Undone (A Country Roads Novel) by Shannon Richard Page B

said, putting her palms on his chest.
    He brought her mouth to his. She parted her lips and when his tongue touched hers he lost himself. She tasted like oranges, like the sweetest freaking oranges that he’d ever eaten. He wrapped his free arm around her back, pulling her into his chest as he slanted his mouth over hers, deepening the kiss. One of her hands was in his hair, her nails racking the back of his head.
    Brendan pulled back and looked at her, both of them breathing hard. He was still holding her face in one of his hands as he ran his thumb across her lower lip.
    “That was…” He couldn’t even find the words to describe exactly what it was.
    “Yeah.” She looked at him, dazed as she fisted her hand tighter in his shirt and pulled him back to her. And then they were off again and neither of them had any desire to come back up for air for a long time.
    *  *  *
    Sometime later, Brendan was searching through the back of Paige’s Jeep. She was lightheaded from all of the kissing, and the skin around her mouth felt a little raw from Brendan’s scruff. But that was a small price to pay because, dear God, she’d never been kissed like that.
    “You don’t even have the right stuff to change a tire,” he said, exasperated. “What happened to all of the tools it came with?” he asked, turning around.
    Paige bit her lip. “Um, they’re probably in the same place as the spare.”
    “Which is?” he asked
    “I have no idea.”
    He just smiled and shook his head at her.
    “What?” she asked, folding her arms across her chest.
    “You’re helpless,” he said, walking over to his truck.
    “Or maybe this is all part of the plan,” she said, following him.
    “What plan?” he asked, releasing the hitch and pulling it down. He climbed into the back of his truck and unlocked the big metal box that ran along the back of the cab.
    “If I knew how to change a tire, and had all of the things to do it, you wouldn’t be here right now .”
    He looked up as he pulled a bag out of the box. “You make a valid point,” he conceded.
    “That’s what I thought.”
    “But that’s an awful lot of effort just to get me to kiss you,” Brendan said, pulling out a jack. He walked to the back and put both items down by the edge before he hopped down in front of her. “I was going to kiss you anyways,” he said, stepping into her and kissing the corner of her mouth.
    “You were taking an awfully long time to get there,” she said and then lightly bit down on his lower lip.
    He groaned. “What did you want me to do? Tackle you in front of a beach full of people?”
    “That sounds promising,” she said against his mouth before she kissed him.
    “Mmm-hmm,” he hummed in her mouth as his hands came up and gripped her waist. “I think you should stand far, far away from me while I change your flat,” he said, pulling his mouth away from hers. “Otherwise I might lose a limb.”
    “You mean you aren’t going to show me how to change it myself?”
    “No, then you won’t have any reason to call me.”
    “Oh, I’m sure I’ll be able to come up with a few reasons.”
    “You’re dangerous,” he said, letting go of her and stepping back. He grabbed the stuff from the hitch and walked to the front of her car. He went back for the spare tire, and after he put it down on the ground he turned to Paige. “You have to stand at least five feet away from me,” he said, pointing to a spot behind him.
    “I’m staying back,” she said, holding her hands up in surrender.
    Paige watched from a safe distance away as he put the jack under her Jeep and turned a metal bar. The Jeep slowly raised and when it was far enough off the ground he pulled some tool out of his bag and unscrewed the hubcap. He moved so efficiently, doing something in minutes that would have taken her forever to do. He made it all look so effortless. She wondered if he did everything like that.
    “Done,” he said, standing up and pulling his