Caught Between an Oops and a Hard Body (Caught Between series Book 2) by Sheila Seabrook Read Free Book Online Page A

turned up as he grabbed her hand and started to tug her to her feet. “Come on, then.”
    She waved him off. “Give me a moment to let my stomach settle.”
    They stared at each other and Stephanie became conscious of the intimacy of sitting here in the bathroom, conscious of him absently rubbing the inside of her thigh, conscious of her body coming alive at his touch.
    “You know, maybe before we head into town,” she suggested with a waggle of her eyebrows, then a moment later, her stomach heaved and she hit the toilet again. When she was done, she sank back onto the floor and tried to give him an apologetic smile, but she couldn’t muster the energy. “Sorry.”
    “No problem. You’re worth the wait.” He was looking at her with concern. He also looked like he’d settled in for the duration, which made her and her stomach feel much better. Simply because he cared about her as more than an object in his bed.
    Now wasn’t that a dangerous thought.
    Determined to keep feelings out of their relationship—and relationship out of whatever was going on between the two of them—she laid her head against the wall behind her and closed her eyes. “So tell me about yourself, Stone Kincaid. What are you most afraid of in the world?”

CHAPTER FIVE

    He wanted to admit that he was afraid of her, of falling hard and fast, of getting his heart trampled and his hopes crushed.
    Instead he shoved the hope down deep, and went for something safer. “What am I afraid of? My family. Well, specifically my parents. And if you want to narrow that down further, mostly my mom.”
    She wiggled her toes and her bare feet drew Stone's attention.
    Small, delicate, with hot pink polish on her toenails. His gaze skittered from her toes up to her smooth bare legs, and the memory of her soft skin under his hands and the vivid image of her naked in bed nearly made him forget that she was sick.
    Stephanie looked up from her feet then, innocence gleaming in her gaze, and reached out to rub a thumbpad across his upper lip. But behind the innocence, there was the look she’d gotten that night, the one that she’d had every time she’d looked his way. He was surprised they hadn’t scorched a few people in the fire they’d created.
    As the color began to return to her pale cheeks, she prodded him to continue. “You’re afraid of your parents? Aren’t you a little old for that?”
    “Yeah.” Stone rubbed the back of his neck and felt his face heat. “Let’s just say there’s a reason why they’ve lived most of their married life apart.”
    She sent him a saucy smile and walked her fingertips up his pant leg. “They don’t get along?”
    He squeezed her calf, his mind going soft at the memory. Yeah, this was how to keep his distance. Let her turn his mind to mush. “Brace yourself, babe. You’re about to be introduced to the marriage from hell.”
    Her gaze held his. “My parents’ marriage is perfect. Or at least, that’s what they want everyone to think. But the truth of the matter is, my mom runs their life, and Dad runs to do her bidding. Doesn’t sound much like a partnership to me.”
    “Yeah, partnership.” He scratched his chin, noticed that he needed to shave before he left whisker burn marks on her delicate skin. “Being there for each other, through hard times and easy times, through sickness and health.”
    She blinked back at him, and as his brain clicked into gear, he realized exactly what he had said. Except that she smiled, that naughty smile that had first caught his attention. On closer inspection, it wasn’t so naughty as crooked and self-depreciating.
    “Stone Kincaid, are you a closet romantic? That sounds eerily like you were quoting from a marriage ceremony.”
    “Well, it is why people get married, isn’t it? To support one another?” He felt his face flush again. “So how did you end up as a wedding planner?”
    “Mmmmm, that’s a story for another day.” As though she’d realized what she