Secrets Shared by Raven McAllan Read Free Book Online Page B

practically opening my zipper without any help from me, I’m so aroused. You keep giving these little shows that make me think you’d like to see what we might have.” He held his breath. There had been tells, very slight but there. Maybe not as many as he intimated, but there nevertheless.
    She shifted uneasily on his lap. His dick responded with Pavlovian fervor, and David wished he could unzip his jeans and ease the pressure on it. Odds on it would be a cold shower or self help later.
    “Maybe, but just cos they’re there doesn’t mean I have to act on them.”
    “True,” he agreed. “But surely the way to slay the dragons and move on, and not to let them bother you is to show they don’t have the power to hurt you anymore?”
    “Ha, go you. Nope, not in my world it’s not.” She sighed. “Look, David, maybe this is one time we need to agree to disagree? And let me beg you not to tell Jeff or Kath about me falling to bits. Please?”
    She looked up at him, a plea in her eyes. Her cheeks still held the evidence of her tears, her eyelids were puffy and her skin had gone to that horrible pasty white shade again. Even like that, with her hair in rat’s tails where she’d ran her hands through it, David deemed she was beautiful. He traced the outline of her spine with the tip of his index finger. Her eyes narrowed, but she didn’t say anything.
    “I’ll do you a deal. I won’t say anything to Jeff or Kath, if you tell me everything. Including about your secret staircase. I’ve lived here for the best part of a year now, and I’ve seen no hint of one.”
    “Hmm.” Jess not only nibbled her lip, she put her finger into her mouth and gnawed at her nail. He pulled it out.
    “Don’t do that. You’ll regret it later. So, do we have a deal?”
    “Help me stand up, please.”
    David put his hands under her butt and resisted the urge to fondle her cheeks as he gave her the leverage she needed. “There you go.”
    “Thanks.” She began to pace the room. David found himself counting her steps. Five one way and six the other. A swift three strides past the fireplace and back to stand in front of him. “So I tell you and that’s it? You keep the information to yourself, and we go our separate ways? End of?”
    “I’ll promise not to say anything to anyone without your permission. But I give you fair warning, I’ll do my damnedest to make you stay. I think we deserve to explore what could be between us.” He kept his glance fixed on her face. “I think we’d be perfect.” The slight dip of her head, the way she looked at the floor and fluttered her hands toward his lap and away again thrilled him. It shrieked submissive. He could almost hear the arguments she was having with herself as she stood there and clenched her hands. Jess looked at him full on. Emotions chased each other across her face, and sent shivers of worry vying with tinges of awareness racing through him, until at last she sighed.
    “Okay then. I guess I’m going to have to say something to explain my freak-fest on the way here. And in the interest of my brother not being arrested for murder, I guess you’ll do. But I go once it’s off my chest.”
    It wasn’t the most complimentary way a gesture of help had been accepted, but at least it was a yes.
    “Don’t forget the passage,” he reminded her. That thought intrigued him.
    “Oh, I won’t. Right then, do we sit here?” she pointed to the settee.
    “We can do. Or at the table, in the chairs or on the bed.”

Chapter Seven
     
     
     
    Did he actually say that ? Jess squashed the notion that curling up against David on the bed might be nice. She didn’t want to get too cozy. As much as she trusted him to keep his word regarding Jeff, she knew he’d also keep his word about trying to persuade her to explore their feelings. And that scared the crap out of her.
    “At the table maybe. With coffee?” Little stings of regret skittered through her. If only she could be brave,