Dangerous Lover by MAGGIE SHAYNE

should be clothes in the dresser,” she said. “Pajamas.”
    â€œI sleep in my—” He broke off there, thinking hard, trying to remember what he wore to bed, but there was only a big black hole.
    â€œOh, come on. Finish it,” she said. “You sleep in your….”
    â€œI think I was going to say shorts, but uh, I lost it.”
    â€œYou stopped to think and chased it away. You need to work on shutting up your inner censor.”
    â€œEasier said than done. But I do agree with your point.”
    â€œSo we’ll work on it.”
    He nodded, arranged the blankets and pillow on his cot, and then, left with nothing much more to do, reached for the button of his jeans.
    Her sharp, interested eyes followed his every movement. The way they flickered when focused on his lower abs and button fly let him know what she wanted. Why she was fighting it so hard, he didn’t know. But he supposed he could wait, as long as he could keep her from getting too sappy about the whole thing.
    He unbuttoned. He unzipped. Slow. Teasing her.
    She licked her lips, then turned her head away. “I’m going to go get ready for bed.”
    â€œOkay.”
    â€œBe right back.”
    â€œSure.”
    After that she left the room. He heard her moving around in the other room. Knew she was going through her backpack, probably finding whatever she’d brought to sleep in and putting it on. Or maybe locating some hidden weapon to use on him later. He heard the pump handle squeaking as she drew water, heard her brushing her teeth.
    He managed to school his attention back to his own needs, but not without a hell of an effort. He zipped his jeans up again, put his borrowed shirt back on.
    When he walked into the living room, she was wearing what she’d brought to sleep in: a ribbed pink tank top with a nightcap-clad teddy bear on the front, and a pair of very short pink shorts to match. The top didn’t come down all the way to the bottoms, which snugged around her hips pretty low, leaving her middle enticingly bare. He tried telling himself he’d seen her wearing far less, but that didn’t reduce the reaction any. And the silver ring in her belly button just about made him moan out loud. Damn, the woman was hot.
    Long legs, unclothed. Bare feet that made him want to make her cute little toes curl up in sheer, unrestrained pleasure. He couldn’t remember having sex before, but he knew he had, and he knew he liked it. He kind of had the feeling it was something he did well. Something he was good at. And he hoped that wasn’t a bad case of wishful thinking. He couldn’t wait to find out.
    It took him a full minute even to notice that she’d pulled her silvery-blond angel’s hair back into a ponytail and smeared some kind of white goop on her face.
    He met her eyes. They peered out at him from that goop-covered face, and he grinned at her. “What is that, some kind of Witch’s potion? The secret to eternal youth and beauty?”
    â€œYeah. It’s made of toadstools, eye of newt and the testicles of a righteous man.”
    He lifted his brows, only half sure she was kidding.
    â€œIt’s a soy-based moisturizing lotion with oatmeal, Cory. I bought it at Body-Bliss.” She held up the bottle so he could see it clearly, then set it down and took up the washcloth she’d been holding, and gently washed most of the stuff away.
    When she’d finished, a little dot of white remained on her cheek, and he reached up to press his fingertips there, a very slight caress. “Missed a spot,” he said, letting his touch linger. She closed her eyes, and he doubted it was voluntary, but seeing it, that much of a physical, sensory reaction to so slight a touch, made him aware of how responsive she would be to other, more intimate contact.
    He moved just a little closer, felt her breath stuttering out of her mouth, and touching his, and then he lost his