Free One Reckless Summer by Toni Blake

enjoyed—but he tried not to stare directly at her breasts this time.
    “He, um, cheated on me. With a younger woman. Who I worked with closely. It was pretty awful.” She finished by biting her lip and looking like she wished she hadn’t said so much.
    “Damn,” he murmured. Why the hell would any sane man cheat on someone so gorgeous? He’d never been married, never even thought about it, but he heard himself mutter what he was thinking. “Stupid guy.”
    To his surprise, the words softened her expression just slightly—although she lowered her gaze to whisper, “Thanks.” Then she looked back at him. “I thought you’d moved away, too. I thought your whole family was gone.”
    “We were. Are,” he corrected. “Except me.”
    “What are you doing back?”
    “None of your business.”
    She tilted her head as if trying to tempt him. “I told you my secret. You can’t tell me yours?”
    “Nope. And I didn’t exactly twist your arm—you didn’t have to say why you were back. You could have told me to go to hell, like last night. Or just lied about it.”
    She shrugged. “It didn’t occur to me. I’m not the lying type.”
    That worried him. “Well, you’d better lie—about me being in town.” The words came out harsher, louder, than he’d intended, more like the guy he’d been before leaving Destiny.
    But she didn’t seem startled, only said, “Relax. That’s not lying—it’s just not bringing something up. I’m much better at that.”
    “Good.” He took a long drink of iced tea and let it calm him down. There’d been plenty to worry about before Jenny Tolliver had shown up in his woods, and now it seemed multiplied. This whole damn thing had him on edge.
    But not so on edge that he didn’t notice when she suddenly started looking uncomfortable again. “Something I do need to bring up, though, since you’re here…”
    Damn—what now? “What is it?” he asked.
    “Um, about last night.” A pretty blush spread across her cheeks, and he supposed that meant this had something to do with sex. “We didn’t use…you know, a condom.”
    Oh yeah, that . It had hit him after she’d gone. In the moment, though, he’d been…blinded. By Jenny Tolliver. And hard, hot lust. “Yeah, I know. Afraid I didn’t have one on me. Wasn’t expecting to find a girl in my woods.”
    She blushed some more and ventured, “Are you…safe? Should I worry?”
    He felt stupid for not realizing until this moment that of course Jenny Tolliver would worry about being with a guy like him. He hadn’t worried about her at all, having an instinctive feeling that she was as clean and pure as any snow-white virgin. “Pretty safe,” he told her. “I mean, I can’t say I never slipped up before, but not since I was young.”
    She nodded. “Good. And so you know, I got checked out after I found out Terrence was cheating and I’m fine.”
    He’d already known that without asking. That she’d have dashed out to get checked. And that she was fine. “Thanks,” he said anyway. “And…thanks for not telling anybody about me. Because you’re not going to, right?”
    Now she planted her fists on her hips and rolled her eyes, clearly trying to appear irritated, but looking cute as hell instead. “I said I wouldn’t, didn’t I? How many times do I have to promise?”
    He felt himself wanting to smile at her, just a little, but he held it in. “Until I completely believe you.”
    Another huff of aggravation left her. “When will that be?”
    “I’m not sure yet. So…I might be back. Just to check in. Just to make sure. To remind you how serious I am.”
    At this, she crossed her arms and let out another disbelieving sigh. “I got that already—trust me.”
    He couldn’t help it this time—it made him laugh. “Am I that rotten to be around?”
    She’d been rolling her eyes some more, yet now narrowed her gaze on him. “Not really. Not tonight anyway. But this is just like fifth grade all over