Lora Leigh - Nauti Boy

How had he known she would be waiting on him, here of all places. Rowdy Mackay steered the Harley into its parking spot before lifting his glasses from his face and facing the demon sprite as she moved from the wood bench to stand on the sidewalk in front of him.

She was wearing one of those short, snug little T-shirts she liked so much. At least it wasnt one of his bigger shirts. He had lost two more on this trip home and he knew who to blame. She had been stealing his shirts since she was sixteenwhen her mother married his father, bringing his favorite bit of trouble right into his home.

And he had been running from her ever since. Seven years of running.

He turned and tucked the sunglasses into the side of his Marine-issue duffel bag strapped on the back of the Harley before he bent his leg on the gas tank and watched her silently. Dawg and Natches were supposed to be here soon. Dawg was driving Natches over so he could take the Harley back, but they werent here yet. There was no one to distract him from the hunger driving him crazy.

She was twenty-three and her kisses were soft summer rain. They slid over a mans senses and drew him in, inviting him to get all wet and wild with her, inviting him to give her his worst. And in Rowdys case, his worst might be a hell of a lot more than she could handle.

She stepped from the sidewalk. The low rise of her jeans didnt even come close to the tempting shadow of her navel. She made him sweat in the middle of damned winter. But it wasnt winter now, it was summer. A hot, Kentucky summer evening, and he was leaving again.

And this time, he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he wouldnt be able to walk away again. This was his last year away from home, he figured. Each year without even touching her, without taking her or tasting her kiss, she made him feel things he didnt expect.

His chest tightened at that knowledge. At the effort it was going to take to walk away from her again.

You left without saying good-bye. She stopped beside the Harley, her dove gray eyes staring back at him with a shadow of hurt. I didnt even get to see you this time.

No, she hadnt. He had stayed as far away from his dads home as possible, spending the six weeks he was back on the boat he kept at the marina.

A playful breeze caught at the long curls of her golden brown hair and tugged at the lush waves of silk he dreamed of wrapping around his body. He had dreamed of her while he spent those lonely nights on the boat. Dreamed of touching her, kissing her, dragging her beneath his body, and taking her until neither of them could breathe for the exhaustion filling them.

Other women hadnt even figured into his lust. His stubborn body rejected them. He wanted Kelly.

His mouth was watering. He could feel the need to pull her to him, to wrap himself around her, nearly getting the best of him.

Rowdy? Her voice was filled with a young womans hope, her dreams, and all the passion he knew burned inside her.

You shouldnt have come here, Kelly. He sighed as he gave in to the impulse to reach out, to use the excuse of pushing her hair back to touch the soft warmth of it.

He really wanted to crush it in his hands, pull her head back, and devour her. Damn, he could do it too. She would let him. He could see it in her eyes.

You didnt even say good-bye. It wasnt just hurt in her voice then, there was anger.

If I had to say good-bye, I might not have left, he finally sighed. He was a man; he knew better than this. Kelly might be twenty-three, but she had no damned clue what she was getting into with him.

Hed kissed her three years before. Pinned her against the trunk of a tree and took her lips like the sweet drug they were. He had marked her because he couldnt help himself. He had made certain no one was dumb enough to think they could have Kelly. And his cousins would make sure it stuck while he was gone. While the Marines took their final year of this tour and he decided what the hell he was going to do about Kelly.

You could have said good-bye, she whispered again.

I could have been shot by my own father for the things Id have done to you if I had just a measure of a chance. He tried to smile, but he was too busy trying to keep his hands off the soft curves of her ass instead.

She was making him crazy. But hell, this was Kelly; she had been making him crazy for most of her life in one way or the other.

I would have come to the boat

He laid his finger over her lips when he wanted to lay his own lips over them. Take them, lick at them, feel her open to him as she had that night at the lake.