Don't Let Go by Marliss Melton Page A

have known you’d meddle.”
    “Hold on,” Solomon ordered. “I’m the one paying you, remember?”
    “Look,” said Jordan fiercely, rolling to her feet. He took a cautionary step back as she confronted him, going nose to nose. “You were the expert at swimming lessons, right? Well, I’m the expert in my field, which is teaching children to read. Either you allow me to do this my way, or I’m out of here. Now, which is it?”
    Beholding her flushed face, the defiant thrust of her chin, he completely forgot his quarrel. His gaze slid to the creamy length of her neck and the swell of her breasts beneath her peach-colored tank top. “You do have a point,” he acceded.
Two of them, actually.
    “Yes, I do. I backed away on the swimming lessons. You can back away now and every lesson from here on. Do we have a deal?”
    He couldn’t wait to see her naked from the waist up. “Deal,” he finally agreed. “Maybe you could show me a trick or two with that can of whipped cream,” he added.
    “Maybe I could,” she agreed, with a gleam in her eye. She swiveled suddenly and snatched it up, shaking the can threateningly.
    He didn’t know if she would actually spray the stuff on him, but the idea was so enticing that he snared her hand under his and turned the can against her, shooting a ribbon of cream across her lips.
    She gasped in shock, and with a chuckle, he took advantage of her open mouth to steal a kiss, the way he’d stolen one last night, anticipating the same explosive reaction he’d gotten then. To his delight, her mouth tasted even sweeter.
    Calling him a blistering name against his lips, she gave in with a shudder, put her slender weight into him, and opened her mouth to his devouring.
    Ah, yes!
The grass under his feet was tipping, the world was reeling. The blood roared in his veins so loudly that he was barely cognizant of Silas tearing toward him with envelopes flapping in one hand, shouting, “How fast am I?”
    He had to tear his lips from Jordan’s to confer with his watch. “One minute ten seconds,” he rasped.
    She wanted him, there wasn’t any question.
    But then she stiffened and thrust herself out of his arms. He watched her totter and push a strand of reddish hair from her face. “Silas, I have to go now,” she announced, disappointing him. “But I’ll come back tomorrow.”
    Solomon’s confidence returned.
    “You did very well today,” she added, addressing only the boy, avoiding Solomon’s gaze. “I can tell you’re a smart big boy.”
    With a proud grin, Silas thrust the mail at Solomon while Jordan hurriedly jammed her Tupperware and canteen back into the basket.
    “Can I climb that tree?” Silas asked, pointing to a live oak growing near the shore.
    Distracted, Solomon nodded. “Go ahead.” As the boy scampered off, Jordan hefted the basket with one hand and snatched up the garbage bag with the other. “I’ll take that,” said Solomon, wresting it from her. He fell into step as she turned and hurried up the hill. He waited for her to say something about their obvious, sizzling chemistry.
    But she said nothing, marching up the hill like he wasn’t even there.
    He fell back on their mutual concern for Silas. “Is he really smart, or were you just saying that?” he asked.
    She cast him a harried glance. “I only had an hour with him, but I can tell he’s very bright.”
    “Good,” said Solomon, pleased to have his own opinion confirmed.
    “But I can’t guarantee he’ll be reading before school,” Jordan repeated. “Look,” she added, pausing beside him as he dropped the garbage in a receptacle at the back of the big house. “I don’t mean to sound rude or anything, but I think it’s best if I meet with Silas in a public place, like a library or something.”
    He gently lowered the lid of the garbage bin. Those were not the words he’d expected. “Why?” he asked.
    She colored fiercely, having difficulty holding his gaze. “I don’t need to be