Bare for You: Outback Skies, Book 3 by Lexxie Couper Read Free Book Online Page B

Linda.
    Jeremy’s pulse thumped fast and hard.
    His assistant’s answer to the question of whether Ryan was discreet was just one word.
    “Very.”
    His mouth went dry. His chest grew heavy. Tight. So did his groin. More so.
    Oh boy.
    “Jeremy?”
    At Ryan’s murmur of his name, he jerked his head up, snapping his stare from the message on his phone to the man’s rugged, handsome face.
    “I’ll see you at the Outback Skies pub in ninety minutes,” he said. “The first shout’s on you.”
    Ryan grinned. The glint of white teeth behind his lips sent a lick of raw lust straight to Jeremy’s cock. “I’ll be waiting for you,” he said.
    There was no way Jeremy could miss the heat in the man’s voice.
    Frozen on his seat, he took in every inch of Ryan’s sun-kissed face. Every seam. Every inch of stubble. Every crinkle.
    He ached to reach out and touch that face. Ached to feel its weathered strength beneath his palm.
    He moved his stare to Ryan’s eyes. Found them ablaze with undeniable desire and want.
    His stomach clenched.
    With a slow intake of breath, his nostrils flaring, Ryan turned and looked out the windscreen. “I think you need to get out of the chopper now, Minister.” A strangled huskiness filled his voice. “Before I do something to you not suitable for public viewing.”
    Jeremy groaned. His cock throbbed. “Ryan…”
    Ryan moved, faster than any man Jeremy had ever met. One second he was staring out at the Wallaby Ridge’s empty runway, the next he was fisting his hand in the hair at the back of Jeremy’s head, his lips taking utter possession of Jeremy’s, his tongue doing the same with equal greed.
    And then he wasn’t.
    In the split second it took Jeremy’s body and brain to register the sheer savagery and perfection of Ryan’s kiss, it was over.
    “I’ll see you in ninety minutes,” Ryan growled, his jaw bunching, his chest heaving. “Outback Skies pub.”
    He swung open the chopper’s door and climbed out before Jeremy could reply.
    The thudding jar of the door slamming shut shuddered through Jeremy’s body. He sat in the passenger seat, watching Ryan stride across the runway and disappear into the small building that was the town’s airport terminal.
    His lips still tingled from Ryan’s abrupt kiss. His balls throbbed with denied need and hunger.
    He couldn’t move. All he could do was sit and replay the last few moments over and over again.
    The invitation for a drink, the need for public appearances, the open lust in Ryan’s gaze, the kiss…
    Dropping his stare to his iPhone still in his hand, he activated the messaging app and stabbed out a text to Linda. “Be ready.”
    “For what?” Came back the reply not even a second after he’d hit send.
    He drew in a long, deep breath, studying those two words. For what indeed?
    Without responding, he shoved his mobile back into his pocket and climbed out of Ryan’s helicopter.
    “G’day, Minister,” Matt Corvin, the doctor who was taking him on the tour of the Royal Flying Doctors Service called from the edge of the runway, just as Jeremy’s feet hit the red-dirt coated tarmac. “Ready for the next part of your visit to the Ridge?”
    Jeremy found himself snorting.
    God, if only he was.
    “Why—” Charlie Baynard dropped into the seat opposite Ryan and folded his arms over his sizeable chest, his unwavering stare locked on Ryan’s face, “—do I get the feeling you’re hiding something from me?”
    Ryan didn’t rise to the bait. Instead, he returned his focus to his beer—now lukewarm and most likely flat—and remained silent.
    Jesus, he’d kissed the minister for the arts and culture out in public. He’d kissed a man who was still completely in the closet. He’d kissed a man who was never going to come out of the closet. Not without destroying his political career.
    “Oi.” Charlie nudged his foot under the table. “What’s going on, mate?”
    “Tell me something, Baynard,” Ryan said without