Free Take Me Under by Rhyannon Byrd Page A

married name. He pushed away from the wall and headed into the kitchen.
    Her mom blinked a few times, then slowly turned her stunned gaze on Reese. “What’s going on?” she whispered with false concern, doing an incredibly crappy job of trying to hide her excitement.
    Reese scowled. “Don’t even try that innocent act,” she snapped. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me he was my new landlord!” And the conversation pretty much deteriorated from there, with her mother trying to look contrite, but failing miserably. For some inexplicable reason, the woman obviously thought the idea of her newly divorced daughter hooking up with the town stud was a stellar idea. Go figure.
    When Reese came into the kitchen a few minutes later, after sending her mom on her way with a promise to call her that evening, she found Ben waiting for her. He was leaning back against one of the counters, the dark hair hanging over his forehead only adding to his bad-boy image. He might be the sheriff of this beautiful, upscale county, but she wasn’t fooled. Yeah, he was a respectable guy, but he was also rough and wicked and wild. It was like having a beautiful predator lounging in her kitchen, making her feel like the proverbial mouse.
    He appeared to calmly be drinking a cup of coffee—until she noticed the long fingers wrapped around his mug were white with tension. Did he think she was going to kick him out? And would it really bother him so much if she did?
    With those strange thoughts running through her head, something she wasn’t ready to put a name to spread through her chest in a warm, kinda soothing rush. She could see how hard he was trying to hold on to his control, and it made her own nervous tension easier to deal with. But she was still irritated by how he’d handled the situation with her mother.
    “What exactly was that?” she demanded.
    He set his mug on the counter. “What was what?”
    Tossing her hands up in frustration, she said, “You do realize that my mother now thinks we’re sleeping together, right? She’ll have told half the town by lunchtime!”
    He whistled under his breath. “She works fast, huh?”
    “She’s not the only one,” she muttered, knowing everyone was going to assume that she’d thrown herself at Ben, when it was actually the other way around. But how could she expect anyone to believe that shocker when she could hardly believe it herself?
    He lifted his hands, as if claiming innocence. “Hey, I’ve been golden. I might have kissed you last night, but I kept it tame, despite how badly I’m dying to fuck you.”
    She shook her head with disbelief. “You call that tame?”
    He closed the distance between them, crowding her against one of the counters, all six plus feet of sexy, sleep-tousled male. “As soon as you’re ready, let me know.”
    Reese stared up at him. “Ready for what?” she asked a little breathlessly.
    His eyes gleamed with wicked heat. “The untamed version.”
    She gave a nervous laugh, needing caffeine if she was meant to handle him this early in the morning. “What I’m ready for right now is coffee and food. Thanks to your grocery shopping, I can offer you some Cheerios and milk.”
    He cocked his head to the side and smiled. He was so gorgeous she thought it might actually hurt to look at him for too long, like staring at direct sunlight. But she couldn’t look away as he said, “I’d rather just have you.”
    She blushed as she started to respond, but was cut off by the beeping of the phone he’d attached to his belt. “Don’t you need to answer that?” she asked, when he just stood there, staring back at her.
    “No.” He leaned forward, gripping the counter on either side of her hips, caging her in. “I can tell from the notification tone that it’s a text from work.”
    “You can?”
    His face was right over hers now. “I can.”
    “But don’t you need to—”
    “Shh.” His lips brushed against hers, tempting and warm. “I don’t