Read Online Rainsinger by Barbara Samuel, Ruth Wind - Free Book Online Page B

knew the answer to his question. Her size was the problem. Not only her height, but the combination of the siren body and her strong, athletic movements probably scared a lot of men away. Something inside him pinched. For her, and for him.
    He knew he shouldn’t do it. He knew he needed to keep up his guard, that he was already too intrigued by this woman to allow anything physical to grow between them, but he couldn’t help it. He reached out and put his hand on her upper arm, skimming his palm over her firm flesh.
    Glibness was not his style, not in these circumstances, and he didn’t try it now. “It’s okay,” he said.
    He knew something of not belonging. His family’s bad reputation on the reservation had kept most of the girls from wanting to date him. Out in the other world, women fell into two camps: girls who wanted to date him because they thought Indians were romantic and girls who didn’t see in him the kind of life they wanted.
    As a result, he’d never learned to put women at ease, to be quick with compliments and pretty words. His talent with people lay in spurring them onward and upward, in organizing groups to do their best. By dealing with groups instead of individuals, he could remain the observer, never the observed or the involved, and he liked it that way. The one time he’d let his heart lead him, he’d been deeply wounded. He’d sworn never to make the same mistake again.
    And yet, under his hand, Winona’s arm was smooth and strong, and he let his thumb explore the new territory with ginger sweeps. Winona stood as still as a tree, her wide, pale eyes focused utterly on his face. Her gaze flickered, touched on his mouth, then flew back to his eyes.
    To his astonishment, he found he didn’t want to clamp down on his attraction to her at the moment. What had happened in the past or might happen in the future mattered far less than the promise of pleasure he sensed in her lush, sinfully rich mouth.
    He took one step closer to her, and felt the brush of her legs against his. She didn’t bolt. Didn’t look away. Only stared up at him, as if waiting.
    So Daniel bent slowly, to give her plenty of time to move away if she wanted, and put his mouth against hers. Lightly. He didn’t close his eyes, but she did, and he felt her body soften even as her hand landed on his chest as if to push him away. He broke the kiss after an instant, suddenly breathless with fear and a fierce rush of unaccustomed desire.
    A long moment stretched between them, her hand on his chest, his on her arm, their eyes tangled in wary surprise. His lips tingled with the slight taste of hers, and without thought, he bent again, tugging her arm to bring her a little closer.
    It was not a rough kiss, but rather the hesitant exploration of two people unused to such things. He moved his mouth over hers, gauging the fit of her plump lips to the harder contours of his own, tasting lightly. In an instant, he felt her giving in return, tasting him in cautious sips. He inclined his head and sighed when her lips parted ever so slightly and her tongue hesitantly reached out to meet his, the new, wet heat a dizzying sensation that sent spirals of heightened desire through his thighs.
    It was not a deep kiss, but it was long. So long. They moved and moved again, tongues lightly fencing, teasing, tasting. Daniel had forgotten kissing like this, forgotten how narcotically delicious it was. He felt adrift on the simple pleasure, for once not thinking or planning or worrying, only kissing. He liked the soft, surprised sounds that came from her throat, the way her hand fluttered over his chest, then lit and stayed, open palm over his heart.
    It was Winona who ended it, suddenly pulling away without finesse or grace, leaving Daniel a little dazed as she slipped from his grasp.
    “I—um—” She frowned, lifted a hand toward the other room. “I have to take a shower.”
    She bolted. Daniel didn’t move until he heard the shower come