Highly Charged! by Joanne Rock Read Free Book Online Page B

morning,” he continued, hating that he had to explain it to her when it had been plain as day to him, “I could have sworn there was a moment—”
    â€œI know.” She backed up a step, as well, and he felt like crap for making her feel that was necessary. “I felt it, too.”
    Her words eased some of the sting, at least.
    â€œSo you know what I’m talking about?”
    â€œYes. But that’s what makes me nervous. I’m not in a position to indulge those feelings right now. And if anything, I felt it all the more this morning because—technically—it wasn’t the first time I’d seen you.”
    She held herself very still, yet Brad could have sworn she shook. Rattled, really. Her whole body seemed to vibrate with a kind of nervous energy as she held herself rigidly away from him. He went from worried to angry. He hadn’t done anything inappropriate. Had given her no reason to appear so damn anxious.
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œI have something to confess, and I’m not proud of it.”
    When he said nothing, she cleared her throat.
    â€œI was clipping the hedges between our houses earlier this week and I saw you then.”
    â€œThat’s not much of a confession.” He was missing something here.
    Two bright spots of color burned on her cheeks.
    â€œI saw you mostly naked.”
    Â 
    M AYBE SHE SHOULDN’T HAVE admitted it.
    The temperature in the room rose from chilly to tropical in about a second and a half. It was as if someone had suddenly cranked the thermostat. The atmosphere between them crackled with awareness.
    It was lucky he was trained to deal with explosivessince she felt like the tension was going to detonate inside her any moment.
    â€œBrad?” She sounded uncertain to her own ears.
    â€œWhere did you see me mostly naked?” His voice was throaty and low. Dangerous.
    Sexual?
    She wasn’t sure. Her heart fluttered nervously in her chest. Being with him alone had been a bad idea. He was too much of a test of her restraint. And after a long, trying year of being at Chloe’s side to the end, then fighting the relatives to ensure Chloe’s wishes were honored, she just didn’t have the emotional resources to hold strong in the face of such blatant temptation.
    She’d always wanted to test out her wild and impulsive side—a side buried so damn deep she wouldn’t think she even had one except that she’d been drawn to the beautiful erotica she’d written her dissertation on even before she’d met Chloe and formed a friendship with her. But once she and Chloe had grown close, Chloe liked to tease her that she just hadn’t found the right guy to explore her erotic side with… And why did those conversations come roaring back to her right now when she needed to address Brad’s question?
    â€œI saw you in your house.” An uncomfortable heat crawled up her back and lingered on her neck. “It was an accident. You didn’t have the blinds closed and I happened to be trimming the honeysuckle vines under the locust tree when all of a sudden—there you were.”
    An ill-timed smile got away from her.
    But damn it, that moment was a happy memory and it had been a total accident. Maybe now wasn’t the time to admit she’d purposely left the locust untrimmed tospace it out over the days that followed, quite possibly coinciding with his shower time.
    He seemed to have enough to process right now. And she didn’t have as much bad-girl chutzpah as Chloe Lissander had.
    â€œYou spied on me. That feels like an invasion of privacy.” His face was inscrutable and she wondered if anger lurked beneath the surface. “An invasion of space.”
    She cringed. Guilt nipped.
    â€œI hadn’t really thought about it that way, but yes, I guess so.”
    â€œI think I’m going to return the favor.”
    Before she could reason out what that