Read Online Hot and Bothered by Linda Cajio - Free Book Online Page B

dance to it.”
    “What?” she asked, frowning.
    “Didn’t you ever watch
American Bandstand
?”
    “No.” She coughed. “I missed out on a lot as a child.”
    “Were you ill?”
    “No. Just … out of it.”
    She supposed that was the best explanation for her family’s lifestyle. Finishing school didn’t include many television shows.
    “Too bad,” he said. “Although
Bandstand
wasn’t as good after it came to California.”
    The conversation seemed to run out after that. She felt as if she were the cause. That was silly. A little silence was good for the soul, she told herself. She believed it for a while until she realized her gaze was focusing on his hands again. Silence could definitely be dangerous—and so could something else.
    “I’m attracted to you,” she said.
    The car jolted. So did her heart.
    “You are?”
    “I shouldn’t have said that. I … well, I haven’t had much experience, and I just blurt out something stupid sometimes—”
    He broke in. “Thanks. It does wonderful things to my ego to hear that being attracted to me is stupid.”
    She wondered how many more faux pas she’d commit with this man, then decided she didn’t want to know. He was still sensitive after last night, so she needed to be careful. “I just meant it was something I didn’t mean to confess.”
    “I’ll take any confession you give.” He madea funny noise. “Does this mean we’re not dancing around each other anymore?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “That was the answer I got last time.”
    What other answer did he expect? She wasn’t about to fall all over him just because she was attracted to him.
Very
attracted, she amended ruefully. “Paul, do you want to get involved with someone?”
    “I …” He glanced over at her, then away again. “No.”
    That hurt. It shouldn’t have, but it did. Judith swallowed against the lump of dull pain settling in her chest. “Then how can you expect me to give any other answer?”
    “But you said, I don’t know.”
    “Well, I meant it the same as you did.”
    She didn’t, she thought, but preferred he not know that. Especially after what he had just said.
    “Fine,” he said. “We’ll just keep dancing around each other. I agree happily to that.”
    If the silence in the truck was awkward before, now it was blistering. Judith huddled in the passenger seat, watching cars going south and not even caring if anyone saw her. She wished she’d never said a word. She must have had a true Collier moment, blurting out her feelings like that. Colliers did it all the time. What a change from last night, when she had slept in his bed. He may not have wanted her, but he’d needed her.
    And that was the point, she thought. He’d told her flat out that he wanted her body but didn’t want
her
.
    La Misión turned out to be a small town that had a neighborhood grocery store and a couple of ready-made-clothing shops. Paul dropped her off in front of them with barely a word. She was relieved and disappointed. Why she would want him to come in with her, she didn’t know.
    Inside the shop, she found that the quality of the merchandise wasn’t very good, but it was durable and cheap, all she could ask. She bought a few more pairs of shorts, a pair of jeans, and several tops; again very different from the designer wear she usually purchased. None of these clothes had anything wild or otherwise imprinted on them, though. She wasn’t in the mood for that today.
    Paul was so late in returning, she had begun to wonder whether he’d driven back to the cove without her. He didn’t say a word while he loaded her purchases in the truck cab’s stowage space and helped her into the seat. He got in on his side and slammed the door shut with a loud bang. Judith jumped.
    “We have to go to dinner,” he said finally.
    “We do?” Her heart flipped over with hope.
    “Vincent and Ina insisted. I tried to get us out of it—”
    “Who’re Vincent and Ina?”
    He glared at