Back To Us (Shore Secrets 3) by Christi Barth Read Free Book Online Page B

he mock the shelf that still held her viniculture and business textbooks?
    Piper didn’t know whether to sit or stand. Or where to do so. All she did know was that Ward’s height and muscles and sheer maleness seemed to be taking up all the available space. And she felt out of place in the room that was supposed to be her haven. She crouched in front of the mini-fridge. “Would you like something to drink?”
    “No. Thanks.”
    It didn’t stop her from grabbing a bottle of water. She’d need it to pop some more painkillers the moment he left. Except that he wasn’t leaving. Or talking. Piper curled her toes in the pinching tightness of her pumps and stood. A shiver ran through her as she slid along the hard length of Ward, who’d silently moved behind her to look at the photos on her shelf. Her entire body wanted to arch backward into the hot wall of muscle. But that would be pointless. Embarrassing for both of them.
    “Sorry. Didn’t know you were there.” Piper didn’t move. Because if she turned around, it would line up too many things on their bodies in far too close proximity. If she made a break for it, that’d be a dead giveaway of her...her...flusterment. Overheatedness. Nope. She couldn’t even make up a good word to candy-coat it. The only word for the interest and heat throbbing through her right now was
arousal
. And Piper was quite positive that if there was a book or a blog post or even a limerick about the top five things not to do with your ex, admitting your arousal had to be the very first thing on the list.
    He raised an arm to point at a photo in a round white frame decorated with blue and silver dots. It was from her cheerleading days, when just about everything she owned
had
to be decorated with the school colors. This particular one was the night of the state basketball championship. The night Ward had gotten the team MVP trophy. Ward had Casey and Ella hefted onto one hip, with Piper on the other. All four of them were grinning like fools at each other instead of the camera.
    “I’d forgotten about this picture.” With the tip of his finger, Ward touched each face in turn. “Kind of surprised you keep it on display.”
    “Good memories don’t sour because of a, um, behavioral anomaly. A status change. A schism.” A broken heart. A trampled heart. Nope, she probably shouldn’t bring that up, either. At a lack of how to describe it without making herself sound pathetic, she finished lamely, “What you did.”
    “Nice to hear.”
    His arm still caged her in place on one side. Piper decided to use simple politeness as an exit strategy. She pivoted away to point at the chair. “Would you like to sit down?”
    “No.”
    She set the water on a coaster. Still eight kinds of uncomfortable, Piper decided to sit in her wing chair. If she sat at her desk it would feel too much like a business meeting. “Ward, at this rate, we’re not going to get to why you came until after the Fall Festival. Spit it out.”
    Ward kept staring at the row of photos. “The Festival’s why I was out in the boat this morning with the guys. Zane’s drafted us to help him show up some guy at Hobart in a sculling race.”
    “Who got drafted?”
    “Me, Joel and Gray.”
    She laughed out loud. “The four of you against some wimpy college professors? You’ll beat the pants off of them.”
    “That’s the plan.” He traced his fingers along the edge of another frame. This one bordered a shot of them in full costume, opening night of
Damn Yankees.
Ward got to show off his natural athletic abilities starring as a baseball player. Piper got to try to seduce him as the demoness Lola. So much fun.
    “I think I’ll start an under/over pool with a few friends. Your race could help pay for my next pair of shoes.”
    “Next pair? Piper, you’ve got more shoes than I have socks and underwear combined.”
    Why,
why
did he have to mention his underwear? She’d seen him in shorts plenty of times over the years.