Friday Feature & Giveaway: Definitely Not Dating by Christi Barth

“You’re a…” Matt searched for the right word. Nothing fully encapsulated everything that struck him as, well, wonderful about Everleigh. Feeling lame, he finished underwhelmingly by saying, “…a remarkable woman.”

He owed her something better than that.

Her hands dropped from her face. And her usual confidence leached back into her expression. “Why, thank you, Chief. Maybe that should be the tag line on my new business cards.”

“Hey. Are you sassing me?”

“Maybe.”

That was more like it. But he still wanted to make sure that she was done beating herself up. Matt dropped one of his arms. “After I went to all these lengths to cheer you up? I’m not, you know, eloquent.”

“What are you, then? If you’re not a man of words?”

Ah.

Matt saw exactly the minefield she’d just led him into. Saw the sparkle of challenge in her eyes. The flirt factor meant Everleigh was steady again. Whereas he…was sitting in grass, under a tree on a spring morning with a beautiful woman.

Matt wasn’t steady at all. Especially since one option to cheer her up became blindingly clear.

Even more obvious? He had the willpower of a drunk toddler where Everleigh was concerned.

“Action’s more my thing,” he growled. Then Matt curled an arm around her waist and pulled her sideways onto his lap. He slanted his mouth across hers.

Kissing Everleigh was like…eating chocolate cake and drinking twenty-year-old Scotch at the same time. A combination of sweetness and dark heat. The best part? She threw herself enthusiastically into it. Her mouth opened at the first touch of his lips. Her tongue slicked along his with abandon.

Matt cradled her back with one arm, tucking his hand along her belly. His fingers itched to explore. To untuck the blouse and slide under the waistband of her skirt. But that seemed more aggressive than a let’s cheer you up! make-out session ought to be.

So he contented himself with rubbing his thumb along her velvety cheekbone.

Anchoring his fingers in the thick, soft mass of her hair.

Drowning in the taste of her.

He angled them more to lean against the tombstone. Had to adapt to the environment, right? After all, the thing was shaped like the back of a chair. Tomorrow, he’d bring by flowers in penance for all this, but right now? Matt wasn’t stopping just because they were on a four-hundred-year-old chunk of stone.

Everleigh unzipped his jacket further. Then she splayed her palm wide over his chest. Her nails dug in just enough to get his attention.

Man, he wanted her to scrape them all the way down the rest of his body.