The Layton Family, 2

"I do believe I can arrest you for looking at someone like that. You've got to be breaking some indecency laws."

Taking a deep breath, she recovered her bearings. Mostly. "You're out of your jurisdiction, sheriff."

Dry Creek County Sheriff Hank Layton is the stuff of dreams. Nasty, steamy, delicious fantasies that leave Beth Martinez weak-kneed and desperately wanting the man she can never have.

Hank can’t stop thinking about Beth to the point where he’s afraid of becoming permanently bowlegged. And even though the sexual tension between them is thick enough to trip over, she runs every time he chases.

But when a mysterious developer forces her neighbors off their land, Beth becomes the one person standing between the scoundrel and millions of dollars. Only Hank can help her uncover the truth. Together they risk their lives exposing decades-old secrets and learn that everything is not as it seems in their rural Nebraska town.

Excerpt:

The waiter delivered their drinks. Hank took a long pull from the beer bottle. “I have a proposition to make. Let’s not talk about our day, the crazy people around us or any other general bitching.”

“I’m game.” Beth relaxed back in her seat.

“What should we talk about?”

“The weather?”

He rolled his eyes. “Lame.”

“Politics?”

“Hell, no. I’m trying to eat here.” He popped a chip heavy with salsa into his mouth.

“Okay, so you pick.”

“Sex.” The word came out in a single syllable dare.

The frisson of attraction that normally buzzed in the background whenever she was near Hank moved front and center. It reached out, making her nipples tingle. “I don’t–“

“No specifics,” he interrupted. “Just general factoids. I’ll start. Women who work out have more orgasms than those who don’t.”

“How do you know that?”

“You should know that already, you’re at the gym what, three times a week?”

“Five,” she squeaked out.

The green in his hazel eyes darkened and he stared at her expectantly.

Her breath caught. Damn, she couldn’t think over the dirty movie playing in her head at the moment. But the longer she stayed silent, the greener his eyes turned and the wetter her panties became. Desperate, her brain finally stumbled upon a factoid.

“The most popular flavor of edible underwear is cherry. Totally true, I read it in Cosmo.”

“Cherry’s always been a favorite flavor of mine.”

When did her bra get so tight? It had fit perfectly this morning. Now the lace cups scratched against her hard nipples with enough friction to annoy but not enough to ease the lust turning her brain to mush.

“Got one.” He chuckled softly. “Vegetarians like to give blow jobs more than meat eaters.”

The waiter picked that moment to arrive at their table with a tray loaded down with Mexican food. He acted like he hadn’t heard anything, but the tips of his ears were pink. Keeping his eyes glued to the table, he made fast work of unloading the food, the dishes clanking on the wood table, then sped back into the main dining room.

They busied themselves with filling their plates from the family-style serving dishes. More relaxed than she’d been in months, she snagged an enchilada, cut a chimichanga in half and scooped rice onto her plate. She savored the first bite of cheese and onion wrapped in a handmade corn tortilla. Not as good as abuelita’s, but awful close. Next, a bite of beef chimichanga. The deep fried shell snapped under her fork as she cut off a piece, making sure to get some guacamole with it. The seasoned beef revitalized her tastebuds. She felt more herself with every second that passed.

“It’s not true you know,” she said before taking a second bite of chimichanga.

“What’s that?”

“About blow jobs. Carnivores love oral sex.”

Other Books in The Layton Family series:

Temptation Creek