Dangerous Kiss by Avery Flynn Read Free Book Online

wants. Here.” He held out his hand to help her up the final few steps.
    She hesitated, entranced by the muscles in his outstretched arm. His wide hand with its heavily lined palm enticed her. He crooked a long finger and motioned her forward.
    A secret part of her heart stuttered. This man was trouble. Her stomach buzzed. Her breath shallowed. Her bra tightened around her tender breasts.
    Jake’s smirk slid away, replaced by ill-disguised lust. He strode down to her, curled an arm around her waist and scooped her up. He carried her the last few steps up to the alley.
    It felt too good to protest. Her aches and pains lessened in his strong arms and she forgot her scraped elbow and sore jaw. Hell, she barely recalled she had feet, let alone the throbbing on the bottom of her foot from moments earlier. Instead, her waist tingled where his arm touched her. She soaked in the heat emanating from his hard chest.
    Any frustration at her ability to fight against this attraction vanished as she melted in his embrace. Her whole body relaxed into his.
    Staring at the Harvest logo on Jake’s borrowed T-shirt, she tried to get her body back under control. Where had all this come from? She didn’t even know this guy.
    It had to be adrenaline. Right? Yeah, this was all the effects of the adrenaline rush. It had nothing to do with something special about him.
    “Thank you for your help but you can put me down now.” She pushed against his chest. She needed space between their bodies.
    “I don’t think I’m ready to do that.”
    She raised her head at his strained tone.
    All the words in her head disintegrated. She doubted she even remembered her own name. All she wanted to do was stay right here in Jake’s arms. Preferably naked. Maybe on a bed, but that wasn’t a requirement.
    He tightened his arm around her waist, pulled her in closer to his hard body. Jake leaned his head down but stopped when their mouths were only an inch apart. His breath fluttered against her lips.
    “If you keep looking at me like that, we’re both going to regret it,” he ground out.
    She leaned her head against his shoulder and wished the rest of the world would disappear. Graphic images in glorious Technicolor flashed through her thoughts, making her breasts heavy. Moonlight casting shadows on his six-pack abs. Rubbing up against him while skinny dipping. Feeling his calloused fingers squeezing her ass as she slid down on his hard cock.
    She didn’t want to let the fantasies go, but whoever said life was easy? He was here today and gone tomorrow. Not her kind of man. She wanted more.
    “You wish He-Man. Put me down.” She’d tried to make her voice sound gruff, but it came out a hoarse whisper.
    She felt his sigh more than heard it. The slight rise of his chest made her curl her fingers into his T-shirt, take in a last whiff of his cologne. She couldn’t place it, but it reminded her of dark rooms and unleashed desire.
    After a moment’s hesitation, he lowered her until she stood on the asphalt.
    A jolt of pain shot through her right foot. She gasped. Balancing on her left leg flamingo style, she examined the one-inch gash on the ball of her right foot. She flashed back to the hard thing she’d stepped on.
    “Great.” She’d have to hobble on one foot back to Harvest.
    Chris scrambled up the embankment. He stopped beside her.
    “That’s nasty. God knows what you stepped on out here. What kind of person runs in an alley barefoot?” He peered closer at her face. “Oh, and your eye is starting to puff up. Nice.”
    She flipped him the bird. Immature? Yes. Satisfying? Uh-huh.
    Hank stepped into the alley and held up a folded piece of paper. “I found this near the railroad tracks.”
    They crowded around Hank. He unfolded the grimy square to reveal a younger Kendall Burlington. She smiled shyly up at them. It looked like a copy from an old yearbook photo. Her then dishwater-blonde hair hung in a low ponytail. She wore a strand of white