Lipstick on His Collar by Inez Kelley Read Free Book Online Page A

taking a job managing a radio station after graduation.”
    “Communications.” His murmur was layered with irony. “You do realize my official title is Communications Specialist, right?”
    “You’re service industry. I’m profit-based. Big difference. When I say radio, I mean music and DJs, you mean cops and ambulances.”
    “True.” He cocked that sexy left brow again. “Upstairs, huh?”
    She’d never been one for the subtler paths in life so she kicked off her clogs and parked her heels on his chair, directly below his crotch. When he didn’t shift away, her toes slid higher, over a bulge that twitched under denim. Her rhythm was slow but firm, molding the arch of her foot along his zipper. Bram scooted forward and cupped her foot, pressed her tighter to his growing erection. His hips rolled and his cock hardened.
    Oh yeah, we are in direct communication now. Hot damn!
    She nodded her chin toward his bag on the counter. “I don’t suppose that duffle is fully equipped again, is it?”
    Please Dear God in Heaven, let him be carrying condoms . She hadn’t needed any since him and didn’t want him to leave to get some. She had this irrational fear that once he was out of her sights, he would disappear. He dispelled that trepidation with a sly grin and slow, large palm gliding up her bare calf.
    “I was a Boy Scout. I’m always prepared.”
    “Hmm, a Boy Scout?” His hand crept farther up her leg and she leaned back on the window. The outside temperature chilled the glass to an almost painful cold but the air inside was hot. His hands were hotter. The contrast was razor sharp and honed fine. “Don’t they make fire by…rubbing things together?”
    “Yeah, but then, I was a firefighter too.”
    “Okay, there is a hose joke in there somewhere but I’m not touching it.”
    His laugh echoed in the cavernous hall. He dropped her foot from his jeans and stood, walking back toward the dryers lining the walls. He checked the timer and sighed. “They make microwave ovens, why not microwave clothes dryers?”
    “Careful, Bram, anyone would think you were in a hurry to get out of here.”
    The silent boxes with their round clear bellies stood like a dual row of guards, waiting, watching for a touch to bring them to life. Something pinged in one running dryer, the metal button on a pair of jeans or a zipper on a fleece. The background noises only deepened his low voice and it echoed in the empty Laundromat.
    “I never lied to you. I won’t lie now. Hell, yes, I want to hurry into bed with you. But I want more than a fast fuck. I want to know why you left like that.”
    The braid on her back was heavy, weighing down her small headshake. How could she explain it to him? He wasn’t supposed to mean anything. He was a rebound guy, a quick tumble after Jason made her feel like shit. She took a side trip after a faraway seminar to a small-town fair with every intention of finding someone, anyone, to make the emptiness go away, if even for one night. She found Bram.
    Bram wasn’t supposed to be anything more than a pit stop in her sex life to repair her bruised ego and help her get back on her dating feet. Then, in the midst of oral sex and orgasms, he wormed his way under her defenses by being a decent, nice guy. He’d shaken more than the bed and her mind reeled from the implications.
    “I don’t want one night. I want to see you again. I want to let this go wherever it goes with us.”
    Dangerous, thrilling words he’d whispered in the early-morning light thundered in her head. Words, temptations that had triggered her flight from his bed, from his life. They’d bargained for one night but he made her think about more. It was too soon on the heels of her breakup with Jason, and she hadn’t trusted her own heart. Her fingers had traced Bram’s slumber-relaxed jaw before she’d quietly slipped out of the bed, but he’d never slipped from her mind.
    Bram leaned his back on the counter. Hidden in his deep