Between Duty and Desire by Leanne Banks Read Free Book Online Page B

throat. The song playing on the radio would have provided a perfect accompaniment to a long French kiss or an afternoon spent in bed. It was slow and sexy, not the kind of music for twirling.
    He cleared his throat, needing to break the tension, the magic. “Who is this artist? I don’t think I’ve heard him before.”
    “I can tell you’ve been out of the country,” she said with soft amusement in her voice. “John Mayer. He’s very popular.”
    “Do you like him?”
    He felt her nod. “Yes. His voice is expressive, so are his lyrics.”
    It would be so easy to rub his lips over her forehead, Brock thought. So easy. She might not even notice. He gave in to the temptation and a surge of illicit pleasure raced through him. He swallowed an oath at the strength of it. If kissing her forehead did this to him, then what would kissing her other places do to him?
    Brock closed his eyes and tried to close his mind to all the possibilities. She just probably needed a little human contact. A brotherly hug. He shouldn’t think about nudging her chin upward and tasting her mouth, or sliding his hand down to her bottom to draw her against the part of him that grew harder with each breath she took.
    He heard her murmur something and opened his eyes. “What’d you say?”
    Feeling her pull her head back slightly, he lookeddown at her. A strand of her hair clung to his chin. Pulling it free, she smiled and lifted her fingers to his chin. “Five o’clock shadow. Rob must have been jealous of you. I think he had about ten whiskers on his face and three hairs on his chest.”
    Fighting a twinge of self-consciousness, Brock rubbed his jaw. “I’ve always had to shave often or—”
    “Or you get scrubby.”
    “Yeah,” he said and noticed that her gaze fell to his chest. It was a little thing, but it grabbed at his gut. She was aware of him as a man, perhaps just because of his beard, but the awareness was there. He could see it and feel it. All of his instincts pushed him to take this further, to lower his mouth to hers and rub his hands over every inch of her body.
    His conscience jabbed at him. He would be taking unfair advantage. Unfair advantage of Rob’s wife. Of Rob.
    Clenching his jaw, he pulled back. “Song’s over,” he muttered.
     

    This would have been so much easier if Callie was a guy. He could pat her on the back, watch some baseball games on television with her, go to a bar, help her pick up somebody so she could get laid. After that, if she were a guy, she’d be as good as new.
    Guys were simpler than women. Sports, beer and a good lay could solve a lot of problems. Women, however, were much more complicated. And Callie was no exception. During his training, he’d beentaught that in order to defeat the enemy, he needed to understand the way the enemy thought. Callie wasn’t the enemy, but he sure as hell didn’t think the same way she did. He racked his brain for a way to pull her out of her slump and even resorted to something he’d never done before—he called the one woman he could trust for advice.
    “Hey, Mom, how’s everything?”
    “Brock! I wondered where you’d gone. I called the rehab center and no one knew. I was worried sick—”
    Brock winced. He’d been in such a rush to leave he’d forgotten to tell her. “Sorry, Mom. I’d had enough. I had to get out of there. I decided I needed a change of environment before I moved to Atlanta.”
    “So where are you?”
    “Down in South Carolina. It’s a little place on the beach.”
    “Oh, the ocean,” his mother said longingly. “That sounds nice.”
    “Yeah, you should get Sam to take you sometime. Listen, I was thinking about you the other day.”
    “That’s sweet of you to say, dear. You know I think of you all the time. Sam and I miss you terribly. We were hoping you would come see us when you left the rehab center.”
    Brock felt a pinch of discomfort. “I was thinking about trying to get up to see you after I get settled