Read Online Take Me All the Way by Toni Blake - Free Book Online

through slightly clenched teeth.
    Which made him let out another of those deep laughs of his. Which might have charmed her on some human level if he weren’t a belligerent wiseass and if she didn’t have to deal with him. “You’re Tamra,” he said, since she’d refused to play along.
    â€œVery good,” she said dryly, rolling her eyes. “Now get up.”
    And when he didn’t immediately make a move to do so, she pressed her palms to his chest. It felt warm, solid. In a way that somehow seemed to echo through her fingertips and up her arms.
    Oh. Ugh. She didn’t know what was happeninghere, especially as their eyes met. His . . . weren’t bad. They were maybe even kind of nice. Blue. Flecked with gray. And something hard, masculine—not the kind of thing you could really see, but more sense, feel. Yet the rest of him was unkempt and hairy and rude and cocky and a host of other things that held no appeal for her. He was so not her type. So she was back to ugh.
    And why was he still lying on her? And dear God, right in view of Coral Street. “Get up! Now!” She pushed on his chest again, harder this time. And ignored any other feeling besides the intense desire to bring this awkward connection to a quick end.
    Finally, her rude worker pushed upward to his knees, separating their bodies, and she suffered a startling awareness of the way he hovered above her, their legs still mingled.
    When he got to his feet, relief rushed through her veins—along with a more subtle underlying current she couldn’t put her finger on. The heat of the tropical autumn sun beat down on her, making her hotter than usual.
    As he reached to help her up for the second time in just a few minutes, he said, “You’re no fun.”
    And the accusation put her on the defensive. “Not wanting to lie around in the dirt with a stranger on top of me has nothing to do with whether or not I’m fun.”
    The last time he’d pulled her to her feet, she’d become more aware of the touch than she should have. The same thing happened this time, too—only more so now. Just as when she’d touched his chest, a zing of unwanted electricity rippled up her arm, then spread all through her.
    â€œSo are you?” he asked.
    â€œAm I what?” She tugged at the hem of her shorts, then smoothed the tank top she wore as she scanned the area, looking around to see if anyone had witnessed Jeremy Sheridan, war veteran and jailbird, lying on top of her at the jobsite.
    â€œFun,” he said easily.
    Okay, why did that question catch her off guard?
    Because . . . it’s flirtatious. No matter how she sliced it, Mr. Scruffy Beard was flirting with her. And she supposed he’d been doing so for the last few minutes, but the reality was only fully hitting her now. “None of your business.” She had no idea where the reply came from.
    Yes you do. You don’t want to say yes and have him think you’re flirting back. But you don’t want to say no and have him think you’re not fun. Ugh again. Why on earth did she care what he thought of her?
    When he flashed a speculative grin through that messy beard of his, it moved all through her—and made her nervous as hell even as it irritated her.
    â€œAnd quit smiling at me like that. I’m not that fun.”
    â€œI’d be surprised if you were,” he said, stooping to pick up the shovel he’d abandoned.
    And she was on the verge of feeling insulted—when he winked at her. Oh Lord. She wasn’t sure what was worse—that it was officially overt flirtation or that her body responded with a thin burst of desire flowing through her lower regions when she’d least expected it.
    â€œWas it so horrible to have me on top of you?” he asked. Lord, he was direct. She wondered if her eyes betrayed her and wished desperately for sunglasses to hide them, but she’d left them all