Hot Damn by Regina Carlysle Page A

points on the enormous wrap-around front porch. An oak swing hung from two giant chains and several bentwood chairs and a nice table completed the seating arrangement.
    Huge windows ran across the front of the house. Around one side were double French doors that he figured also led into the living room. Two trees, one pecan and one live oak, shaded the large front yard. Out in the street, young boys tossed a football, yelling and laughing, while a little girl drove a tiny, battery powered jeep down the sidewalk. It was hot pink and had Barbie painted on its side. He couldn’t help smiling.
    When he’d been a very young boy, he’d imagined himself living in a place like this instead of the rundown trailer park he and his poor sweet mother had called home.
    Breathing in, feeling evening settle down around him like a song, Nash reached up and rubbed the heel of his hand over his heart. He would’ve loved calling a place like this home.
    Brutally reminding himself that he was only a visitor here in this quaint little town, he grabbed a paper sack that contained the steaks and other things he’d picked up at the store.
    When he climbed out of the truck holding the sack in one arm, he shut the door and turned to find Scarlet standing at the open front door watching him.
    She was a funny kind of woman.
    Women he’d dated in the past would’ve waited for him to walk up to the door and ring the doorbell. They might even have made him ring it twice so he wouldn’t think they were waiting. Games. He preferred things straight up and honest.
    He’d pretty much figured Scarlet Ballew wasn’t much of a game-player and he sure liked that about her. Since she was dressed casually, in shorts and some kind of tiny tank top thing, he was glad he’d gone for comfort himself. Tonight after his shower, he’d tugged on a black t-shirt to tuck into his oldest pair of jeans. Black shit-kickers completed the whole of his wardrobe. He wasn’t much for getting fancy for a woman.
    For Scarlet, it might be worth it.
    Her inky hair trailed, thick and shiny, past her shoulders, her skin was flawless, soft-looking. He wanted to nip the tender flesh of that ultra- long neck with his teeth. Lick the spot. Kiss it. Soothe her.
    Take her.
    “Hey,” she called, smiling, as she headed down the front steps. He noticed she was barefoot and her toes were painted drop-dead-sexy red.
    Ah, man.
    Those legs seemed to climb all the way to heaven, and the tan shorts? They stretched across the sweetest little ass he’d ever seen.
    “Hey, yourself.”
    “Here let me take that.” She reached for the big paper sack and he held it aside.
    “Nope. That’s my job.” Nash reached into the sack and pulled out a cellophane wrapped bundle of assorted flowers. “You can carry these, darlin’. They’re for you.”
    “Oh my God. You are the sweetest.” Up she came on her tip-toes as she pressed a kiss to the side of his mouth. The spot tingled and her delicious scent filled his head. She made him hungry. 
    Funny how women lit up over flowers. He’d never understood the reaction but he smiled as her green eyes sparkled over the gift.
    Nash followed her toward the house, up the steps and went through the front door. Something clean but spicy hit his senses and he saw several huge, squat candles lit and shimmering from the center of an oversized coffee table. He smelled cinnamon and something coming from the kitchen and his mouth watered as he took in Scarlet’s space.
    “This is nice,” he said, feeling lame because nice didn’t begin to describe it. Everything was big, wide open and airy. Still there was a cozy feel to the place that had his blood pumping warm in his veins. For a man who’d never had a home of his own, a real home, that was saying something. That spot over his heart ached again as he took off his straw cowboy hat.
    “Thanks. Here let me take that.” Scarlet took his hat and settled it on an old fashioned hat stand that sat in the foyer