Read Online A Hero for Tonight by Roni Adams - Free Book Online Page A

Donovan, and here I am…what do you call me? Grouchy?”
    “Yep.”
    “Well, even I don’t think you look like a pit bull.” He reached out and sifted fingers through a strand of her hair. “Your eyes fascinate me. The color is so different. First I think they’re green, then they go brown, then gray.”
    She couldn’t breathe. Her heart beat so fast, she could barely hear over it. What the heck was happening? This was Shane, for crying out loud. She was getting a tug in her stomach and her pulse was speeding…because of Shane ?
    “It, uh, they tend to change depending on what color I’m wearing.”
    His fingers brushed her cheek. “Yeah, must be the sweater tonight. They are incredibly green.”
    Struggling against rubbing her cheek into his palm, she glanced at his full mouth and heard him suck in his breath. Her gaze lifted to his as he lowered his head toward her.
    A loud but short bell ring jerked her out of her trance.
    Shane stood up abruptly and grabbed his pocket as the cell phone chimed again.
    Her head nearly bumped his belt buckle before she jerked back against the chair.
    He didn’t share with her who texted him as he quickly returned a message and said aloud, “I better get going.”
    When he took a few steps back from her desk, she pushed to her feet. “Please don’t say anything to your mother about any of this. I still have a lot to sort out.”
    “I won’t.” Shane tucked the phone back in his pocket. “It’ll work itself out one way or the other.”
    She followed him back to the front door, her heart still racing at the realization that she and Shane had almost kissed a few seconds ago.
    He grabbed his jacket off the banister where he’d tossed it earlier. The familiar scent of his cologne filled her nostrils as he shrugged it on.
    “Thanks for paying for dinner.” She had a hard time looking him in the eye and instead, opened the door.
    “Thanks for the pie and coffee.”
    She opened her mouth to wish him a goodnight when his lips brushed hers. Rearing back as if she’d been stung by a bee, she frowned. Shane’s sharp intake of breath told her he was as shocked as she was at his gesture, but instead of leaving, he hooked his arm around her waist and hauled her against him.
    His mouth locked on hers roughly and his tongue slid between her lips. One of her hands still clung to the door, but the other flapped around until she dropped it to his shoulder and clung.
    Fire burned up her thighs and warmed her body completely, even as the cool night air blew through the open door.
    Shane’s hard chest against her breasts made her nipples pebble, and a moan of pleasure escaped.
    Her eyes fluttered closed as his lips turned caressing, and her tongue twirled around his, testing, tasting. The kiss was nothing like she’d ever experienced before; full of passion and desire and a hungry need. Her head tilted, allowing the kiss to deepen even further. All rational thought fled as the kiss went on for several more seconds before Shane pulled away.
    Her eyes snapped open, wondering what expression would be on his face. As his gaze raked her features, he looked as confused and off-kilter as she felt.
    Krista swallowed hard. Shane’s arm around her waist tightened, and for a moment, she thought he was going to kiss her again. Then he was gone.
    A bit unsteady on her feet, she leaned against the door and watched his car back out of the driveway before she could get herself to move and close the door. What the hell had just happened?
    Shane had kissed her. Not just kissed her, but kissed her.
    She hadn’t thought about kissing Shane since she was a silly fourteen-year-old girl. Even the day he’d come home from Iraq, with all the emotions overwhelming them he’d only given her a hug. When her mother died, she remembered him kissing her cheek, telling her how sorry he was, but that was it. He’d been more than clear over the years that he was as attracted to her as he would be to a…what had he