Home Sweet Home: A Sweet, Texas Novella by Candis Terry Page B

she was all that mattered.
    And that idea just plain scared the shit out of him because he didn’t even know who he was anymore. He wasn’t lying to her when he said that the man who’d left here years ago was gone. He was different. There was too much weight in his heart and on his shoulders to even remember who that guy was.
    Still, cutting Paige completely out of his life seemed impossible. Especially when the first thing he woke up in the morning thinking was how much he wanted to see her smile. How badly he wanted to see that long, honey-colored ponytail swing as she walked away and gave him a great view of her curvy backside.
    Sometimes in the middle of the night, he imagined the delicate touch of her fingers on his skin. The sigh she let go in the midst of laughter. Or the warmth of her body pressed against his beneath the cool sheets.
    Those were his demons.
    He hadn’t intentionally created them, but they were there regardless.
    Paige deserved someone who could give her more than just old memories. She needed fresh, new memories that would only get better and better each and every day.
    So friends it had to be.
    “That look on your face says different,” she said, tilting her wineglass in his direction. “That look says there’s something more than friendship at hand.”
    “I’m just tired.” Yeah. Lame-ass excuse. Still, it was the only thing he could come up with when she looked at him the way she was, with her sleek brows pulled slightly together over those crystal blue eyes.
    “Tired. Hmmm.” She set her wineglass down on the table and got up from her chair. “And yet you went and rented a big ol’ machine, hauled it all the way over here, and rolled it off the trailer.”
    Pulse throbbing, Aiden watched as she came around the table and looked down at him through eyes that held more than a hint of doubt. She touched his shoulder, just slightly, with one fingertip that then trailed up the back of his neck and down to his shoulder again. The heat of that one finger seeped through his shirt and sent an urgent message through his body.
    Paige was a sexy, sensuous woman. She didn’t have to work at it, she just was. And for a man who’d loved her and had tasted her passion, she was damned hard to resist.
    “So … that’s really what you want?” she asked. “To be friends?”
    “Of course.” Bullshit. With her standing so close, smelling so damned good, and looking so soft and warm, friendship was the last thing on his mind.
    “But …” She raised one leg over both of his and straddled his lap. “Friends—no matter how close—don’t really do this …” She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his forehead. Her breasts pressed against his chest, and her sweet, tropical scent wove a spell around him.
    At that moment, she could do anything, and he’d be putty in her hands.
    “Or this …” She trailed a finger down his temple to his cheek, then replaced her finger with her warm lips, which gently brushed kisses down the side of his face until they came right to his own lips.
    “And they certainly don’t do this.” She cupped his face in her hands. At the same time, the belt on her robe loosened. The fuzzy pink fabric fell open and exposed her luscious naked body just as she kissed him. Then her tongue darted out and slowly licked the seam of his mouth.
    It was the low hum of approval that vibrated in her throat that broke his resolve, and he kissed her back.
    Hell yes, he kissed her back.
    His hands followed suit, sliding beneath that thick fluffy fabric to touch her warm, soft skin. He pulled her close, so he could feel her hardened nipples against his chest. The movement brought her warm, damp core solid against his erection. She felt so damned good, he thought he might explode.
    “You’re not playing fair.” He moved his palms down her backside and cupped her bare ass in his hands.
    “I never said I would.” She leaned in and kissed him. Their tongues danced to a tune they’d perfected over the years. Yet each time