His Tattooed Virgin(Divine Creek Ranch 12)(34)

Jayne gasped. “Really?”

“Yes. Are you done here?”

“Yes.”

“Let’s go.”

Back at the truck, she seized the moment to kiss him more privately in the parking garage. It was torture because they were five hours from home and she’d already said on the way down in the elevator that she couldn’t wait to get back to Divine. He wanted her first time to be in a bed, not in the cab of his truck. So he banked the fires of lust as best as he could and got on the road for home.

Seth smiled when she turned up the volume on his truck radio. Jake Owen’s “Barefoot Blue Jean Night” was playing, and she closed her eyes as she bobbed her head. He was unbelievably glad that he’d been able to be there for her, whether the news had been good or bad. He imagined her dealing with Hodgkin’s on her own. She wasn’t on her own anymore. He increased his speed on the Interstate minutely.

She wiggled in her seat and batted at her rib cage where she’d told him there were still a couple of spots healing on the tattoo.

Seth grinned. “Does it itch?”

Jayne nodded. “Yes. But I’m not scratching.”

“Good girl. It’ll get better.”

She smiled and nodded at him, looking radiant. Every emotion showed in her expressions. He liked that about her. Tamar had worn her jaded nonchalance like a badge of honor, and it had rubbed off on him until it was normal to hide his feelings from the world, and her.

She’d always preferred his darker edgy side and the way it showed in his art and had pushed him to explore it further, even as he’d resisted and begun designing sexier, fantasy-oriented tattoos. He’d realized afterward that she’d probably been seeking validation for the choices she’d been making at the time. As a trust fund baby on the outs with her parents but with access to their money, she’d stretched the boundaries of propriety to the point where there were none at all. A cold chill swept over him at the memory of the last time he’d seen Tamar’s face. Shaking himself mentally, he focused his attention on Jayne. He couldn’t do anything about the past but move on from it.

At the next gas stop, Seth checked his messages and found a text message from an unknown number.

“Hey, butthead! It’s me, Lucy. This is my new number. Haven’t seen you in a while. Can you handle a houseguest?”

His sister, Lucy, had recently moved back to Temple, Texas, their hometown, after completing her training as a massage therapist.

Seth quickly replied, “Sure. Where are you?”

He hadn’t seen Lucy since shortly before he’d moved to Divine the autumn before. What he’d heard about her fiancé from their mom hadn’t impressed him. He could definitely handle a visit from his feisty little sister, as long as it didn’t occur until after that night.

His heart sank as her next message appeared. “On your porch.” His balls ached as if in protest.

“Crap.”

“LOL! Hard to misinterpret that!”

“Sorry. We’re about three hours away from Divine at the moment, headed back home.”

“Who is ‘we’? Do you have a girlfriend?”

Seth observed Jayne’s dark head bob as she walked through the convenience store. She caught him watching her and made a funny face at him through the front window. She radiated happiness.

“Yes. I’ll explain later. There’s an extra key under the potted plant by the front door. Can you hang out on your own for a few hours?”

Lucy didn’t need to know that not all that time would be spent on the road. Some of it was going to be spent making love to a sweet brunette. He regretted not being able to stay the night with her, which he knew she’d like.

“Sure. I saw a cool-looking Western wear store in town. I’ll do a little shopping.”

Jayne waved at him and made a motion like she was drinking from an imaginary cup and pointed at him, asking him if he wanted something to drink. He nodded as a wide smile crossed his face, and he once again wondered that the sensation still felt foreign to him. She definitely brought it out of him.

“That’s Cheaver’s. Ask if Rosemary is there, and tell her you’re my sister. She can show you around. I’ll see you in a few hours.”

“Okay. Later.”

Jayne walked over to him as she returned from the convenience store with two Cokes from the soda fountain. “What’s up?”

She snuggled up to him and he slung his arm around her and kissed the top of her sweet-scented head. “Looks like I have a houseguest.”

“Oh yeah? Who’s that?” Her eyes were clear and held no hint of attitude or jealousy. Tamar had detested Lucy and anything that had taken Seth’s focus off of her. He shrugged his shoulders as though physically throwing off her memory. Why she kept coming to mind he wasn’t sure, but one thing was certain—Jayne was nothing like her. That relationship had messed with his expectations and it was going to take time to readjust them.