Read Online Can't Stand the Heat? by Margaret Watson - Free Book Online

his neck and opened her mouth to him.
    Walker shuddered. He wasn’t the whip-lean boy she’d held so long ago. Now his chest was hard with muscle and his legs were strong against hers. His hands roamed her back restlessly, stroking her from her neck to her hips, gliding over her curves. He lingered on her right hip, just below her waist. Did he remember the tiny tattoo of the sun and moon he’d found so fascinating?
    Memories exploded in her head. The way he’d tasted back then, like spearmint chewing gum. The way he’d touched her, as if she was infinitely precious. The care he’d taken with her, the sweetness that she’d never felt before or since.
    The way her muscles had turned to jelly when he’d kissed her.
    He urged her backward until her shoulders touched a tree, the bark bumpy against her spine. Then he slid a leg between hers and cupped her face in his hands, still kissing her.
    His fingers tangled in her hair and her ponytail holder went flying. Then he buried his face in the heavy mass of it over her neck, inhaling deeply. She turned her head blindly, wanting his mouth on hers again.
    She was burrowing beneath his jacket, desperate to touch his skin, when the headlights of a car flashed past. A horn honked, and someone yelled out the window, “Get a room!”
    She shoved him away. He let her go slowly, as if he couldn’t bear to stop touching her. Finally, he dropped his hands, breathing as heavily as she was.
    They stared at one another for a long moment. Then he thrust his fingers through his hair. “Holy hell.”



CHAPTER EIGHT
    S HE BACKED AWAY , staring at him, her body still throbbing. “What was that?” she managed to say.
    His eyes were dark and shadowed and he breathed too fast. But he shrugged. “Last time I checked, it was called a kiss.”
    Right. Mr. Cool. “If you think you can seduce me into giving you what you want, forget it. I’m not that gullible.”
    “You think that’s what I’m doing? Like you seduced me in high school to get what you wanted?”
    She sucked in a sharp breath. His barb was well-aimed, and it struck deep. Made it impossible to speak.
    “Doesn’t feel very good, does it?”
    Her stomach churned. “No. It doesn’t.” She looked at the house, only a few yards away. A refuge. “I’m sorry about what I did. It was horrible and wrong and mean. If I could go back in time and change things, I would. I can’t. But I’m not that girl anymore.”
    He clenched his jaw and slapped the tree. “You skated, didn’t you? So what is there for you to regret?”
    “You think I got off scot-free?” The pain of her divorce was still a fresh wound, but there was no way she’d tell him what had happened between her and Tony. “I paid a price, too.”
    He sighed. “It was a kiss, Jen. That’s all. It wasn’t the first step in my master plan for world domination. I wasn’t thinking about…Nick or high school or anything else.”
    Which meant he was. He’d probably sensed her weakness and pounced. He was the kind of opponent who looked for any opening.
    Why had she kissed him back?
    She didn’t want to think about that. Didn’t want to think about the irony of being attracted to Walker. “Fine. Just a kiss. Already forgotten.” She wished.
    “Right.” He looked over her shoulder at the house. “Looks like everyone’s sleeping in there.”
    “They better be.”
    A tiny smile curled his mouth. “Do you want me to walk you the rest of the way? You look a little…unsettled.”
    “I can walk up the steps myself,” she said, pleased at the coolness in her voice. “I’m perfectly all right.”
    She turned and hurried up the stairs to the porch. She felt him watching her.
    It took her three tries before she got the key in the lock.

    J EN PUSHED AWAY the folder of pictures and the spreadsheet and sipped her coffee. She shuddered. It was cold and too bitter to drink. But it reminded her to add a coffee machine to the growing list of equipment she’d need