Beautiful Innocence by Kelly Mooney Read Free Book Online

parking lot, he throws his car into park and drops his head onto the steering wheel, but turns slowly to look at me and I can see the desire he has for me in his eyes. “Let me walk you in.”
    “You don’t have to.”
    He sighs heavily as he hops out. “Yeah, I do. Let’s go.”
    As I come around to the front of his car he grabs my hand, halting me. “Ava, I think we could make this work if you could just try a little, but I’m not gonna push you. But, I promise to keep my eye on you when I can. Just promise me that you’ll come to me if you need anything at all. Okay?”
    I close my eyes as he pulls me softly to him and nod into his chest at his sweet words. If only? “Deal,” I assure him.
    Sundays are extremely slow so I’ve been granted the day off to go shopping. Aunt Angie even lent me her truck without asking me about a license. I don’t have one, but she doesn’t need to know that. My ride is probably older than I am, but at least it gets me here. She wanted to take me to the mall, but I flat out refused. Even with her being as sweet as she has, I’m too ashamed to have her come with me. She’s giving me so much already that I don’t want to take her charity, too. And quite frankly, rummaging through sales rack after sales rack isn’t much fun when you have no money to spend.
    There are only two stores that I can afford in the mall on my measly budget, and sadly I wouldn’t be caught dead in what they have to offer. So I hop back into her truck an hour later and cross over to a strip mall with discount stores.
    I’m on my knees skimming through the lowest rack of panties when I get a whiff of men’s cologne and the sharp intake of his breath. I freeze, knowing someone is behind me and consider climbing inside the rack to hide.
    “I like the pink ones.” A very rough, sensual voice whispers in my ear. I’m afraid to turn, but that smooth tone rings a bell, so I make the move and look over my shoulder. And looming over me is my sexy as hell temptation, otherwise known as Joshua Woods, and he’s breathing his warm breath down my neck, making my thighs ache. Which is a new feeling for me since no one has ever made my thighs ache before. I wasn’t even aware that they could. Startled by this new feeling, I go to get up, but his strong hands come down and push on my shoulders, keeping me in place. “Don’t stand. I like you on your knees.”
    I gasp at his audacity, dropping my mouth open immediately at his vulgarity. Never has anyone ever spoken to me like that before, well, that’s not true, but no one that I like hearing it from. I swallow hard. “Excuse me?”
    He bends over completely and my breathing is starting to become erratic at his closeness. He reaches down and grabs the pink pair from the rack. “I’ll buy these for you if you forgive my mouth. It has a mind of it’s own.”
    I pluck them out of his grip. “I can get my own panties, Joshua.”
    He grumbles, standing up immediately.
    I want him to come back down once he stands. His eyes flick over to my cart. “Is that all you’re buying?”
    I look nervously from him to the cart and back to him, unsure of why he’s asking. “Yeah, why?”
    He shakes his head slightly. “There’s a plastic chair up front that has my name on it. Go pick at least a weeks worth of outfits and then come find me so I can pay.”
    “What?” I almost shout. I’m stumped at his offer, but it’s sweet nonetheless. Or maybe I should be insulted. What does he really want?
    When he leans in the hair on his chin grazes my cheek. His mouth settles next to my ear. I can hear my own heartbeat thumping away so clearly that he must know what he’s doing to me. “You’ve been wearing the same clothes for two weeks. I want to do this for you.”
    I swing around so swiftly I land right into his hard chest. I want to stay there forever when his arms come around and he grabs my hips. His fingers dig in forcefully like he’s trying to restrain himself,