Suddenly Sexy by Linda Francis Lee Page B

head and
opened his mouth over her breast. Her head swam as his hands slid low,
cupping her hips, pressing her against his need.

"God, you're beautiful," he whispered reverently. "Beautiful and pure."

Then all of a sudden he froze. After a second, he tore himself away.
One minute she felt the hardness of him against her, his hands and
mouth exploring her intimately, then the next he set her aside with a
feral groan.

His breathing was deep and labored, and his eyes narrowed as he grabbed
her shirt and pulled it over her head, then tugged her arms through the
holes as if she were a child. "You've got to leave," he said. Nothing
more.

"But—"

"Damn it, Katie, get the hell out of here."

That day she had been upset and mortified when she raced out of Jesse's
room and had run straight into Derek.

"Kate? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," she answered, tears spilling over, before she hurried out
of the house.

Two hours later she'd been crushed when Jesse showed up at the wedding
with not one date, but two. Both of the women glowed with the same kind
of passion and fire her mother cast out. Kate had felt betrayed when he
hadn't even said hello—then devastated when after angry words with
Derek, Jesse
had taken his dates and left.

Kate swallowed now, all these years later, when Jesse took a step
toward her in the guesthouse. She
took a step back, bumping into a
small table. The memory of him always did battle with the man he
had
become. Sinful, but still incredible. Wild, but she couldn't deny that
he had stepped up to his responsibilities to his son. As always, he was
a mix that was hard to understand.

He kicked off his boat shoes one by one. Her heart surged and her pulse
rushed through her veins.

She cleared her throat. "I realize that you're to be commended for
taking care of Travis. But I hope
you'll give him more than simply a
place to stay. He is dying for a scrap of your attention. He deserves
that from you."

"I'm going to send him to golf school."

"I'm talking about giving him some of your time."

He inhaled sharply, raking his hands through his hair. "You might look
sexy as hell in those workout clothes—"

This time she inhaled sharply.

"—but you're still a pain in the ass," he added with a mix of
irritation and bemusement.

"I'm only trying to point out what's right," she managed to say. "Is it
so bad to have high expectations?"

She could tell he took pity on her when he smiled. "No, little Katie,
it isn't. But I didn't come back here
to be parented by you, or to be a
parent. I'm going to take care of Travis while his mother gets settled.
But that's it. So don't
try to make this trip something that it isn't."

"Then what is this trip about?"

He didn't answer. His gaze drifted to her lips as he took the last step
that separated them, bringing them close enough that if he wanted to,
he could touch her. His shirt was gone, only his shorts separating him
from the way he looked that day when she had walked into his bedroom.

Despite every warning, heat raced through her, centering at her core,
hot enough that she felt the need to press her legs together against
the thought of what she wanted him to do to her. Touch her. Kiss her.
Finish what they had started five years ago.

She would have closed her eyes as she sucked in a breath of
anticipation if his burning gaze hadn't been locked with hers.

But she didn't think she could take it if he touched her again, then
left. It had taken her five long years to hammer her life into an order
that didn't revolve around the hope that one day they would end up
together.

"Listen," she blurted. "Whatever the reason is that you came back, it's
time we spelled out in plain
English what the deal is while you're
staying here."

"The deal?"

With effort, she planted her hands on her hips and did her best to look
authoritative and commanding. "No sex. There isn't going to be any sex
between us."

"Interesting. Why's that?" One dark brow rose in challenge, his