Hot as Hell (The Deep Six) by Julie Ann Walker Read Free Book Online Page B

beforehand struck him as totallybizarre.
    But he didn’t have long to dwell on it. She took two steps in his direction and made a swipe for her panties. As lady luck would have it, his six-foot-three stature meant it was easy for him to hold them out of her reach. “Uh-uh. Not until you answer my question.”
    Her lips flattened. “You’re not seriously holding my underwear hostage, are you?”
    “A man has to take any advantage he can.”
    And there they went—her hands found their way to her hips until she stood in front of him like a flame-haired comic book heroine. But when she ran a shaky hand through her curls, God help him, he relented, handing over her panties.
    After she stepped into them, wiggling them up her thighs—and that one small sight was enough to have his blood running hot once again—she stood and blew out a breath. “I like you.”
    The way his chin jerked back, you’d think she’d popped him one on the jaw. Uh… “Well, that’s good,” he managed, hooking a thumb toward the table. “You know, considering what we were just doing.”
    “No.” She shook her head. “I mean I really like you.”
    He couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face. And if he wasn’t mistaken, that was his heart turning somersaults inside his chest like one of those Cirque du Soleil performers at the Bellagio. “I really like you too,Harper.”
    She blew out a breath, throwing her hands in the air in disgust. “What I’m tryin’ to say is that I think it’d be real easy for me to…um… more than like you.”
    Everything inside him came to a sudden, screeching stop. His heart quit doing flips, his lungs quit sucking in oxygen, and each second that ticked by on his diver’s watch became a little eternity.
    “Harper…” Was that his voice, all tight and rusty? “You better just do a full disclosure here, angel. Because I have a feeling this convo just got really real, really fast. And I want to make sure I understand you.”
    When she rolled in her lips before running a hand through her hair again, it took everything in him not to reach for her, not to pull her close. But for whatever reason, the woman was spooked. And he dared not make a single move to send her skittering away from him. Notagain.
    “I think I could,” she began, then stopped and shook her head. “No. That’s not true. Because I know. I know I could fall in love with you if I let myself.”
    Tick. Tick. Tick…
    He could hear the second hand on his watch counting the seconds. Which was strange, since it seemed to him that time had stopped.
    Now before, when a woman whipped out the L-word, he’d always gotten a little itchy. Like he’d slept on sandy sheets. But this time? Oh, this time there was nothing but bright, tingly warmth spreading over his skin.
    “I, uh…” He ran a hand over his beard. Dude, were his fingers shaking? “I suppose if we’re throwing all our cards on the table, I should admit I’ve been thinking I could do a little bit of falling in love with you, too. You know, given the chance.”
    Her succulent mouth opened. Then closed. Then opened again. But not a peep came out.
    “Harper?” He dared to reach forward and brush two fingers over her satiny cheek. He didn’t know what he was expecting, probably for her to jerk away from him—she looked fragile enough to break with the slightest touch. So he was surprised when she closed her eyes, leaning into his caress. Screw it , he decided. It’s all or nothing . “Tell me what you’re so afraid of.”
    She pinched her eyes more tightly shut, shaking herhead.
    “Why not?” he asked, his breath held.
    “Because my momma always told me it’s better to keep my mouth shut and seem a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”
    “I could never think you foolish, Harper.”
    She opened her eyes then. And if he wasn’t mistaken, a sheen of tears gathered on her lower lids. Fuck me sideways. If she started crying, he didn’t know what he’d do.