picking up a few of the bars. And then a few more. A smile started to curl the corners of his lips. “A lot.”
“They had all these flavors!”
Just that hint of amusement did the most amazing things to his mouth—easing the pressure that firm upper lip kept on the full, sensual lower one. Letting a hint escape of how much sensuality was there waiting to be freed. That lower lip, when the upper one relaxed, looked—vulnerable. Erotic. Looked like something a woman could lick and nibble and…
Stop it already.
His smile deepened, and he rose, setting the bars on top of the table. “I think you pierced my eardrums. Merde , but you’ve got a voice on you.”
Ah...yes. That had been commented on before.
He reached out a hand for her, and she hesitated one second to gaze at the size and strength of it before she put her hand in his. It closed with just the right firmness, entirely engulfing hers as he pulled her easily to her feet.
She sighed, gazing up at him. He didn’t look the least bit grumpy now. Intrigued, alert, ready. But…there was a gentleness to that alertness, a patience. He didn’t move in on her with that big body. She could tell he wanted to. But he let her keep the corner of the table between them.
“I think you’d better give me your key to this house,” she said regretfully.
Oops. She had meant to say that firmly.
That smile warmed the brown of his eyes to the most amazing color, rich with gold. “I’ll leave the door unlocked on mine.”
Hey. She started to blush. “That will not be necessary.”
He laughed out loud, and pleasure leaped through her, to have made the grumpy bear laugh. “No, it will be something a lot more fun than necessary.”
She put her hands on her hips. “Seriously. Don’t leave your door open. I’m not coming.”
“All right, Bouclettes . I got it. You didn’t mean to go that far.” He moved away to turn on the faucet and let it run a moment, checking under the sink. Then he nodded and started packing up his tools. A little color showed on his strong cheekbones and a little smile still curved his mouth while he cleaned up, just this sexy, happy curl.
She liked it.
Of course, she liked the scowl, too. It made her want to poke him and pet him and see how easy it would be to make that scowl disappear.
Men with hot bodies had it so easy where women were concerned, she thought with a sigh of despair at herself. They could get away with just about anything as long as they flexed their muscles from time to time. She’d burned herself on a couple of hook-ups like that before, post performance at a festival, when everyone who had been on stage was feeling kind of high with the glory of it, all wide open from having poured their hearts out to the crowd. But then you woke up in the morning wondering what the hell you had done, and why you had been so careless with your own heart. The music circuit was a small world, and you ran into those guys again, and saw them hooking up with some other high-on-performance woman, and…yeah, it felt crappy.
In other words, if starting something with him was her subconscious way of avoiding working on that album, it was a really bad idea. Oddly, though, she didn’t feel as if she was avoiding the album. She actually kind of wanted to sit down and play with bass notes all evening. Drift some silken sweet sounds over them like a fall of petals. Let the breeze from the pines blow through. See what happened to them when night fell…
Matt glanced down at her as he headed out of the kitchen with his toolkit, his step slowing as if he might just stop and not leave. But he kept going. Outside the house, he set the toolkit down and turned to face her in the doorway.
“You still have the key,” she said.
He braced his hands on the doorjamb, on either side of her above her head. That moved him into her space—caging her in with his size, and all his body wide open to her. But of course, she could always take one step back and
“They had all these flavors!”
Just that hint of amusement did the most amazing things to his mouth—easing the pressure that firm upper lip kept on the full, sensual lower one. Letting a hint escape of how much sensuality was there waiting to be freed. That lower lip, when the upper one relaxed, looked—vulnerable. Erotic. Looked like something a woman could lick and nibble and…
Stop it already.
His smile deepened, and he rose, setting the bars on top of the table. “I think you pierced my eardrums. Merde , but you’ve got a voice on you.”
Ah...yes. That had been commented on before.
He reached out a hand for her, and she hesitated one second to gaze at the size and strength of it before she put her hand in his. It closed with just the right firmness, entirely engulfing hers as he pulled her easily to her feet.
She sighed, gazing up at him. He didn’t look the least bit grumpy now. Intrigued, alert, ready. But…there was a gentleness to that alertness, a patience. He didn’t move in on her with that big body. She could tell he wanted to. But he let her keep the corner of the table between them.
“I think you’d better give me your key to this house,” she said regretfully.
Oops. She had meant to say that firmly.
That smile warmed the brown of his eyes to the most amazing color, rich with gold. “I’ll leave the door unlocked on mine.”
Hey. She started to blush. “That will not be necessary.”
He laughed out loud, and pleasure leaped through her, to have made the grumpy bear laugh. “No, it will be something a lot more fun than necessary.”
She put her hands on her hips. “Seriously. Don’t leave your door open. I’m not coming.”
“All right, Bouclettes . I got it. You didn’t mean to go that far.” He moved away to turn on the faucet and let it run a moment, checking under the sink. Then he nodded and started packing up his tools. A little color showed on his strong cheekbones and a little smile still curved his mouth while he cleaned up, just this sexy, happy curl.
She liked it.
Of course, she liked the scowl, too. It made her want to poke him and pet him and see how easy it would be to make that scowl disappear.
Men with hot bodies had it so easy where women were concerned, she thought with a sigh of despair at herself. They could get away with just about anything as long as they flexed their muscles from time to time. She’d burned herself on a couple of hook-ups like that before, post performance at a festival, when everyone who had been on stage was feeling kind of high with the glory of it, all wide open from having poured their hearts out to the crowd. But then you woke up in the morning wondering what the hell you had done, and why you had been so careless with your own heart. The music circuit was a small world, and you ran into those guys again, and saw them hooking up with some other high-on-performance woman, and…yeah, it felt crappy.
In other words, if starting something with him was her subconscious way of avoiding working on that album, it was a really bad idea. Oddly, though, she didn’t feel as if she was avoiding the album. She actually kind of wanted to sit down and play with bass notes all evening. Drift some silken sweet sounds over them like a fall of petals. Let the breeze from the pines blow through. See what happened to them when night fell…
Matt glanced down at her as he headed out of the kitchen with his toolkit, his step slowing as if he might just stop and not leave. But he kept going. Outside the house, he set the toolkit down and turned to face her in the doorway.
“You still have the key,” she said.
He braced his hands on the doorjamb, on either side of her above her head. That moved him into her space—caging her in with his size, and all his body wide open to her. But of course, she could always take one step back and
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