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you’ve been to bed with him.”
    His face went from puzzled to alarmed.
    “I think you could be discreet.” What the heck, she’d go for broke. “So I want to have sex with you. Repeatedly. As many times as possible.”
    * * *
    It took everything Cameron had not to jerk his head back like someone had punched him in the face. Allie Shelby had definitely changed in the years he’d been away. Someone like her coming on to someone like him? Didn’t add up.
    What kind of game was she playing—princess and the peasant?
    She wasn’t laughing. Not a smile. Not a smirk.
    The jab was low in his belly this time.
    She was serious.
    To think he’d imagined life would be predictable, almost dull, living in his hometown. So far, this woman was anything but dull.
    He cleared his throat to buy time. Was his body interested? Hell , yeah. Should his brain even consider going to bed with Allie Shelby? Hell , no. “Ah. Huh. Well.” He rubbed his forehead and tried again. “I just wanted to talk about BB.” Great , dumb ass. Now she’d jump down from his truck and walk away without looking back.
    She had the cheek to laugh, a soft sound he felt all the way to the bone. “If you’re concerned I’m shirking, don’t worry. I’m not trying to use the barter system.”
    Smooth , Wright. Accuse her of trading her body to avoid paying for repairs. His only excuse was that when she’d mentioned having sex, all the blood drained straight from his brain to his dick.
    He could deal with a random boner. With Allie. With this whole, damned surreal situation. “I’m flattered by the...uh...offer.” Hell, now he sounded like he was turning down a new job. “To hell with it. I’d be an idiot to refuse that incredibly tempting offer.”
    “But?”
    “With my family’s history with your dad, it wouldn’t be smart for you and me to get involved.” He’d already told himself she wasn’t anything he was looking for in a woman, but his balls were going to kick his ass for turning her down.
    “I’m not suggesting you become his son-in-law. We’re just talking about sex.”
    Words that would’ve thrilled him a few years ago jabbed like an elbow to the chest instead. Dammit, he’d been to bed with plenty of women when no one wanted more than a good time between the sheets. But what had happened in Austin was supposed to stay in Austin.
    Maybe he’d misunderstood. “No strings?”
    “None. Other than I won’t see other men while I’m having sex with you. I expect the same courtesy. If you can’t promise that, we’ll pretend we never had this conversation.” Allie fiddled with the hem on her shorts, drawing his attention to the sticky Popsicle juice smearing the freckles on her thighs. “Look, I’m attracted to you, but I won’t be offended if you don’t feel the same.”
    Her words cut in on his fantasy of licking up every drop of grape juice from her legs. Playing a sexy game of dot-to-dot with those pale freckles. Did they end at the tops of her thighs or would he find them even higher?
    Another rush of blood surged below his belt. He was officially losing it. This day had started out a mess, and taking Allie up on her offer of a casual relationship would either make it better or more chaotic. Problem was, he wouldn’t know which until he said yes.
    “Princess, attraction isn’t the problem.” Crap, he hadn’t meant to blurt that out. But truth was truth. Even wearing shapeless soccer shorts and beat-up tennis shoes, Allie was sexier than other women in tight skirts and high heels. The way she was dressed, her hair in a ponytail and smears of dirt on her face and legs, should’ve made her look like a twelve-year-old boy. What she looked like, though, was a woman who wouldn’t be afraid of being mussed up by steamy, sweaty sex.
    Who would’ve thought the pretty little princess of Shelbyville had it in her?
    Getting involved with her was a bad idea. His head knew it. But his dick and the rest of his body hadn’t