Read Online Coming Apart at the Seams by Jenna Sutton - Free Book Online Page B

else—something that didn’t make him think about running his tongue down the valley between those plump mounds.
    They’d reached the end of the permanent exhibits, and Teagan turned to face him. “Do you want to see the special exhibit, too?”
    He nodded. He was really excited about the exhibit, which was called
Moon Shot: JFK and Space Exploration.
    â€œI’m so glad.” She smiled brightly. “I saw it advertised on the side of a bus, and I’ve been dying to see it since then.”
    She shifted her brown leather bag from one shoulder to the other, and he noticed deep red grooves where its straps had dug into her creamy skin. It must be heavy.
    For some reason, it bothered him that the bag had marred hersmooth skin. He didn’t want her to have to lug it around any longer, so he reached over and gently pulled it from her shoulder.
    Holding the bag loosely in his grip, Nick was surprised by how much it weighed.
What the hell does she have in it? A set of encyclopedias?
    He transferred her bag to his shoulder, where it settled comfortably. He couldn’t care less if someone saw him carrying a purse. There weren’t many people who doubted his masculinity, at least not to his face.
    Teagan smiled in appreciation. “Thanks. My shoulder was starting to hurt.”
    Before he thought about it, Nick stroked the marks on her shoulders, running his fingers over them. Her skin was so warm and smooth, and he couldn’t stop himself from tracing her delicate collarbone before touching the silky skin of her throat.
    She swallowed, and he felt the movement against his fingers. She looked up into his face, her eyes a dreamy dark blue behind her glasses.
    â€œNick,” she said huskily, “are you only spending time with me because you’re bored? Because you don’t know anyone else in Boston?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œThen why?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
    Frowning, he dropped his hand from her throat. He didn’t know why he kept coming back to her door, time after time. He didn’t know why he craved the sound of her voice, the sight of her smile, the music of her laughter.
    He didn’t know why he thought about her when they weren’t together, even when he fucked other women. He didn’t know why he was surly and bad-tempered on the days when he didn’t see her.
    He didn’t know why . . .
    *   *   *
    Teagan didn’t know why she’d asked such a stupid question when she already knew the answer: Nick spent time with her because they were
friends
.
    She needed to keep reminding herself of that fact before she made a fool of herself over him. He already had enough women doing that.
    She turned away from his golden good looks and headedinto the special exhibit, determined to focus on how President Kennedy had managed to get America to the moon before Russia.
    As she studied a model of the Friendship 7 Project Mercury space capsule, Nick joined her. She gave him a sideways glance, noting that he managed to look manly even though he carried a purse.
    His big hand pressed against the leather, holding it close to his body, and not for the first time, she noticed his fingers. They were long, tapered, and tipped with short nails. She really loved his hands, and when they were together, she stared at them a lot, imagining them on her breasts and between her legs.
    He had really nice forearms, too—tan and sinewy with muscle. She especially liked it when he wore a long-sleeved, button-down shirt and rolled up the cuffs in front of her. It was so erotic, and it always made her panties damp.
    Right now, though, a short-sleeved USC T-shirt showed his forearms. It was ancient, maybe even one of the shirts he’d had since college, and the faded red cotton was soft and clung tightly to his torso, almost like he’d outgrown it a bit.
    He’d paired the tee with khaki cargo shorts that had