The Fantasy Factor by Kimberly Raye Read Free Book Online

received.”
    “Service?” Her gaze went from Mr. Jenkins to Houston. “But we’re closed today.”
    “But I just bought a dozen of those azalea bushes over there.”
    Her gaze went to Houston and he shrugged. “We’re here so you might as well do a little business.”
    “You can deliver them first thing tomorrow. I’ll be waiting.”
    “Deliver?” Her gaze switched to Houston again. “We don’t make deliveries.”
    “What she means,” he told Mr. Jenkins, “is that we haven’t made deliveries in the past. This will be our first.”
    “Wonderful.” Mr. Jenkins waved. “See you tomorrow.”
    “What are you doing?” Sarah turned on Houston the moment the bell tinkled behind the old man.
    “Giving the customer what he wants. He wanted a delivery, so I offered a delivery.”
    “But I don’t make deliveries.”
    “You should. People want full service and they’re more than happy to pay extra for it.” He held up Mr. Jenkin’s check. “Twenty dollars for maybe ten cents of gas and a little trouble. Not bad for a day’s work.”
    “But I don’t have a truck.”
    “I do.”
    She shook her head. “You can’t just come in here and start pushing me.”
    “Who’s pushing? I saw an opportunity and I took it. Isn’t that what building a business is all about?”
    “But this isn’t your business. It’s mine.”
    “Then you should be thanking me. If you advertise a little, you could make a killing.”
    “I don’t want to make a killing. I just want to do my duty for as long as necessary, and then I’m out of here.”
    “So make a killing in the meantime. Haven’t you ever heard of living for the moment?”
    Of course she’d heard of it. She’d practically invented it in her previous life.
    One that didn’t seem nearly as far off and distant with Houston Jericho so close and staring at her so intently.
    “Leave things alone. Leave me alone.” Her voice softened and the desperation rolling inside her crept into the next word. “Please.”
    He shrugged. “Is that what you really want?”
    No. “Yes. I’ve been doing fine, just fine, and I want to keep doing just fine. I don’t need you making my life more complicated. I want to keep things simple.”
    “You mean boring.”
    “I mean simple. I go to work each day, I look after my grandma, and I go home. Simple.”
    “Sounds boring.”
    “It is. That’s the point. It’s boring and it’s easy and I’ve fallen into a nice routine. I don’t need you stirring things up.”
    “Maybe you do.”
    “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    “That maybe me leaving you alone isn’t the answer. Maybe the answer is for me not to leave you alone.” His voice dropped to a low murmur. “You thought about me last night, didn’t you?”
    “In your dreams.” She turned and busied herself spraying the leaves on a ficus.
    “No.” His deep voice came from behind a heartbeat before he forced her around. “In your dreams. Your fantasies. You saw me last night, didn’t you?”
    No. The word was there on the tip of her tongue and all she had to do was open her lips and let it out. But she couldn’t. Not with him staring at her, into her. She nodded.
    “I saw you, too. I saw you all slick.” He touched her cheek, traced the shape with his callused fingertip before making his way down the damp skin of her neck. “As slick as you are right now.”
    “I saw you,” she admitted. “You were slick, too. And soapy.” And aroused. He’d been fully aroused and she’d been ready for him.
    “The shower scene. I’ve thought about it so many times. And the others, too. I can’t help but wonder what you would look like in number five. What you would sound like in number six. What you would taste like in number seven.”
    “The same as the first three. All the same.”
    “Probably. But I don’t know for sure. That’s the damned trouble of it all.” His gaze fired an intense gold as hot as the Texas sun and just as scorching. “I need to know,