Jennings was a gentleman. If his mother and father knew what was going on in his head, they’d kick his ass up and down the rural highway that separated their houses, because he was feeling anything but gentlemanly in Maggie’s presence.

The floorboards creaked in his old farmhouse as she approached the stairs. He lost the ability to breathe as he watched Maggie descend.

She was wearing a little black dress, her hair unbound for the first time in his presence. Curling waves of chestnut hair spread around her shoulders. Jennings wanted to draw his fingers through the strands as he kissed those full lips of hers senseless. As she approached, he was fairly sure she wore little to no makeup. She was beautiful enough without it, and he was glad to see her nearly natural.

But that was the way she was.

There was no artifice about her. In his experience, women like her were high maintenance and fake. Not Maggie. What you saw was what you got—a beautiful ball of nervous energy who sometimes talked too much. Luckily he loved the lyrical sound of her voice, and even if she talked too much, it all sounded good to him.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she smiled. “Do I look okay for this little honky tonk?”

You look too good for that little honky tonk. “You look fine.”

“Fine? I was hoping for a little better than fine,” she said, obviously fishing a little for a compliment.

Jennings wasn’t sure if he should let her hook him. If he opened up, the truth would come spilling out. “You look … good.”

Maggie frowned and lifted a foot to adjust the black heels on her feet. They added at least five inches to her nearly six-foot height and brought her closer to kissing distance. Kissing distance? He needed to get thoughts like that out of his head.

Her scent hit him then. A perfume she’d never worn before mingled with her own fragrance and made him clench his fists to prevent him from grabbing her then and there. Jennings wanted to nuzzle against her neck, just under her ear, and inhale the smell deep in his lungs, all while pulling her close against his hard body.

Instead he opened the door for her and let her pass, that perfume tickling his nose as she sauntered past.

And saunter she did. Those heels made her body sway in an alluring way. Her perfect, round ass tempted him as she walked to his truck ahead of him. Jennings opened the door for her and helped her up, the touch of her fingers on his electrifying.

Inside his truck it was worse. He was trapped inside with her so close, yet so far away, her smell taunting him. Jennings began to count the county mile markers, trying to avoid thinking about her and how much he wanted to touch her.

He’d seen her legs in running shorts, but somehow it was different with her in a dress, those fuck me heels doing incredible things to her calves. Jennings wanted to trace the curves of her body, starting at those calves.

Maggie crossed her legs as he watched. He lifted his gaze to the road and had to correct his path as he was nearing the edge of the road.

A month now she’d entranced him, pulling him into her web. Tonight she was going for the kill. She’d seduced him without ever trying, her feminine wiles calling to the male in him.

“So how far is this place we’re going?” she asked, the pitch to her voice a little higher than normal. Did she sense how desperately he wanted her?

Jennings let his heartbeat calm a little before answering. “Not far.”

“And you said they don’t dance at all there?”

“No. It depends on the band,” he answered.

“Will there be a lot of people?” she asked, the beginning of another of her rounds of twenty questions.

“We’ll have to wait ‘til we get there and see.”

Maggie was quiet a moment. “Getting information out of you is like pulling teeth, I swear. It’s exhausting.”

Jennings grinned inwardly. “You ask, I answer.”

“With as little detail as possible,” she responded. “I had figured you would’ve opened up a little more by now.”

He shrugged, knowing he couldn’t open up to her, unless he was ready to see where it would land them.