Page 31 of Apple of My Eye

“Sage says you’ve still got plenty of admirers back home.” She tilted her chin slightly. “Says the ladies in Forest Grove keep close tabs on you.”

“Doesn’t matter to me.”

“No?”

“Nope.” I let the word settle before I kept going, because some things were worth the buildup. “There’s only one woman I’ve got my eye on. The apple of my eye.”

She snorted. “You did not just say that.”

I grinned. “I did. And you know exactly who that is, don’t you, sweetheart?” I reached over and squeezed her hand. The air between us charged the way it did before a storm—thatmoment right before lightning struck and everything changed.

The last note of the old country song faded out and the radio filled with an even slower ballad, drawing out all my romantic feels, trying to get me in trouble.

Daisy pretended to still watch the city below. I knew exactly what I wanted to do about that.

“Come here.” I crooked my finger for her to come closer. Didn’t know if she would.

She turned toward me at the same time I reached for her. I got one look at her face in the dark, a vulnerable flicker of her wall going down, before I closed the distance and covered her mouth with mine.

She kissed back without hesitation, like she’d made a decision and wasn’t about to half-ass it. That alone almost wrecked me.

My hand found her jaw, angling her where I wanted her, and shelet me. Opened for me, met me, gave as good as she got. A moan slipped from her throat, and fuck—yeah, I felt that everywhere. Straight down into my core.

Immediate problem for my cock.

I pulled back to look at her rosy lips, her breath uneven.

“I’ve been thinking about kissing you all night,” I whispered.

“Only tonight?” She quirked an eyebrow.

I huffed a quiet laugh. “You really want the honest answer?”

“I think I already know it.”

“Yeah, you probably do.” I dragged my thumb along her lower lip before kissing her again, slower this time. Because she wasletting me. Because after a year of near misses and tensionthat never quite broke, I wasn’t about to undo this by moving too fast.

My hand slid into her hair, gripping just enough to tilt her head back when I needed it.

“Still thinking I’m a playboy?” I murmured against her mouth.

“Mm,” she hummed, fisting my sweatshirt. “Jury’s still out.”

“Yeah?” I nipped at her lip. “I’ll change your mind if it’s the last thing I do. There’s only one woman for me.”

“Big talk for a big man.” Her hand landed on my thigh, caressing there.

“Careful,” I muttered, voice dropping. “You keep doing that, sweetheart, and I’m gonna forget I needed to behave tonight.”

Her breath caught. “Why should you behave?”

“Because you’re not ready.”

“Knox… try me.”

Fuck. Where did that come from?

“What changed, sweetheart?”