Chapter 17

• Sadie didn’t say a word when they trailed back up the little creek path, sunburnt and dripping. She padded ahead barefoot, braid slung wet over one shoulder, that tiny bikini clinging like a crime scene. Beau followed ten paces behind — boots in one hand, shirt over his shoulder, mind gone somewhere mean and desperate he’d been fighting since she first asked him Try me.
• The porch creaked when she stepped up. She paused at the screen door, glanced back over her shoulder — that grin soft and smug, lips still pink and swollen from where he’d lost himself against her throat.
• She brushed by him slow — damp hip knocking his thigh, the sweet vanilla heat of her skin coiling tight in his ribs like barbed wire. She didn’t say thanks. Didn’t say sorry. Just dragged that braid across his stomach when she squeezed past, soft wet hair leaving a chill trail right down his bare skin.