Pure Temptation & Old Enough to Know Better. Vicki Lewis Thompson

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      CHAPTER FIVE

      KNEELING ON THE BLANKET on the floor of the truck, Tess felt more wild and crazy than she had in years. She had developed a taste for reckless adventure after tagging along after her brothers and Mac when she was a kid. Lately she’d been missing that adrenaline rush.

      She rested her arms on the seat and pillowed her head on her arms. She had two choices—either she could look at the passenger-side door on her left or Mac’s thigh on her right. With her feeling of adventure still running strong, she looked to her right.

      His muscled thigh flexed as he stepped down on the gas, making the denim of his jeans move in subtle and tantalizing ways. Just beyond was the ridge of his fly. Her pulse quickened as she contemplated the ramifications of her decision. Of course, if they discovered they had no talent for making out with each other, they could call a halt to the whole program.

      Mac clicked on the radio and a soft country tune filled the cab. She’d ridden in Mac’s truck with the radio on hundreds of times. They’d sung along with the music, even rolled down the windows and turned up the volume when they were feeling really rowdy and wanted to stir up the neighborhood. She realized now that she’d always felt more alive when she was with Mac.

      She certainly felt alive right now. Every nerve ending was checking in and registering the soft blanket under her knees, the tweed fabric of the seat beneath her arms, the waft of the air-conditioning over her bare back. The scent of Mac’s aftershave used to be a comforting presence, letting her know her friend was nearby. Now it signaled something else entirely. The man who would soon take her in his arms was sitting very close to her.

      “We’re going to be on a dirt road in a minute,” he said. “I’ll try not to jolt you too much. Once we’ve gone a ways, you can probably sit up again.”

      “Where are we going?”

      “A little road I found a couple of years ago. It goes out to the edge of a plateau where you have a nice view of Anvil Peak. Hold on. Here’s comes the turnoff.” He touched his booted foot to the brake, causing the denim to ripple again.

      Watching Mac drive from this vantage point was quite an erotic experience, Tess decided.

      He turned the wheel with one hand and reached over with the other to grip her shoulder as the truck bumped down off the pavement and onto the dirt. His hand was warm and sure as he held her steady. There was nothing seductive in his touch, and yet her heartbeat began to thunder in her ears and her whole body reacted to that point of contact. When he took his hand away, she wanted to have it back. Maybe his embrace wouldn’t feel as awkward to her as she’d feared.

      “Okay, I think you can sit up now. Nobody ever comes out here.”

      “Except you. You seem pretty familiar with the place.” She crawled up to the seat and straightened her dress.

      “I’ve been here a few times.”

      “Making out?”

      “Now don’t start asking me questions like that, Tess. You’re going to spoil the mood for sure.”

      “Making out,” she concluded.

      He sighed and switched on the headlights.

      “Well, I’m not dumb, you know. I understand the reason guys search for lonely roads.” She looked around. Sure enough, there were no signs of civilization, just a road stretching to a point in the distance where the scrub-covered ground dropped away. Across the green swath of the river valley, Anvil Peak was silhouetted against a brick-red sky. To the right of that, the smokestack of the Arivaca Copper Mine sent a gentle plume into the air. “This is very pretty.”

      “I think so.”

      “So СКАЧАТЬ