There was enough room for him to run a finger along the edge of the fabric. He was well aware that he was stroking a lot more than her underwear at this point, his touch grazing the gentle folds of her body, but he was a man on a mission.

“This feels like a lot of cotton,” he said as he gave her panties a gentle tug. His forefinger grazed against her clit, which caused a low moan to escape her. As enticing as that sound was and as much as he wanted to follow up on it, he curled his hand to cup her mons instead. His palm lay flat against the front of her, his entire hand reaching between her legs and toward her ass. It was a position he could have held for hours, but he needed to make sure of something first.

It didn’t take him long to find what he was looking for. No matter which way he turned his hand or how far up he waggled his fingers, one thing remained the same. “What you’re wearing, Ruby Taylor, is no wisp of anything.”

Shifting his body so he was no longer pinned underneath her, he used his free hand to lift the skirt of her sundress and peer at whatever was happening underneath. Ruby squealed and tried to hold the fabric down, but Spencer’s energy was almost back to its full strength.

Being with Ruby did that, somehow. Her presence restored and revived him, made him feel like a new man. One who laughed and played, who didn’t always abide by the rules. One who could be happy, if he let himself.

“You’re such a liar,” he said as he managed to get her skirt lifted to waist-level. The panties she had on were an abomination against sexy underthings. They weren’t black or lacy, and they certainly weren’t small. White cotton turned gray with multiple washings, they looked like the kind of underwear you’d put on when you planned on chasing small children around for forty-eight hours. “I should have known better than to trust you. What else have you been keeping from me?”

He’d meant it as a joke, a way to segue into the other, more enticing parts of her that lay hidden underneath, but she stopped squirming almost at once. When she pushed her skirt down this time, he didn’t try to stop her.

“You can trust me, Spencer,” she said as she struggled into a sitting position. The movement slid her bottom half away from him, but it thrust her upper half much closer. So close, in fact, that their lips almost touched. Her breath was warm and beckoned him in, but he didn’t think that was why she’d sat up. “I’m not hiding anything that matters. Not really.”