Snowbound with the Boss by Maureen Child Read Free Book Online

counter, with his hands braced on either side of her.
    â€œWhat?” She blinked up at him.
    â€œYou’re thinking too much. You’re starting to worry that maybe we’re making a mistake.”
    â€œAre you a mind reader now?” she asked, trying to ignore the hard thump of her heartbeat.
    He laughed shortly. “Reading your mind isn’t that tough at the moment.” His gaze moved over her face like a caress before meeting her eyes again. “You’re interested. You just don’t want to be.”
    â€œI could say the same about you,” she pointed out in her own defense.
    â€œYeah, you could.” He nodded thoughtfully. “The difference between us is I’m not big on denying myself and you seem to be a champ at it.”
    â€œI’ll agree with the first half of that sentence. You do seem to be the type who indulges himself whenever he feels like it.”
    â€œWhy not?” he asked with a shrug. “You don’t get trophies from the universe for being stoic and cheating yourself out of something that could be amazing.”
    In spite of everything, Kate felt a rush of anticipation that fed a small smile. The man was arrogance personified. “You’re so sure it would be amazing?”
    His mouth curved, his eyes gleamed and he leaned in closer until their mouths were just a breath apart. “Aren’t you?”
    Stray snowflakes slipped from the collar of her jacket, went beneath the neckline of her sweater and snaked along her spine. Kate shivered and told herself it was the ice on her skin, not the heat in his eyes that had caused it.
    â€œThis is crazy,” she murmured, shifting her gaze from his eyes to his mouth and back again.
    â€œI’m a big fan of crazy,” he whispered.
    â€œYeah, you would be,” Kate said with a choked-off laugh.
    Her insides jumped, trembled and settled into a thrum of expectancy that wouldn’t be denied. Crazy is just what they were talking about here. Sex with Sean would be a mistake. A huge one. But if she let this moment pass, let him go back to California without taking the opportunity Fate had handed her, wouldn’t that be a mistake, too? Wouldn’t she have to live with regret for the rest of her life?
    And she couldn’t handle more regrets.
    Kate had been so closed off for the last two years, she’d never once felt even the slightest attraction for a man. And what she felt for Sean went light-years beyond a “slight attraction.” That could be a problem, too, she knew. Feeling too much was an open invitation to pain.
    Kate had already had enough pain to last a lifetime.
    So she’d have to keep her heart tucked neatly away. Of course, sex without love wasn’t like her at all. But then again, she’d already had and lost love and didn’t expect to ever have it again. So unless she wanted to live her entire life as if she was locked up in a monastery, she’d have to accept that things, for her, had changed. Affection would have to be enough. And as she met his eyes, Kate could admit to herself that as much as Sean irritated and annoyed her, she also sort of liked him. Hard not to, really. Looking up into Sean’s eyes, Kate thought he really was as charming as he claimed to be. Plus he didn’t cheap out on building plans, he was fair to her crew and even when he argued with her, he managed to make her laugh.
    That kind of man was hard to resist. Though she’d been doing her best to do just that for the last week, she was done with it now. She took a breath and sighed heavily. She was finished trying to ignore the buzz of electricity between them.
    If she was going to make a mistake, Kate preferred it be an active decision, not a mistake of omission.
    â€œSo, Kate,” he murmured, pushing the edge of her jacket aside to drag the tips of his fingers along the undersides of her breasts. “Are we going to be crazy together, or are we