Stirring Attraction by Sara Jane Stone Read Free Book Online

And just thinking about those pink toes . . .
    He glanced down at his lap and willed himself not to feel a thing. He couldn’t want her. They’d traveled down that road and hit too many dead ends. She’d built a life here. And his had taken him to places he didn’t want to remember. He’d fought through nightmares, so damn determined to make it all worthwhile, until one man with a gun had stripped away his sense of purpose.
    And if they couldn’t make their relationship work when he was something—­a soldier, a ranger—­Lily wouldn’t want him now. Even if they got past her desire to hurl things at him for daring to come home to watch over her, he had a feeling she’d still be pissed he hadn’t shown up years earlier looking for her heart.
    Knock.
    His head turned to the passenger side window and his gaze locked on Lily. She’d exchanged her work clothes for black athletic shorts and a hot-­pink long-­sleeve top. Her blond hair hung in a long ponytail down her back, and in her hands, she held two steaming mugs.
    He leaned across the car’s center console and opened the passenger side door. “You’re up early,” he murmured.
    â€œComing from the man who I’m guessing never closed his eyes last night.” She handed him a mug. “I thought you might need a cup of coffee. It’s black. I haven’t gone grocery shopping in a while, so no milk.”
    â€œThank you.” He accepted the cup with his good hand and raised it to his lips. After his first sip, he nodded to the passenger seat. “Care to join me?”
    She climbed into the car, her own mug gripped between her hands. “You can’t live in your car, Dominic. The neighbors will call the cops eventually.”
    â€œMy dad is eager to see me, but I doubt he’ll arrest me,” he said mildly. Having her here, so close, after a long night of watching her sleep and wanting her no matter how much he tried to deny it sent mixed signals to his tired body. And yeah, most of those instructions headed below the belt. He shifted again.
    â€œYour father’s missed you.” She raised her mug and sipped her coffee. “I’m wondering, what did Ryan have to do to drag you back here? Hog-­tie you?”
    He said your name.
    But now, after she’d welcomed him by hurling things at him, probably wasn’t the best time to tell her he still had feelings for her. She’d probably toss her hot coffee at him if he sat here and explained that he planned to channel his emotions into playing bodyguard.
    â€œI’d never let that happen,” he said.
    She cocked her head and looked right at him. “That’s what was missing from our relationship. You never let me tie you up.”
    He drank in her sarcastic tone. Then he let out a laugh and shook his head. “That’s going to stay in your wildest fantasies, honey. But I’m sure as . . . sure happy you’re still joking around after everything.”
    â€œNo, not really,” she murmured, her voice flat and humorless now. “Not anymore.”
    â€œLil, you can’t let that bastard take that away from you. You can’t move on, shake the memories if—­”
    â€œYour dad thinks I’m safe,” she said. “The guy from the park—­he’s not after me. And he never was.”
    â€œBut you don’t agree.”
    â€œYou ruined everything.”
    Well shit, that pretty much summed it up, didn’t it?
    And he knew it wasn’t because he’d never let her bind him to the bedposts and have her way with him.
    â€œThat’s what he said,” she continued. “When he attacked me. And those words, his voice . . . it felt personal.”
    â€œYou shared this with my dad?” He worked to keep his tone neutral and not jump to conclusions based on things he shouldn’t feel for her after all this time.
    She