appropriate?’
Right at the moment, he seemed to think it was appropriate to draw her hand onto his lap. His face filled her vision as he maintained an apparently effortless grip on her eyes. She felt him separate each digit individually as he spread her fingers out against the hard warm flesh of his thigh.
The hunger curled low in her belly became urgent; she exhaled in a series of short, sharp breaths.
‘I thought you wanted to get rid of me,’ she mumbled.
‘That was before.’
Before I made myself out to be an easy sexual target…? It was a humiliating but pretty obvious conclusion to draw.
‘Aren’t you afraid this isn’t all part of my master plan to get you up the aisle?’
He dismissed her spiky words with a tolerant, almost caressing smile. ‘I don’t think this situation is the sort of thing you can plan for. I think that’s what’s bothering you most.’
Kat could have told him how completely wrong he was about that, only the telling would have involved explaining that at that precise moment the male scent of his skin was the single most bothersome factor in her life. It was probably a bit late in the day to be wise and cautious, but she kept her mouth shut anyhow.
‘When I said before, it evens things up…’
‘D…Did you?’ she stammered.
‘Did you understand what I meant?’
Kat didn’t understand anything! She shook her head and felt her wet hair slither down her back; the sodden weight of it felt cold against her overheated skin. ‘This isn’t supposed to be happening.’
She watched in a bemused fashion as a smile that managed to combine ferocity with tenderness slowly curved his deliciously sensuous lips.
‘This sort of thing happens all the time, Blondie.’
Kat gulped. Compared to this, drowning had been a bit of light relief! She was so far gone it didn’t even occur to pick him up on the ‘Blondie’!
‘Not to me it doesn’t.’ She had responded without thinking…so what was new?
Matt picked up a hank of darkened blonde hair and rubbed the silky wet texture between his thumb and forefinger before brushing the tip teasingly against the tip of her chin.
‘You feel embarrassed…’
Kat could hear a definite hint of hysteria in her bitter laugh. ‘You could say that,’ she croaked hoarsely. ‘And so will you,’ she predicted, ‘if you think I want you to do this.’
He had an infuriating habit of ignoring anything he didn’t want to hear.
‘Embarrassed because you told me you felt aroused. Men don’t always have the luxury of disguising the fact they are aroused.’ He watched her lusciously fringed eyes widen as the implication of what he said dawned on her. ‘Especially when they’re dressed the way I am,’ he elaborated with a complete lack of self-consciousness. ‘That’s what I meant when I said it evens things up. I’m not lying to spare your feelings,’ he promised. ‘You can check if you like.’
A soft whimper emerged from her dry throat. The thought of what checking would involve had sent her heart-rate into overdrive! The eerie, echoing pounding against her eardrums of her own hormones rushing around her body was almost deafening. And, to make matters worse, her eyes, which up to this point had been firmly glued to his face, now showed a lamentable tendency to wander. If she allowed them to plot their own route Kat didn’t need to be psychic to figure out where they’d end up!
A few seconds before, she’d have sworn it wasn’t possible to be more conscious of where her fingers lay. She had been wrong—big-time! She froze; the only safe thing to do was not move at all. That way there was no chance anything she did could be misconstrued.
‘Pretty nurses…bed baths…every young and not so young man’s nightmare, I would think.’
‘It hasn’t been mine…until now, if you know what I mean.’
She wasn’t in the mood for twenty questions. ‘I don’t,’ she said shortly as she nervously dabbed the beads of moisture
Right at the moment, he seemed to think it was appropriate to draw her hand onto his lap. His face filled her vision as he maintained an apparently effortless grip on her eyes. She felt him separate each digit individually as he spread her fingers out against the hard warm flesh of his thigh.
The hunger curled low in her belly became urgent; she exhaled in a series of short, sharp breaths.
‘I thought you wanted to get rid of me,’ she mumbled.
‘That was before.’
Before I made myself out to be an easy sexual target…? It was a humiliating but pretty obvious conclusion to draw.
‘Aren’t you afraid this isn’t all part of my master plan to get you up the aisle?’
He dismissed her spiky words with a tolerant, almost caressing smile. ‘I don’t think this situation is the sort of thing you can plan for. I think that’s what’s bothering you most.’
Kat could have told him how completely wrong he was about that, only the telling would have involved explaining that at that precise moment the male scent of his skin was the single most bothersome factor in her life. It was probably a bit late in the day to be wise and cautious, but she kept her mouth shut anyhow.
‘When I said before, it evens things up…’
‘D…Did you?’ she stammered.
‘Did you understand what I meant?’
Kat didn’t understand anything! She shook her head and felt her wet hair slither down her back; the sodden weight of it felt cold against her overheated skin. ‘This isn’t supposed to be happening.’
She watched in a bemused fashion as a smile that managed to combine ferocity with tenderness slowly curved his deliciously sensuous lips.
‘This sort of thing happens all the time, Blondie.’
Kat gulped. Compared to this, drowning had been a bit of light relief! She was so far gone it didn’t even occur to pick him up on the ‘Blondie’!
‘Not to me it doesn’t.’ She had responded without thinking…so what was new?
Matt picked up a hank of darkened blonde hair and rubbed the silky wet texture between his thumb and forefinger before brushing the tip teasingly against the tip of her chin.
‘You feel embarrassed…’
Kat could hear a definite hint of hysteria in her bitter laugh. ‘You could say that,’ she croaked hoarsely. ‘And so will you,’ she predicted, ‘if you think I want you to do this.’
He had an infuriating habit of ignoring anything he didn’t want to hear.
‘Embarrassed because you told me you felt aroused. Men don’t always have the luxury of disguising the fact they are aroused.’ He watched her lusciously fringed eyes widen as the implication of what he said dawned on her. ‘Especially when they’re dressed the way I am,’ he elaborated with a complete lack of self-consciousness. ‘That’s what I meant when I said it evens things up. I’m not lying to spare your feelings,’ he promised. ‘You can check if you like.’
A soft whimper emerged from her dry throat. The thought of what checking would involve had sent her heart-rate into overdrive! The eerie, echoing pounding against her eardrums of her own hormones rushing around her body was almost deafening. And, to make matters worse, her eyes, which up to this point had been firmly glued to his face, now showed a lamentable tendency to wander. If she allowed them to plot their own route Kat didn’t need to be psychic to figure out where they’d end up!
A few seconds before, she’d have sworn it wasn’t possible to be more conscious of where her fingers lay. She had been wrong—big-time! She froze; the only safe thing to do was not move at all. That way there was no chance anything she did could be misconstrued.
‘Pretty nurses…bed baths…every young and not so young man’s nightmare, I would think.’
‘It hasn’t been mine…until now, if you know what I mean.’
She wasn’t in the mood for twenty questions. ‘I don’t,’ she said shortly as she nervously dabbed the beads of moisture
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