Page 21 of Rocky Mountain Devil

Rafe laughed. “As long as you’re having fun.”

And as long as she didn’t expect him to join her anytime soon.

He glanced over, suddenly realizing his non-participation might be an issue. It hadn’t been when they were friends, but now that they were dating, did she expect him to become a full-fledged member of the church? Because that wasn’t on his agenda, but it wasn’t something he wanted to talk about that instant, either.

Changing the topic seemed prudent.

“What else did you do this summer?”

They were in a nicer residential area now, a new development on the edge of town. Laurel seemed very focused on the houses passing by. “I got invited to go dancing, and to a party, and speed dating. Plus I had lunch out a whole bunch of times.”

Curious how quickly an uninvited sensation struck. “Trying to make me jealous, Sitko?”

“Me? Never.” She turned innocent blue eyes his direction. “Is it working?”

“More than you think.”

She patted his arm. “Don’t worry, I didn’t do the speed dating, or the dancing, and for the rest of the time my date was Nicole Adams.”

Interesting. “She’s quite the wild child for you to be hanging out with.”

“Not really. She’s been seeing Troy Thompson—” Laurel jerked to a stop. “Oh no, you probably didn’t hear yet. Troy was in a pretty bad accident a couple days ago.”

“Shit. He gonna be okay?” Troy was one of the sort-of-related-by-marriage people in town—they needed a record book to keep track of all the Coleman players—and he’d hate to hear things were seriously wrong.

“Yeah, he’ll be fine. He’s already itching to get out of the hospital. Nicole was pretty worried, but it looks as if Troy was pretty lucky.”

They talked a little longer about other people they both knew. Laurel mentioned who else she’d bumped into over the summer, and Rafe caught her up on their classmates who’d moved away during the previous years.

They deliberately avoided any more delicate topics, but by the time they got back to Laurel’s they were a lot more comfortable than they had been. More like getting together those first days after a long summer break when they hadn’t seen a lot of each other.

Rafe stopped her before they could descend the staircase. “I’m not going to come in,” he warned.

This time Laurel smiled. “That’s probably wise.”

“No probably about it.” Rafe moved in closer, resting his hands on her hips because he had to touch her. “Dating, but at a proper pace. That’s what you said this afternoon.”

“Just because I said it doesn’t mean it’s really what I want to do,” Laurel whispered, her gaze darting over his face.

“Me neither, but it’s not even September sixth here in Rocky.”

She snickered before nodding in agreement. Her hands drifted up his body until she was playing with the hair at the back of his neck. “You know, there’s a lot of things we didn’t talk about yet.”

“We’ve got time. Now let me kiss you good night before my good intentions vanish.”

She lifted her lips, and it wasn’t the first time that they’d done this, but damned if it didn’t feel special. She was warm and willing, and she kissed him back eagerly.

By some miracle they kept space between their bodies, but their lips and tongues danced. Pleasure passed between them, and Rafe told his body to behave itself because, yeah, he was getting turned on, but this was aboutmore.

More than the sweet friction and tantalizing taste of her. More than the little sounds she made that went straight through him and sent chills up his spine.

Kissing like this meant pushing their relationship to something more than they’d been for years, and the change was something to cherish.

When they backed apart, her cheeks were flushed and her lips were swollen, and mischief danced in her eyes. “Well, Rafe Coleman, I guess Jenna Ireland wasn’t lying back in the day. Youarea fine kisser.”

He squeezed her one last time then somehow let her go. “You already knew that,” he pointed out.

“Always good to have backup confirmation. Ithasbeen three years.”