Read Online Rock Me Gently by HK Carlton - Free Book Online Page A

kept sending me pictures.  Do you like this one, Mom? How ‘bout this one ? She only bought the ones I liked.”
    “The flavor of the week?”
    “Sorry, the woman Thad is shacking up with this week. She’ll be gone the next time Jilly goes for a visit. But they spoil her rotten while she’s there, trying to impress her and make her like them. The way to a man’s heart is through his daughter. Little do they know that Thad doesn’t have a heart anymore. So, what did you do after you talked to your mother?” She did a little subject swap herself.
    “I had a shower, did some laundry, went for some groceries, marked some papers, looked over my lesson plan for the week and tried to keep my mind off you. That’s what led me here at approximately five o’clock.”
    A small shot of delight ran through her. He had a way of making her feel good about herself again, that there was still something about her that made him spend time thinking about her. That maybe she was still worthy of a man like him.
    They’d walked all the way to the end of the block and into the park. They followed the paths down toward the water. The wind picked up the closer they got to it, loosening small tendrils of her hair from the clips. Jason sat down on the table top of one of the picnic benches, close to the water. Lainey followed his lead and put her foot up to step onto the seat. He gave her a hand up, to steady her, and as soon as flesh met flesh, palm to palm, that same electricity shot through her arm just as it had the first day at the school. But this time she was more aware of him and he’d thawed some of the icy walls she’d erected to keep him out.
    Settled next to him she noted how he’d shifted his hips so that their outer thighs were touching.
    Twisting, he took his time surveying her and when she started to feel self-conscious he said, “I like your hair up.” He reached out and wound his finger around one of the pieces that had come out of her clips, running it between his fingers. “Soft,” he whispered.
    “I like yours up too,” she smiled slightly.
    He raised his eyebrows and his sexy mouth quirked. “Little messy up there on top, is it?” He ran his hand through his dark hair just as she’d guessed he might. “Yeah,” he said, crinkling his nose endearingly. “I don’t really care if it sees a comb on the weekends either.”
    She giggled.
    Jason curled his finger around her hair again, reeling her in. He was going to kiss her. Lainey was surprised to find that she wanted him to. But he tricked her by kissing her cheek again. His lips lingered warmly. She closed her eyes as the heaviness in her stomach broke free and she experienced the first real arousal she’d felt in a very long time. It scared her and it thrilled her at the same time. She could almost see herself in bed with him. All bare skin and hard limbs, sliding sinuously over each other.
    He pulled back and resumed an easy relaxed stance, his arms resting on his knees. She watched as he lifted his coffee cup to his lips.
    “Did you tell Jill that we went to her favorite restaurant last night?”
    “No. She’d kill me if she knew that I went there without her.”
    His lips tightened and he nodded. “Do you think she’d have a problem with you starting to see people again?”
    “I don’t know what she’d think. We haven’t really discussed it. But I wonder if it would be a little extra awkward for her, you being her teacher.”
    “Would that stop you from seeing me?”
    “No, you being her teacher wouldn’t stop me from seeing you, if that’s what I wanted. And you won’t always be her teacher.”
    “And you won’t always feel like this, Lainey. Some day you’ll let someone in.”
    “I think you’re right. I think I’m finally beginning to believe that maybe I won’t feel like this forever.”
    The side of his mouth curled cockily.
    He leaned his shoulder into hers.
    “So, maybe,” she said slowly,