you weren’t living here then.”
“What difference does that make?” Joshua made a sound that was clearly intended as a snort of disbelief, and he unlocked the door. “You waltzed into the old cabin too, and I was living there then as I recall.”
Victoria ignored his remark, knowing he was right. “May I borrow the phone or not?”
Sometime within the next fifteen minutes he was going to kiss her, and to hell with whether or not it was a good idea.
FOUR
Pushing open the door with one hand, Joshua reached out and straightened the collar of her dress with the other, his thumb brushing against soft, warm skin exactly as he planned. The moment was electric. Joshua was fascinated by the differences between them, the contrast of dark and light. He’d definitely been celibate for too long.
“You can borrow anything you want,” he said. Slowly dropping his hand, he added, “Except the bed, although I might be willing to share.”
Victoria felt the heat of a blush roar through her. All day he’d been friendly but withdrawn, as if he were keeping himself separate from the world around him. Now his eyes met hers, and he held her gaze, creating a wordless intimacy. Suddenly the butterflies in her stomach woke up and started a frantic pounding against her rib cage, drumming a sensual red alert along all her nerve endings. With one look he’d cutthrough the polite, professional demeanor she’d managed to maintain. With one touch he’d cut through her efforts to forge a harmless friendship.
She probably had a better chance of holding back the sunrise than keeping thoughts of being kissed from her face, because that’s all she could think about. An engraved invitation couldn’t have been more plain than the way her tongue darted out along the edge of her lips, and yet he waited, letting the silence between them build a tension that threatened to snap at any moment.
Nervously, she lowered her eyes, but got only as far as his mouth. She swallowed. Why did the man have to be so big, so gorgeous, so slow to take what he wanted? What was it about him that made it so difficult for her to hide her attraction? She’d had years of practice at pretending to be indifferent to sexual attraction, of convincing herself that she was better off alone. Now she blushed and her nipples got hard because a man stared at her with lust in his eyes.
Then why doesn’t he do something about it?
A certainty in Joshua’s expression convinced her that it was only a matter of time.
He enjoys the waiting, the tension. He likes to tease.
Victoria began to worry, not about if he was going to kiss her, but whether or not she could outlast him.
Starting anything with Joshua would be a mistake, she told herself firmly. She was so close to getting her life neatly arranged. She’d finally stopped wanting to be held in someone’s arms at night. She couldn’t let her emotions get all tangled up again. Especially notin a relationship with a man who could affect her like this before he ever touched her.
Faintly, she heard herself say, “We should go in.”
“Yeah. We should,” Joshua echoed as he backed into the house and reached for her hand to draw her after him. If they went in, maybe he could avoid the inevitable, maybe he could get through the day unscathed. He managed to ignore the way the red dress shifted and flowed over her curves as she passed him, but the disappointed look on her face did him in. “Ah, what the hell!”
Victoria got only a glimpse of a big mahogany-colored couch, hardwood floors, watercolor paintings of Plains Indians, and lots of open space before Joshua kicked the door shut and pulled her hard against him, letting go of her hand as if he were certain she’d stay in his arms of her own volition. He murmured, “This morning I promised myself I wasn’t going to do this.”
Then his lips came down on hers, giving her what she’d wanted since that first day in the cabin. He was tall and hard, drawing her up
“What difference does that make?” Joshua made a sound that was clearly intended as a snort of disbelief, and he unlocked the door. “You waltzed into the old cabin too, and I was living there then as I recall.”
Victoria ignored his remark, knowing he was right. “May I borrow the phone or not?”
Sometime within the next fifteen minutes he was going to kiss her, and to hell with whether or not it was a good idea.
FOUR
Pushing open the door with one hand, Joshua reached out and straightened the collar of her dress with the other, his thumb brushing against soft, warm skin exactly as he planned. The moment was electric. Joshua was fascinated by the differences between them, the contrast of dark and light. He’d definitely been celibate for too long.
“You can borrow anything you want,” he said. Slowly dropping his hand, he added, “Except the bed, although I might be willing to share.”
Victoria felt the heat of a blush roar through her. All day he’d been friendly but withdrawn, as if he were keeping himself separate from the world around him. Now his eyes met hers, and he held her gaze, creating a wordless intimacy. Suddenly the butterflies in her stomach woke up and started a frantic pounding against her rib cage, drumming a sensual red alert along all her nerve endings. With one look he’d cutthrough the polite, professional demeanor she’d managed to maintain. With one touch he’d cut through her efforts to forge a harmless friendship.
She probably had a better chance of holding back the sunrise than keeping thoughts of being kissed from her face, because that’s all she could think about. An engraved invitation couldn’t have been more plain than the way her tongue darted out along the edge of her lips, and yet he waited, letting the silence between them build a tension that threatened to snap at any moment.
Nervously, she lowered her eyes, but got only as far as his mouth. She swallowed. Why did the man have to be so big, so gorgeous, so slow to take what he wanted? What was it about him that made it so difficult for her to hide her attraction? She’d had years of practice at pretending to be indifferent to sexual attraction, of convincing herself that she was better off alone. Now she blushed and her nipples got hard because a man stared at her with lust in his eyes.
Then why doesn’t he do something about it?
A certainty in Joshua’s expression convinced her that it was only a matter of time.
He enjoys the waiting, the tension. He likes to tease.
Victoria began to worry, not about if he was going to kiss her, but whether or not she could outlast him.
Starting anything with Joshua would be a mistake, she told herself firmly. She was so close to getting her life neatly arranged. She’d finally stopped wanting to be held in someone’s arms at night. She couldn’t let her emotions get all tangled up again. Especially notin a relationship with a man who could affect her like this before he ever touched her.
Faintly, she heard herself say, “We should go in.”
“Yeah. We should,” Joshua echoed as he backed into the house and reached for her hand to draw her after him. If they went in, maybe he could avoid the inevitable, maybe he could get through the day unscathed. He managed to ignore the way the red dress shifted and flowed over her curves as she passed him, but the disappointed look on her face did him in. “Ah, what the hell!”
Victoria got only a glimpse of a big mahogany-colored couch, hardwood floors, watercolor paintings of Plains Indians, and lots of open space before Joshua kicked the door shut and pulled her hard against him, letting go of her hand as if he were certain she’d stay in his arms of her own volition. He murmured, “This morning I promised myself I wasn’t going to do this.”
Then his lips came down on hers, giving her what she’d wanted since that first day in the cabin. He was tall and hard, drawing her up
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