Misplaced Hands: 4 (Foreign Affairs) by Lexxie Couper, Mari Carr Read Free Book Online Page A

asked?
    “Swim?” Marc prompted. “In the billabong? With Blue and I?”
    “I don’t have a bathing suit,” she answered, her cheeks heating again. God, since when did she sound so pathetic and lame?
    Marc’s white teeth flashed. “And you think Blue and I do?”
    Harper’s belly didn’t just flip-flop. It flip-flopped, sank, knotted and fluttered.
    Skinny-dipping? With Keith and Marc? Oh boy, they may be gay and not interested in her sexually, but how was she to keep the abject lust out of her eyes when she stared at them naked? Which she would. A lot.
    “C’mon,” he gave her shoulder a gentle nudge with the back of his hand, “it’ll be fun. Promise.”
    Harper gazed up at him, her pulse doing an insane rendition of the Riverdance in her throat.
    Do it. You wouldn’t do it at home, which means you have to do it here.
    “You can wear your undies if you want,” Marc went on, the tone of his voice cajoling. Playful. “And if it helps, we promise we won’t look. Much.”
    Before any rationality could stop her, Harper nodded. Goddamn it, she’d come to Australia to have an adventure. To prove to her brother—and herself—she was a woman capable of making her own decisions. Of living with those decision. Swimming naked with two gay Aussie cowboys was the perfect way to do that. Right?
    “Bewdy,” Marc said. Harper assumed it was an approval of her acceptance. “Now, next question, do you want to go in the ute or on horse?”
    Harper blinked. “I’ve never ridden a horse in my life.”
    Marc’s laugh was relaxed. “Yeah, we figured as much. Blue’s waiting in the ute outside. Ready?”
    He didn’t let her ponder an answer. He reached down, threaded his fingers through hers and tugged her to her feet.
    Harper’s heart smashed into overdrive. “But…but I-I have to lock up,” she blurted, tripping over her feet as he began to pull her toward the open door, through which she could see a dust-covered white Australian version of a pickup.
    “Nah you don’t.” Marc tossed a smirk over his shoulder. “No one’s gonna steal anything. Trust me.”
    And then they were outside, the warm breeze blowing over Harper’s arms and face feeling nothing like autumn.
    “Up you go,” Marc said when they reached the side of the pickup.
    Harper looked at him. “Up I go where?”
    He nodded toward the empty pickup bed. “In the back.”
    “I—”
    He moved before she knew what he was doing, placing one open hand on her butt, the other around her upper arm. “In we go.”
    Harper let out a yelp at his unexpected shove on her ass and her unexpected momentum upward. Her brain—stunned senseless for a split second—scrambled into gear and, with a laugh she also hadn’t expected, she tumbled into the back of the pickup.
    “All right, Blue,” Marc called as he lobbed himself into the truck bed beside Harper. “Let’s go.”
    The engine started with a deafening growl and as the pickup shot forward, propelling Harper backward onto her ass, squeals of delight burst past her lips.
    Watch out, living. Here I come.
     
    Keith shot his rearview mirror a quick look, his chest tight. Harper clung to the side of the ute’s tray, her smile stunning, her hair whipping about her head like strands of spun gold.
    Fuck, she was beautiful.
    Gone was the polished, all-in-black city woman he’d first laid eyes on two days ago. Today she was dressed in faded jeans and a loose white shirt left unbuttoned over a pale-pink tank. The outfit was simple and pretty—and made the way his body was responding all the more confusing.
    He’d understood the purely sexual reaction when she’d first arrived on Farpoint. Hell, how could a bloke with a working dick not be turned-on by the way she’d looked on Saturday? He’d understood the undeniable lust surging through him when he and Thomo found her naked in her bedroom. He’d never been immune to a naked woman, especially one who looked as though she should grace the cover of