Free Seduction of Saber (Saving the Sinners of Preacher's Bend #3) by Jevenna Willow

well placed punch to his jaw. And he? He wasn’t placing judgment on
anyone.
    Julia released her held breath, moving back toward her
bedroom. She opened the door and found Saber nowhere about.
    “Mr. Patterson?”
    “In here.” His voice came from inside her private
bathroom.
    She moved toward it; waited outside the closed doorway.
“Are you all right, Mr. Patterson?” She added a light knock on the wood to gain
his attention.
    Saber yanked open the door and grinned shamelessly at
her face. His dimples were deep and dangerous. “I’m just peachy keen, Little
Darlin’. But I thought I should wipe some of the blood off my fat lip if your
friend is coming over here to check me out.”
    “Y—you, um, heard?” She grew crimson under his amused
scrutiny, the heat flushing throughout her body exponentially.
    “Every single syllable,” he promised. “But don’t you
worry your pretty little head about any of it.” A light tap made on her chin
with his knuckles. “I’ll just go lie back down on that floor of yours and
pretend I’m out cold. Once she gets here, that is. No sense starting the party
earlier than need be.”
    “This is not funny, Mr. Patterson!”
    “No? Well, neither is being punched in the jaw by a
woman’s Pa just for being a good guy, funny. Or, getting kicked in the shin by
what I can only assume to be her evil little brother.”
    “I’m really sorry about that. Cody can be…,” she
started, then paused when his brow arched.
    “A real pain in the ass?” he interrupted. “A bit of a
spoiled brat who needs the sharp end of a switch?”
    Unconsciously, Julia nodded. Yes. Cody was all that,
and so much more.
    “I take it the little he-devil gets to do whatever he
wants?”
    Saber leaned his testosterone-induced frame against
the door jamb of what she’d always thought of as her private sanctuary—until
now.
    “Yes, pretty much.”
    “And you don’t.” A declaration she hadn’t ever wanted
to hear.
    Julia took a deep breath and eased her gaze from his. He
was making a very factual statement that grated her teeth. The moment she looked
away, his hand snaked up, his fingers set against her chin.
    “When is he going to realize you’re a grown woman with
a mind of your own?”
    He didn’t need to elaborate. She knew exactly what he
meant. When was she going to stand up to her father?
    She tried to ease her chin out of his grasp, but Saber
moved closer still. His breath fanned her face, drawing out the gooseflesh on
her arms.
    “I don’t know,” she whispered. “Soon?”
    Instead of adding more, he leaned down and kissed her
again, quite passionately. This time he left little to the imagination of what
his intentions were.
    Satisfied with himself, he pulled back. “I’ve wanted
to do that for the last ten seconds, Little Darlin’.”
    “Why?” Julia licked her moist lips.
    “Damned if I know,” he rued, frowning. “Might have something
to do with your father thinking the two of us were caught in the act.”
    “In a way…we kind of were,” she conceded, reliving the
moment in her head; and shamefully enjoying every single second of it.
    “No we weren’t.” He smiled. “If we’d been caught in
the act, it would’ve certainly involved more of my doing…”
    He lowered his head to her left ear and finished this sentence.
    When her eyebrows rose in shock and a slow smile formed
at the corners of her mouth, he added further intentions. “And then, doing a
little of…”
    He spoke the remainder of this into her other ear.
    Julia’s whole body inflamed as the words sunk in. Her
eyes widened in shock.
    She’d never done that before. Nevertheless,
there was always a first time for everything—as game as anyone for trying
something new in a very stagnant life.
    “But when I do that,” he promised, “it’ll certainly be
worth the punch to the face. And I hope that my lip won’t be so damn painful,
that when I kiss you, it won’t hurt so bloody hell much.”
    He raised