Heart of Dixie - Tami Hoag (1) by Tami Hoag Read Free Book Online Page B

Fontaine. There had been men before, yes, but they had never kissed the real Dixie. They had kissed an ideal of womanhood and left the woman inside alone and lonely. But Jake Gannon wasn't kissing an ideal. His lips were on hers and it felt so good she never wanted it to end.

    Jake pulled back slowly, feeling as stunned as Dixie looked. Just a little kiss. That was all it was supposed to have been. A little kiss to satisfy his curiosity. But he felt a long way from satisfied. He felt charged, primed, hot. There was such a cloud of steam in his brain, for a moment he couldn't remember what he was even doing here beyond getting wild for a lady tow truck driver. He felt as if he'd been hit in the head with a brick. All because of one simple little kiss with a woman he had told himself he wasn't really attracted to.

    Maybe he'd been wrong. "You kissed me," Dixie said accusingly, lifting two fingers to touch her bottom lip.

    Jake met her suspicious look with his best poker face. "Yes."

    "Why?"

    "Because." He wasn't about to tell her he didn't know why. A man didn't admit such things to a woman, particularly one familiar with firearms.

    "That's not a reason," Dixie said irritably. So much for her moment of romantic fantasy. She had obviously just been the handy recipient of a hormonal surge. How flattering. That ranked right up there with being a pal. "Maybe you can go around California just kissing women for no good reason, but that won't wash around here. You'll get yourself punched in the nose, or worse."

    Jake scowled. "Jeez, it was just a kiss. Don't make a big federal case out of it. Did I make a big deal when you pulled that cannon on me?"

    "Oh, for Pete's sake, I didn't shoot it," she snapped. "It doesn't even have bullets in it. You think I'd go waving a loaded gun around? What kind of a person do you take me for?" He arched a brow sardonically. "Is that a rhetorical question? Because if it's not I should probably plead the Fifth."

    "Oh, thank you very much!"

    Dixie turned and faced forward, crossing her arms over her chest, a fine red mist swimming before her narrowed eyes. "I suppose you just got all wound up thinking about Devon Stafford and since there wasn't a blond goddess handy you settled for me," she grumbled, fighting the hurt and fueling it at the same time.

    Jake muttered a few choice words under his breath and shook his head. How on earth had he gotten himself into this mess? He was a calm, coolheaded, orderly person. He lived an orderly, regimented life. Two hours with Dixie had him feeling as if he'd been thrown in a clothes dryer and tumbled on heavy duty. He shook his head in disbelief.

    "I'd better go check in," he said, not moving.

    "I guess," Dixie mumbled, biting her lip. The jerk. The least he could have done was deny her charge.

    "Do you know where I can find the manager?"

    "Yep."

    "Where?" She heaved a sigh of enormous proportions. "You're lookin' at her."

    Jake blinked and his brows lowered as yet another curveball came sailing his way. "But you're the tow truck driver."

    "It's a small town. We tend to double up on jobs. I'm a plumber sometimes, too. You wanna make something of it?"

    A little quiver of embarrassment went through her and Dixie silently cursed herself. She didn't have anything to be embarrassed about. There was nothing wrong with her driving a tow truck or unclogging drains. Those were perfectly honorable professions. It was just that she had the sudden yearning for Jake Gannon to see her as something other than the town handyman. She wanted him to look at her and see something other than a good sport and a pal with grease on her nose. She wanted him to see a woman. And worse yet, she wanted him to see a desirable woman.

    What was the matter with her? Hadn't she left all that behind? Hadn't she shed the need to be what other people thought of as perfect or desirable? Hadn't she sworn to just be herself, just plain old Dixie La Fontaine, to let people take her as