. “I mean, the last time was before Dede moved away. A year.”

“That’s okay. It’s been a while for me too.” When we got to the top, I tucked an unruly flip of hair behind her ear and smiled at her.

Her hair was the thing. She kept it cut to her chin, and it was sexy as hell and black as midnight. That one stubborn strand was always popping out of place, and she had an adorable ducktail at the back of her neck she couldn’t seem to get rid of no matter how many haircuts she got. Every single time I saw her in town, I searched for it.

“But I figure it’s like ridin’ a bike,” I said. It had only been one lock of her hair between my fingers, but just that tiny bit of contact had my hands shaking. I tried to hide it while I unlocked my front door.

“Yeah,” she said kind of breathlessly as I looked at her over my shoulder again. I couldn’t stop looking at her. How crazy was it that I’d started the night with my first date in I couldn’t remember how long, and now, instead, Devo stood on my doorstep, nervously waiting for me to touch her?

I turned the doorknob, trying to remember if I’d picked up my dirty clothes and thrown them in the hamper before I’d left for the worst date ever. I hadn’t prepared for anyone to come home with me. I wasn’t expecting it.

Didn’t look like my neighbors were home. Their cars weren’t parked in the driveway below my garage apartment, and I was glad for that. If Devo’d let me make her come, she could moan and scream all she liked without anybody knowing what we’d gotten up to.

She followed me inside, and I flicked on my tiny living room’s light, dropping my keys in the ceramic bowl Frank’s foster daughter, Nic, had painted for me by the door. “So, um, yeah. This is where I live. It’s small, but it’s only me, so…”

“It’s nice,” she said. “I live with my mom still. I already said that.”

“I’m not broke,” I rushed to say. I lived meagerly, but that was on purpose. “I mean, I make okay money, but I help my family out sometimes. And what I don’t use, I save. I’d like to buy my own house. Get me some land. Just a little bit. Maybe get some animals.” Why was I rambling?

“Me too.” And now she was blabbing a mile a minute, just like me. “I mean, I’ve been savin’ for a house too. My mom and I rent. I really lucked into my job at the center. Theo’s amazing, and I’m pretty sure he pays me way more than he should. And, actually, I wouldn’t mind havin’ a horse. We used to have one when I was a kid in New Mexico.”

She took a big breath and held it, looking around my front room. The kitchen was squished into the corner and only had a two-burner stove, but I rarely cooked. Diner takeout was my gourmet meal of choice most nights.

“You nervous?” I asked, turning to face her and dipping my head a little to put myself in her eyeline.

“So nervous,” she whispered when her eyes met mine.

I pressed my lips together, trying not to grin, trying not to show just how much I liked this side of her. The uncertainty in her eyes and the small smile growing there was a hell of a lot different than the scowl I had gotten used to seeing when she and I had reason to be near each other.

Backing up to my couch, I sat and patted the cushion next to me, trying to exude confidence and authority, but I was pretty sure my insides were shaking. Maybe we could talk first and she could relax. “C’mere.”

But instead of sitting next to me, she climbed over my legs and straddled me. Just like Cute Kayla had said, “going straight for the good stuff.” Tentatively, I wrapped my hands around Devo’s hips, slipping my fingers through her belt loops as she centered her core above mine.

Her pink tongue swiped out to wet her lips. “You’re not nervous?”