Summer Love: A Steamy Small Town Romance Anthology Read online

  And then he was on me again, his teeth nipping at my lips, his hand dipping down to grab my ass. The squished mini pig’s snout came up to bop me under my chin, but still, I didn’t lean away from that kiss. The whole town of Hell could go up in stink bombs and I’d be right here, fusing my lips to this dark stranger with the banana-yellow scooter and the abs I could count through his T-shirt. I shifted as close as I could get without climbing inside his skin, catching a faint whiff of rotten eggs. I had a sneaking suspicion Linc caused the cat kerfuffle, which I normally would have protested, but he had helped clean up the mess.

  And the resulting escaped cats and a spoiling sperm sample had brought us together.

  “That’s okay. I have plenty of toys from the Hardware Store.”

  Linc broke the kiss looking confused. I grimaced, knowing exactly what Poppy was referring to and, quite frankly, I didn’t need to know about Poppy’s sex toy hobbies. Linc’s warm hands let me go, leaving both me and mini pig whimpering. Poppy cleared out and we hustled back to the Society before all the cats finished with the catnip in the back of the truck and realized we were delivering them back to Yedda.

  The whole gang stood there when we pulled up. Yedda was counting each of her babies and Hazel made sure they got extra wet food tonight as a reward for coming back home. We stood in a circle, chatting, the warm presence of Linc right behind me more distracting than the way Yedda knew each cat’s name without looking at the collars. Linc breathed on my neck and I couldn’t help the goose bumps. He brushed his hand against my hip, and I begged the universe to make everyone disappear.

  “Dude, what happened to your bike?” Bain asked Linc, clearly done with the cat business.

  “In the shop.” Linc shrugged and I could feel it since he was standing so close.

  Bain chuckled. “Aren’t you a mechanic?”

  Linc straightened and my ears perked up. Yeah, what did Linc do for a living? And why was he in town? And was he dating anyone? The kiss said no, but then again, that might have just been to get Poppy off his tail.

  “I work on planes, not motorcycles, man. Minor repairs I can do, but not the big stuff. Some asshole hit me on the road last week and I was lucky to walk away with both nuts intact.”

  Nuts. Sperm. Oh shit!

  “Lucy!” I called to her across the parking lot where she was trying to get Roxy to put down the cat she was hugging like she intended to take it home. Her head popped up as I checked my watch. “I forgot to come back and take that sample to San Jose. They close in like twenty minutes.”

  Lucy grimaced and I felt awful. I told her I’d take care of it and now I’d let her down. Oh no, she was already thinking of firing me, I could just tell.

  A warm hand hit my back and the shiver told me who it was. “I can take you.”

  I looked over my shoulder to see Linc’s disheveled brown hair and concerned blue eyes. “Yeah?”

  He smirked and dipped his head. “Yeah. Hop on.” His hand swept over to his yellow scooter with the helmet hanging off the handle. Apparently, the gang had brought it back for him.

  “Um, not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but will that thing get us there?” I wanted nothing more than to be pressed up against Linc’s fine body for the next twenty minutes, but not if it meant dragging ass all the way to San Jose. My self-esteem couldn’t handle it.

  He frowned at the scooter. “It’s a fifty-fifty chance.”

  I paused and then shrugged. “Good enough for me!” I ran toward the clinic next door, careful not to jostle Spunky more than necessary. “Let me just get the sperm!”

  “The what?!” Linc yelled back at me.

  Oops. Probably should have told him we’d be transporting some poor guy’s sperm along with Spunky. Hey, if Linc couldn’t handle a little spunk and a mini pig named Spunky, he should just bail now.

  I came back out of the clinic holding both, wondering if Linc would have hightailed it out of there.

  Instead, he was standing next to his scooter, the black helmet extended out to me, a leather jacket making him look even tougher than before. He rolled his eyes, but the smirk was there.

  “Everyone told me things might get crazy if I moved to Hell, but I hadn’t expected crazy to be a hot girl with a pig and some sperm.”

  “That’s how we roll!” Amelia hollered at the top of her lungs. Everyone else hooted and hollered, and if the cats weren’t traumatized before, they were now. Damn, I loved my town.

  I bit my lip and climbed on the scooter.

  Linc called me hot and liked my crazy.

  And if I got really lucky, maybe he found out later tonight that I didn’t wear underwear…

  Chapter Two

  Linc

  Bain had warned me moving to Auburn Hill, aka Hell, might be a culture shock, but I’d welcomed it with open arms. Lord only knew I needed something very different from what I’d experienced for the past eight years. If I spent one more day in the damn desert, living on base with a bunch of assholes who I loved and fought with like brothers, while trying to keep my cool in combat situations no human should have to see, I’d do something crazy just to get myself dishonorably discharged. Thankfully, I’d kept my shit long enough to leave at the end of my second tour with my honor still intact. Settling in a small town like Auburn Hill sounded like paradise.

  Of course, my buddy Bain, a guy I’d grown up with, but lost touch with when I went into the military and he went to college, hadn’t made things easy. He’d insisted that the only way to be accepted by the other men in town was to pull a prank on my first day. I knew all about friendly hazing from my first year in the Army and I wasn’t about to let some pussy prison warden get the better of me. ‘Course, I didn’t realize until it was too late that I was pulling a fast—stinky—one on an old lady. That didn’t seem so honorable to me, but then again, I hadn’t lived as a civilian in a while.

  “Make a left here,” came the feminine shout in my ear.

  I blamed that whole “not a civilian” thing on how I already had a hot girl on the back of my bike on day one in Hell. She could have been a serial killer for all I knew, but something about the way she’d cradled the mini pig to her gorgeous breasts made me think the closest she got to a serial killer was watching a detective show on Netflix while she squeezed her eyes shut with dread. She’d flashed those blue eyes at me and suddenly I’d found myself offering to drive her all over the damn state with a fucking pig tucked into my leather jacket.

  I made the left into a parking lot, the ridiculous scooter I’d been loaned making a groan that spelled future disaster if I didn’t give it a break soon. The stamp of Keva’s breasts, which had been plastered to my back for a solid twenty minutes now, left me feeling cold as she unwound herself from me and hopped off the bike.

  Without a word, she ran to the building, intercepting a man leaving out the front door and trying to lock it. She jumped up and down, a wince with every movement. Normally, I wouldn’t have noticed, but I found myself studying her intensely, trying to figure out what it was about her that had me giving a shit about her job instead of worrying about my own ass. The guy’s shoulders dropped, but he let her back into the building where she was gone for a few minutes. I checked the gas gauge and thought we might have enough to make it back to Hell. If I had to, I’d get her home while carrying her on my back. Anything to keep her plastered against me.

  I really needed to get laid.

  How long had it been? I searched the night sky, jumping at every little noise, and there were a lot of them here in the city. Another reason Auburn Hill had sounded like paradise. Quiet. I needed a place to call home and the little town, set right along the ocean, seemed liked just the right therapy for a guy like me. A guy I’d served with for the last few years would be joining me next week. Figured we’d be roommates until we both got our new lives together. We hadn’t said it out loud, but I think we were both using the other as a crutch, afraid we wouldn’t blend back into civilian life. At least if we crashed and
burned, the other person would be there to clean up the mess.

  “I can’t thank you enough for hauling me all the way out here.” Keva stood to my right, startling me.

  I hadn’t even heard her approach, which was highly unlike me. Horns and chatter a street away had distracted me.

  “No problem,” the words tumbled out, both of us knowing it had been a problem. First the cat round up and then the drive completely out of my way on the lamest transportation I’d ever had the unfortunate luck to drive.

  Keva’s lips curled into a small smile. I liked how she’d painted them red before she’d come back out of the fertility clinic and climbed on my bike. Almost like she’d taken a moment to spruce herself up before riding with me. Like she wanted to impress me.

  “I was planning to meet some friends here…” she trailed off, biting that bottom lip I’d already gotten a taste of.

  Fuck. What was it about this young woman that made my gut clench? I should let her go and drive straight to the new house I’d rented. My focus needed to be on building my new life, not trying to get in the pants of the first girl I saw. Although her pants did look mighty fine on her ass.

  She frowned. “You don’t like animals?”

  I tilted my head, wondering where that came from. I had her damn pig stuffed in my jacket at this very minute. “Uh, no, actually. Animals are fine.”

  Her face cleared instantly. “Oh, sorry. Sometimes my mind reading is off when I’m distracted.”

  There was a lot to unpack there. I’d start with the obvious. “You can read minds?”

  She blushed, looking down at the toe of her boots before looking back at me, defiance straightening her spine. “Some people think I’m crazy, but I really can read minds.”

  I’d seen some crazy ass shit in my time, along with learning to trust my gut more than a multi-million dollar piece of equipment. If my gut said run, I ran. That sixth sense had saved my life on more than one occasion. Who was I to judge this woman’s intuition, even if she called it mind reading?

  “I don’t think you’re crazy,” I said simply. She grinned so wide, I thought of what else I could say to get her to flash me another one. “And what’s got you distracted?”

  She shrugged and it made her breasts bounce. I was a bastard for noticing, but cut me some slack. I hadn’t gotten to see breasts on the regular for eight years. I was basically the maturity level of a teen boy. Her grin turned positively flirty, pushing her wide grin out of first place in the list of best grins on the planet.

  “I was distracted by you and this whole macho man in a leather jacket thing you got going on,” she practically purred.

  My chest puffed up with pride under her lustful gaze. The pig must not have liked that as it stuck his head out above the zipper and snorted. Fucking mood killer.

  “I’m glad you see beyond the banana yellow scooter and the mini pig carrier.”

  She did a little eyebrow waggle. “Just adds to your charm.”

  Instinct told me to go for it. “Wanna grab a bite to eat and head to my place?”

  Keva didn’t even answer me. She just swung her leg over the scooter and wrapped herself to my backside, her hands dangerously close to discovering that I was packing more than a pig underneath these clothes. I had a raging hard on that seemed outrageously out of place when the pig let out another snort and stomped his back foot right on the goods.

  The tiny engine firing to life drowned out my groan. The mini pig was trying to cock block me from his new mama, but he didn't know who he was messing with. Staff Sergeant Lincoln Angelo didn’t stand down at the first sign of adversity.

  However, the second sign of adversity came much quicker than I thought when the little scooter that couldn’t up and died right in the middle of the road a mile or two outside of Auburn Hill city limits.

  “Oh no!” Keva climbed off, pulling the helmet off her head, hair flying everywhere. I wanted to smooth it down and then wrap it around my fist and drag her to my house. “Linc?”

  Her gaze flew to me, trust shining there that I would know what to do about this turn of events. I climbed off too, kicking the yellow bastard for good measure. It let out a groan, then a puff of grey smoke from the tiny engine before tilting in slow motion and eventually settling on the gravel to the side of the road.

  No use trying to get that thing to come back to life. I trusted my own two feet more than that heap of metal. I made sure the pig was secure in my jacket and turned my back to Keva. “Hop on.”

  “What?” Her startled response had me wondering what type of men she’d been hanging out with here in this little town.

  It was beyond obvious her feet hurt in those stupid boots that hid her calves. The leather was new and the wince with each step was a dead giveaway. I thought I could live to a hundred and still not understand why women wore ridiculous shoes they couldn’t walk in.

  “You want to walk the whole way in those boots?” I asked over my shoulder.

  Her cheeks went pink, but I had to give her credit for not arguing and postponing the inevitable any longer. She hopped on my back and I settled her legs around my waist before I took off down the road at a fast clip.

  “You’re going to carry me all the way home?” Her lips brushed my ear as she spoke, the intimate contact causing a need to swell up in me so fiercely I briefly considered pulling off into the trees and having my way with her right then and there. I gritted my teeth and trudged on, picking up my pace.

  “I’ve carried heavier ruck sacks for days on end in the desert. Pretty sure I can handle a mile with you and the pig.”

  “Hmm,” she rumbled, the heat of her on my back making me break out into a sweat. Not from exertion, but from the sheer willpower of not spinning her around to my front so I could taste those lips again, pig be damned. “Does that mean you’re in the military?”

  “Was,” I bit out, not wanting to get into that right now. No offense to the pretty girl on my back, but the spark of attraction I felt for her was just that. A spark that would flair hot tonight and then burn out by morning. Talking about my time in the military was not part of the deal when I suggested dinner and my place.

  Keva remained blessedly silent the rest of the way to my house. Once inside, I put her down and handed over the pig who’d somehow fallen asleep while I walked.

  “Be right back.” I left her in my living room without even a chair to sit in. Several cardboard boxes kept her company while I headed to the kitchen to pick up the phone and dial for pizza takeout. Half meat lovers, half cheese in case she was some crazy ass vegetarian.

  “You really are new in town, aren’t you?” Keva’s voice came from the living room the minute I hung up the phone.

  I found her spinning around, taking in the house I’d rented, sight unseen. Bain had checked it out for me and given it his stamp of approval. That was good enough for me.

  “Yeah. Moved here today, in fact.”

  Keva spun back to me, her mouth making the cutest little “o” as she stared at me. “You moved here today, and you just spent four hours helping me round up cats, save a mini pig, and gave me a ride to the city?”

  I shrugged like it was no big deal and it wasn’t. I didn’t have a job lined up yet so why not spend the day with a pretty girl? Keva’s eyes darkened and she didn’t take them off me as she sat the pig down on the ground. She bit her bright red bottom lip and that thread of lust that had been there all afternoon lit to an inferno.

  “Keva,” I warned as she sauntered around me in a full circle, her finger tracing along my chest, my arm, my back, and around to my chest again.

  She went up on tiptoes and whispered in my ear, “We have twenty minutes until the pizza is here. What can you do to me in twenty minutes, Linc?”

  All the blood in every vein and artery in my body converged in my dick the very moment she took her lips away from my ear. I didn’t wait a single second to outline what I could do. I’d bet a hundred dollars I could get at least one orgasm out of he
r in twenty minutes.

  Bending down, I picked her up and threw her over my shoulder in a fireman’s carry, hustling out of the living room and into my bedroom. Fortunately, I had a mattress on the floor. No sheets or a headboard, but at least her back would be against something soft when I pounded into her. She squeaked when she landed on the mattress, the noise turning into a giggle. I tugged on her boots hard, sliding them both off at the same time and tossing them over my shoulders. Next up were the jeans practically painted onto her gorgeous body. She lifted her hips to help me while piking up to whip her sweater over her head. She laid back in a black bra that wasn’t lacy or racy in any way, but even so, I didn’t think I’d ever seen anything prettier in this whole wide world.

  “Fuck, Keva,” I grumbled out loud, taking her in and wondering how the hell I got so lucky on my first day in town. Looked like things were finally turning around for me.

  “Yes, please!” she said enthusiastically and then giggled some more.

  Remembering the time constraints, I grabbed my shirt behind my head and ripped it off. The jeans and boots could wait. I sniffed, smelling her perfume and the faint trace of her arousal that permeated the air. The growl that crept up my chest and out of my throat was unavoidable, born from years of pent up frustration. I shoved her knees apart far rougher than I should have, and I could have wept at seeing her bared before me. Fuck, I loved pussy.

  Kneeling between her legs, I dove in, swiping up her slit and tasting her like a starved man. She gasped and squirmed, but I couldn’t stop or ease her into it. I buried my face between her thighs and lapped at her, using my chin, my thumbs, and my tongue to make her moan. Two seconds after I focused on her clit she let out a shriek. I settled a hand on her stomach to keep her from vibrating right off the mattress, not stopping for even a breath as she rode out her first orgasm.

  “That’s one,” I rasped.

  “Ohh.”

  I smiled smugly and crawled up her body, reaching around to unclasp her bra while she tried to catch her breath. When her eyes fluttered open, she smiled at me and I just knew I could get another from her before the doorbell rang.