Read Online Front Page Affair by Mira Lyn Kelly - Free Book Online Page B

the city as it was back at the house.”
    â€œYou miss raking?”
    She glanced over. “Yeah, I do.”
    Brandt had thought she was nuts. She remembered his disdainful stare as he watched her sweeping the rake back and forth across the yard, pulling the accumulated leaves into mass, ignoring the burn in her shoulders until she had the pile as wide and tall as she was.
    And then the surprise of strong hands grabbing her from behind, that wicked laugh coming a second before she was tossed into the pile.
    â€œYou always helped me.”
    He let out a short laugh. “Wasn’t like Brandt would.”
    No. Nor her father. And Mom, she was more of Brandt’s mind. Confused why her daughter would even look at a rake when the landscapers would mow, blow and pluck every fallen leaf from the yard each Friday.
    They hadn’t gotten it. But Nate had.
    Payton closed her eyes, giving into the rush of open air around them as Nate blew south on the Drive headed for the Skyway. Her mind played in shadowed memories of leaf piles, Nate laughing at her side…and then as she drifted, lulled by the smooth hum of the engine, the memories became something else. A mix of then and now. A cross of memory and imagining blurred into one. The tastes and touches she’d only just learned coupling with their bodies rolling in a tangled embrace. The heavy weight of Nate pressing her down into a bed of crisp russet and plum foliage, the scent of woods and earth surrounding them.
    His name broke her lips on a sigh. “Nate…”
    â€œYeah, babe?”
    Payton jerked in her seat, the heat of embarrassment burning her cheeks even as another heat lingered deeper in her body. Her hands waved in the air as she cast about for some satisfactory explanation other than she’d fallen asleep and begun dreaming about him .
    â€œI—I’m—how long do you think until we get there?”
    â€œForty minutes maybe?” he offered casually. “Plenty of time if you want to grab a little shut-eye.”
    Stiffening, she managed one word. “What?”
    â€œA nap. There’s time.” Dark lenses shielded his eyes from her scrutiny, but his mouth sat at that casual tilt so typical of him. He looked relaxed. Comfortable. Not at all as if he’d just busted her moaning his name in her sleep. Maybe she’d merely sounded drowsy.
    That was it. Because he’d suggested a nap.
    Easing down into the soft leather of the seats, she breathed deeply, trying to let go of the tension snapping through her body at the thought she’d given too much away. After a few moments, her limbs relaxed and her eyes drifted closed. And as fatigue overtook her, a low chuckle sounded from across the distance of her consciousness.
    â€œPleasant dreams, Payton.”
    Â 
    Once parked, Payton roused herself from what she only hoped was a quiet sleep and met Nate around the back of the car.
    â€œWarm enough?” he asked, pulling an old blanket from the trunk.
    The wind whipped at her hair, but the sun was still bright. Pulling her sweater tight around her, she nodded, peering up at the steep rise of the dunes before them. “I just need to wake up. And if I remember correctly, the hike up’ll get my blood pumping.”
    â€œNeeded that nap, huh?” Nate brushed a thumb beneath her right eye. “Puffy. Cute.”
    Pulling back, she instinctively raised a hand to check. Puffy? Wonderful.
    Clearing his throat, he stretched his arms out, rotating one shoulder and then the other. “Someone must have done a decent job of wearing you out last night.”
    Only Nate would find a way to turn sleep-swollen eyes into a means of stroking his own ego.
    It was a call to trash-talk if ever she heard one. “Not really. Pretty sure I slept through most of it.”
    He laughed, already making his way up the rise. “You mean you were rendered unconscious. My attentions have been known to