Page 47 of Fierce-Baker

But if it was too simple, then it wouldn’t be fun either.

She needed some fun in her life.

“That was pretty much it. He can read between the lines, but he knows I’m not going to be putting a bullseye on us at work.”

“Sounds like it’s already there.”

“I’ve been dealing with it for years. It’s new for you. How are you feeling about it?”

She shrugged. “Honestly. Not great but not horrible. I’m only there for another month, then back to teaching.”

And she wouldn’t see him several times a week either. So if they were going to do this thing, they needed to get a head start.

“You’re not going to work on the weekends once school starts?”

She shook her head. “No. The money is great, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t want to leave Micah with my parents, though they’d take him. This is the first summer I’ve worked. I didn’t want to, but I had to pay to keep Micah’s spot at daycare and it didn’t make sense to pay for it and not bring him there. But why would I bring him if I were home? I was lucky enough that they had an opening for someone this summer at Fierce and were willing to work around my schedule.”

Didn’t mean it’d work out so well next year. She couldn’t think that far in advance.

Nor would she admit that the money came in handy. It was almost double what she was paying in daycare for the week and gave her spending money rather than the tight budget she’d had every summer when she wasn’t working.

“This thing with us, where or when do you see it moving?” he asked. “Not putting pressure on you, just that, once you’re back to school, we really won’t see each other much.”

“I know. I thought of that too. I don’t mind you coming over when Micah’s in bed, but you might get sick of it. You might get sick of a lot of things because I’ve got a child.”

“Stop,” he said, putting his hand up and then reaching for her free one on the arm of the chair next to him. He threaded their fingers together and that slight touch set off so many flames in her body that she was ready to get up and crawl into his lap.

What the hell was she waiting for?

Why was she turning this into more than it had to be?

Yep, she had some serious PTSD right now when it came to men.

Didn’t trust them worth shit.

But Jolene Fierce had an excellent track record. She’d never pick a guy who was a loser. Or someone with secrets.

Which was wrong. He had them. So did she. And that was the reason she wasn’t so concerned he had trust issues.

“Sorry. It’s a trigger for me.”

“Then unload the gun. I know you’ve got Micah. I get it. Maybe I’m nervous over it too. It’s not as if I’ve dated anyone with a kid before, but I don’t have a problem with it either. You call the shots there. I get it.”

“Thank you for that,” she said. “It means the world.”

He tugged her arm a little. She wasn’t sure what he wanted, but he did it again. “Move closer.”

She edged her chair closer until it brushed his, the scrape of it barely audible over the pounding in her ears. He leaned toward her at the same moment she leaned toward him, both of them meeting in the middle like it was inevitable. As if gravity had been waiting for them to stop fighting it and just fall.

Their lips touched first, quick and brief, like they’d been here before and could move on. Then his mouth opened, hers followed, and their tongues slid together in a slow, deliberate stroke that stole the breath from her lungs.

The sparks she’d felt when his fingers had twisted with hers earlier burst into full flames scorching her and curling deep in her center.

The kind of heat that whispered reckless ideas in her ear. The kind that made her think he wouldn’t justallowher to climb into his lap…he’d welcome it.

He wanted it as much as her.

He got her exactly where she needed to be, telling her without words that he felt the same as her.