Something About Joe by Kandy Shepherd Page A

herself that sex-without-strings wasn’t
a good idea, she forgot it as soon as she came within kissing
distance of Joe Martin.
    That now
familiar tremor of excitement seized her as she admired his long
denim-clad legs, the breadth of his powerful shoulders. She looked
at his mouth and remembered with a shudder of pleasure what it felt
like to kiss it.
    She wondered what he would do if she lay
down beside him and pressed her body against his, slid her hands
under his T-shirt and caressed his body, undid the heavy buckle of
his belt... Her nipples tingled at the thought.
    She knew if
she were to behave sensibly, she would wake him so he could go
home. But sensible was not what she wanted to be, past midnight,
and alone with Joe Martin.
     
     

CHAPTER SIX
    J oe was dreaming. It was a warm,
fuzzy dream, the edges blurred by a swirling kind of
mist.
    He was
walking along a beach with Allison; their bare feet gently washed
by curling, teasing little waves. He was holding her hand and, as
he squeezed it, he looked down at her and was almost blinded by the
look of passionate promise that shone from her eyes.
    He caught
his breath from the wonder of it, the exhilarating, joyous wonder
of it and squeezed her hand harder…
    He woke up to find himself gripping the arm
of a sofa. For a bewildering moment he didn’t know where he
was.
    But then he
saw her sitting at the other end of the sofa, her gorgeous legs
elegantly crossed. Her wonderful perfume wafted across to him. A
smile curved her lovely mouth, and her eyes were warm with an
emotion that echoed his dream.
    He must still be dreaming. He hadn’t woken
up at all.
    But the sofa
was hard and uncomfortable. He was definitely awake.
    And the
woman he’d been dreaming of making love to on a beach was just an
arm’s length away. He wanted to pull her to him and make the dream
a reality.
    But he’d
promised himself he wouldn’t touch her .
    He pushed
himself up into a seated position.
    “You’re home,” he said.
    “Yes,” she murmured.
    He stood up. She got up too.
    “You’ve caught me sleeping on the job,” he
said.
    “ No matter.
It’s very late. ”
    A spasm of jealousy racked him. He searched
over her shoulder. “Clive’s not with you?”
    “No,” she said.
    “Good,” he said. Then again. “Good.”
    He could see the delicate blue veins that
pulsed under the creamy skin of her throat. For the first time he
noticed her dainty ears and the dusting of tiny freckles across the
bridge of her small, straight nose.
    He noticed her glossy, red lipstick seemed
very intact. She hadn’t been kissed tonight.
    Yet.
    Her lips parted under his gaze and he saw
them tremble. The tip of her pink tongue darted out to moisten
them.
    His self-control was bursting at the
seams.
    “ Do you want
coffee?” he managed to get out. He could not look at that sweet
mouth, smell that alluring perfume, be as close to that curvaceous
body for a second longer or he wouldn’t be responsible for his
actions.
    “Hey, after midnight I’m boss of my own
kitchen,” she said. “I’ll fix you coffee. How do you take it?”
    “ B lack. Please.” He needed the
caffeine to keep him alert, so he wouldn’t be dazed into
insensibility by her closeness.
    He couldn’t take his eyes off her as she
sashayed into the kitchen. Was she deliberately swinging those
shapely hips to entice him? She turned her head back over her
shoulder and smiled at him, a sensuous curving of her lips.
    There was
something different about her tonight. A sassiness, a confidence.
He couldn’t put his finger on it. It perturbed him.
    Had Clive caused it? Jealousy cut through
him again. He couldn’t bear to think of her with another man.
    He followed
her into the kitchen. She was reaching above her to get coffee from
a cupboard. Her dress was pulled up to just below the curves of her
luscious bottom, revealing every inch of those long, long
legs.
    So she
wasn’t wearing stockings and garters. But her legs