asking for something more than an opportunity to spar with Elliot Graham on her behalf. But it wasn’t his entreaty that frightened her. It was the powerful, painful need inside her to say yes. To let him get that close would be the height of folly—for both of them. But she looked up into those Nordic-blue eyes and wanted … wanted so much, so badly. To be free of her past, free to have the kind of future that could include a man like Erik.
Silly
, the cynic in her sneered, sending her tender heart back into hiding. He wasn’t asking for a future, he was asking for a date. He was asking for a chance to prove himself by helping her. She would have to have been a fool to turn that down.
“You want your chance, Senator Gunther?” she said, her eyes sliding away from his to the green cinder-block rental office building. “Fine. You’ve got it.”
This wasn’t quite what I had in mind, Erik thought two nights later as he hoisted a drapery rod into place above the living room window. He’d been given his “chance,” all right—his chance to do manual labor from sunup to sundown. Lynn had worked him like a horse and watched him like a hawk, gauging his every word and action. She had let him prove himself with a hammer and nails, had used his interaction with the girls as a measure of his character. But, whether by chance or design, he hadn’t been given much of an opportunity to woo her.
They hadn’t had a moment alone. The days had been filled with work and worry, getting things settled in the house and dealing with the problemsbeing laid on Horizon by Elliot Graham’s Citizens for Family Neighborhoods. By the end of each day Lynn had looked so exhausted, Erik hadn’t had the heart to pursue her. His libido had taken a backseat to the need to simply comfort and hold her, but he hadn’t had the chance to do that either. It was getting damned frustrating.
He shot a look at her over his shoulder. “How’s this?”
Lynn stood back rubbing her chin, her expression grave as she considered the question of the drapery rod. She looked fresh and pretty in an apricot tank top and a filmy summer skirt that blossomed with blue and peach flowers. A wide leather belt accented her small waist and a pair of fine gold necklaces drew his gaze to the delicate hollow of her throat. This was the first time he’d seen her in something other than jeans and a T-shirt. The effect was wreaking havoc on his hormones.
“A little higher on the left,” she pronounced at last, shouting to be heard above the rock music blasting out of the boom box on the coffee table. Erik inched the rod up. She narrowed her eyes in scrutiny. Lillian was called into consultation. Tracy and Michelle joined the audience.
“I like it there.”
“I think it was better before.”
“I think the senator has a cute butt.”
Michelle and Tracy fell into giggles at Tracy’s proclamation. Erik felt his cheeks heat, but he wiggled his backside at them, drawing another round of giggles. What he hadn’t had to endure in the last two days during the course of toting, hammering, reaching, and lifting. The girls had lost whatever initial shyness they’d had and had progressed to teasing him the way they would have a big brother. His embarrassment threshold had been sorely trod upon, his male ego poked and prodded relentlessly.
His initial reaction had been an inclination to sternness, a desire to reprimand, but he’d held himself in check. This was Lynn’s territory, and she had raked him up one side and down the other the one time he had dared challenge her authority. Instead of asserting himself, he had decided to look at this as a test of his tolerance and an opportunity to gain insight into on-the-job sexual harassment.
He gritted his teeth as the muscles in his shoulders began to cramp, and he shot another look at Lynn. “Will this decision be made anytime in the next millennium? I’m hungry.”
“You’re always hungry,” Lynn countered, a
Silly
, the cynic in her sneered, sending her tender heart back into hiding. He wasn’t asking for a future, he was asking for a date. He was asking for a chance to prove himself by helping her. She would have to have been a fool to turn that down.
“You want your chance, Senator Gunther?” she said, her eyes sliding away from his to the green cinder-block rental office building. “Fine. You’ve got it.”
This wasn’t quite what I had in mind, Erik thought two nights later as he hoisted a drapery rod into place above the living room window. He’d been given his “chance,” all right—his chance to do manual labor from sunup to sundown. Lynn had worked him like a horse and watched him like a hawk, gauging his every word and action. She had let him prove himself with a hammer and nails, had used his interaction with the girls as a measure of his character. But, whether by chance or design, he hadn’t been given much of an opportunity to woo her.
They hadn’t had a moment alone. The days had been filled with work and worry, getting things settled in the house and dealing with the problemsbeing laid on Horizon by Elliot Graham’s Citizens for Family Neighborhoods. By the end of each day Lynn had looked so exhausted, Erik hadn’t had the heart to pursue her. His libido had taken a backseat to the need to simply comfort and hold her, but he hadn’t had the chance to do that either. It was getting damned frustrating.
He shot a look at her over his shoulder. “How’s this?”
Lynn stood back rubbing her chin, her expression grave as she considered the question of the drapery rod. She looked fresh and pretty in an apricot tank top and a filmy summer skirt that blossomed with blue and peach flowers. A wide leather belt accented her small waist and a pair of fine gold necklaces drew his gaze to the delicate hollow of her throat. This was the first time he’d seen her in something other than jeans and a T-shirt. The effect was wreaking havoc on his hormones.
“A little higher on the left,” she pronounced at last, shouting to be heard above the rock music blasting out of the boom box on the coffee table. Erik inched the rod up. She narrowed her eyes in scrutiny. Lillian was called into consultation. Tracy and Michelle joined the audience.
“I like it there.”
“I think it was better before.”
“I think the senator has a cute butt.”
Michelle and Tracy fell into giggles at Tracy’s proclamation. Erik felt his cheeks heat, but he wiggled his backside at them, drawing another round of giggles. What he hadn’t had to endure in the last two days during the course of toting, hammering, reaching, and lifting. The girls had lost whatever initial shyness they’d had and had progressed to teasing him the way they would have a big brother. His embarrassment threshold had been sorely trod upon, his male ego poked and prodded relentlessly.
His initial reaction had been an inclination to sternness, a desire to reprimand, but he’d held himself in check. This was Lynn’s territory, and she had raked him up one side and down the other the one time he had dared challenge her authority. Instead of asserting himself, he had decided to look at this as a test of his tolerance and an opportunity to gain insight into on-the-job sexual harassment.
He gritted his teeth as the muscles in his shoulders began to cramp, and he shot another look at Lynn. “Will this decision be made anytime in the next millennium? I’m hungry.”
“You’re always hungry,” Lynn countered, a
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