Taboo (A Classic Romance) by Mallory Rush Read Free Book Online

it, soaking up the wonder, the sinful richness she could easily grow to crave.
    All too soon the stolen moments of their uneasy peace purred to a halt as the tires contacted the worn bricks of her driveway. Grant cut the engine, and the motor's rumble ceased. So did the music, leaving only the sound of her own breathing, too loud and erratic.
    She looked straight ahead, afraid to confront whatever she might see in his dark, somber, and newly compelling gaze. Then he placed her hand on his thigh and pressed.
    Cammie swallowed hard. His jeans were smooth and faded and hugged his skin tight. She felt the heat of his body through the denim, and the well-honed muscle tauten in response to her touch.
    "Why?"
    His whisper filled up the small space while the simple question curled disconcertingly around and through her head.
    "Why, what?" she asked.
    "Why, after all this time? Why did it take you so long? And why now?"
    "I don't know what you mean."
    The futile lie sounded hollow, even to her. She was certain Grant heard it. Damn, why did they have to know each other so well? Their closeness was fast becoming more enemy than ally.
    "You know exactly what I mean," he said. "Don't try playing games with me, Cammie. You know as well as I do what's going on. I want an answer. I want to know what happened to make the change."
    What happened? Oh, nothing, brother dear. I just saw you naked, and like a peeping Tom I couldn't pry my eyes away, any more than I could stop an arousal I couldn't control, that left me so weak my legs were shaking.
    She took one last forbidden taste of the feel of his thigh beneath her palm, then forced her hand away. She clasped her hands tight in her lap, not trusting her wayward need.
    "I... Grant, I don't know. All I do know is we're playing with something dangerous, and we've got to quit before it goes any further."
    He ignored her warning and clasped her shoulders, forcing her to face him. She made herself try to shrug him away. He merely increased the pressure of his grip.
    "You're lying, Cammie. But whatever happened, you can keep it to yourself for now. I'll gladly take the results, whatever the cause."
    "It's wrong, Grant. Try all you like to deny it, what we're doing is wrong."
    "Is it?" He lifted one hand to her neck, sliding it down the slender column with a feather-light touch, then stroking his thumb over the hollow where her pulse thrummed in a giveaway rush.
    Cammie cursed herself for the immediacy of her response, for the wildness surging against her will.
    "You shouldn't do that," she said.
    "Yes, I should." He bent his head closer, and for a heart-stopping moment she thought he was going to kiss her. He stopped scant inches away and whispered, "How can anything so good be wrong?"
    She didn't have an answer. She couldn't even think. Her throat constricted and she tried to swallow past the thickness.
    "Have I ever told you what it does to me whenever our eyes meet?" he murmured.
    She managed a jerky shake of her head.
    Grant moved his hand up her arm and into her hair, toying with the curls at her nape.
    "No? Then did I ever tell you how I wish I could bury my face in your hair?"
    "No," she whispered.
    He slid his fingers back up her throat to trace her bottom lip with his thumb.
    "I guess you have no idea then of how many times I've imagined tasting your mouth. Not only tasting. Kissing you like mad and driving you as crazy as I am for you. It's why I love to buy you ice cream, so I can watch you lick it down to the cone and pretend it's me on your tongue instead."
    As he spoke in a low, soothing voice, she could feel her tongue moving against her teeth, as though it begged for the freedom to indulge in his fantasy. Her breasts felt fuller, heavy and straining. She tried to deny the moistness flowing in betrayal between her thighs, but the ache was too strong to ignore the throb, the pulse.
    "Please..." she begged. Though for what she begged, she didn't know. Was it for his illicit touch? Or was