He was going to kiss her. Turner wasn’t about to let her go without kissing her. Suddenly, that was the only thing he could think about.
Kissing Annie. Nothing sounded more right to him than kissing Annie.
He breathed her name. Just her name. Annie.
His hand was already on her shoulder; it was so easy to drop it to encircle her waist. She leaned toward him. His other hand rose to cup her cheek.
And then his lips brushed hers.
Turner closed his eyes as he pulled the woman he wanted closer.
Her lips parted beneath his. Turner had never been slow to react when it was necessary. He deepened the kiss.
Annie released a sound, something between a sigh and squeak. Turner thought it sounded one hundred percent perfect. And he would be the luckiest bastard on the planet if he ever got the opportunity to get her to make that sound in a thousand other ways. A thousand other touches.
He deliberately kept his movements slowed, unhurried. Annie was skittish.
Turner had not missed that at all. He didn’t know if it was because she was young and obviously more inexperienced than the women he usually got involved with, or if it was because something had happened to make her afraid of men.
He suspected it might have been a mix of both. The last thing he wanted was for her to be afraid of him.
What he wanted to do was yank her into his arms and then devour her. Simple as that. He wanted to consume her, to put his touch on her everywhere. Make it clear to her and anyone else that he, Turner Avery Barratt, had it bad for Annabelle Gaines.
Hell, he wanted to take out a billboard and show everyone everywhere exactly how he felt about this woman in his arms.
He was a Barratt, after all. And he wasn’t stupid.
There was usually truth behind family legends. There was a reason why his family history was littered with men who knew the women they wanted.
But the ones in the past had known how to go about getting the women they wanted. Turner wasn’t so sure he had that same knowledge.
One small hand slipped up around his neck.
And Annie clung to him.
Turner kissed her as long as she would let him. But the inevitable happened.
Annie pulled away, shaking her head. “I just can’t do this right now. I’m sorry, but you have to go.”
Turner nodded and stood. He knew the benefit of a strategic retreat.
But Annie wasn’t immune to him. Far from it. And that thought gave him hope. It gave him something to look forward to. He walked back toward the community center and his car, actually feeling like he’d taken a few steps forward with her tonight.
And knowing he wasn’t going to stop.