She couldn’t breathe. Which was probably due to the fact that her heart was racing. Throw in dizzy. Parr Weston had a powerful effect on her.

He raised her hands to his mouth, running the tip of his tongue across her fingertips. She quivered, inside and out.

“I can’t believe these pretty hands could kill anything.” He enfolded them warmly in his. “But they might make a man die from the pleasure of their touch.”

“Over the top, Parr.” There was a warning note in her voice. She didn’t want to complain too much. She loved his touch. She knew his banter was meant to please her. Secretly, it did.

Her green eyes studied his face, as if she were about to question his intentions. She ought to. She wanted to speak, tell him she was too inexperienced for games like this, but she couldn’t say a word. Still, there was nothing one-sided about the seduction. Her body language conveyed her willingness to play along just fine.

“Have you been thinking about me, Strawberry?” He hated himself for starting something he didn’t intend to finish. Even though Bobby Joe had wanted Parr to believe that he’d helped himself to her virginity, it seemed to Parr that her essential innocence was intact. However, he found it hard to believe that a twenty-four-year-old woman could be so fundamentally naive about men.

“Yes,” she answered honestly. “I’ve been thinking about you and me and Bobby Joe and even Luellen Simpson.”

“And have you come to any conclusions?” Parr released her hands but held her gaze with his.

“A few. What about you, have you been thinking about me—about us?”

Please let him say yes. Let him tell me to forget his brother and all the foolish plans I made. Let him ask me to go away with him like he did last night.

“Hell yes.” He ran a thick, hard finger over her lower lip, nudging it downward. “I can’t stop thinking about how we’d be together.”

“Parr?” If he didn’t stop touching her, she would have to step back. The contact was intensely distracting.

“You’re very different from my usual women,” he informed her as he took her by the shoulders and pulled her close. The sensation of Mary Beth’s soft, sweet body against his made him rock hard. She was a born vixen, even if she was vulnerable right now. The combination could be his undoing.

He had to stay in control if he was going to pull off this charade and send her flying back into Bobby Joe’s waiting arms. He had to be careful not to let his real feelings about her ruin this act.