Duke grins. “Well, now that you mention it, he does exhibit some suspicious behavior?—”
“Not funny.” I’m growling again.
“Oh, come on, Sawyer, you couldn’t be a serial killer if you tried. You’re more of an overgrown puppy. Like a basset hound with big, floppy ears and those droopy eyes.”
Ava smiles. “I see it.”
“Really?” I tease. “Ouch.”
“A verycutebasset hound puppy,” she corrects. “Better than a murderer, right?”
I laugh, curling an arm around her waist. “Guess so.”
I don’t miss the way Ava leans into me, running her hand up my chest. Just the boost of confidence I need.
She’s feeling me. Same way I’m feeling her. Excitement blooms in my chest at the increasingly likely prospect of getting this girl naked. Hits me just how much I need the release.
Just how much I want her. The kind of want that makes my stomach hurt in the best way.
“Basset hounds are kinda slobbery, though.” Duke curls his lip.
“So are the drunk guys at this bar.” I give him a death stare.
Chuckling, he glances over his shoulder. “I best get back out there. Ava, it was a pleasure meeting you. I assure you there are no killers in our family that I’m aware of, aside from the lady-killer variety?—”
“Not.Funny.”
My brother holds up his hands. “Fine, fine. I’ll get out of y’all’s hair.”
“He’s a character,” Ava says as we watch him disappear onto the dance floor.
“That’s one word for it.” I run a hand over my face. “Would you like another Shiner, or?—”
I’m interrupted by the lead singer, telling us their set is over. The crowd claps and whistles, and a beat later Waylon Jennings starts playing through the speakers above our heads.
“That’s a bummer. They were really good.” Ava drums her fingers against my chest. “What do we do now?”
My heartbeat marches in my ears. It’s the perfect moment to ask her to get out of here. We’ve been dancing for hours. Neither of us is wrecked. I’m so turned on that I could scream.
I’ll be crushed if she says no. But goddamn it, what if she says yes?
“We could go somewhere else?” I look down at her. “Try another spot?—”
“Okay.”
My pulse riots.Okay.
Ava just said okay.
“Any spot in particular you have in mind?” she asks.
The bed in my hotel suite.
I shrug, like my dick isn’t causing me serious grief right now. “I have an idea or two.”
“I like those ideas.”
“You don’t know what they are.”
