Touch Me by Christie Ridgway Read Free Book Online

spell Lily. She must have walked miles while jiggling the cranky baby.
    Payne slapped at the sedan’s dash. “Let’s go.”
    Now she had to deal with another demanding man-child. She scowled at him. “Rose needs coffee.”
    “Drive-through, then. I want to get to the yard.”
    Stifling her sigh, she reversed out of the driveway. Only marginally happier with twelve ounces of hot caffeine in her cupholder, she followed his navigational directions, all the while working hard to ignore the wide shoulders just inches away. Despite herself, she kept glancing down at his hands, resting on his spread knees.
    She frowned, again annoyed. Why did the man sit like that? As if he needed more room for his dick and balls than the average guy.
    “What did I do now, doll?” he said.
    Her gaze flicked to his face.
    “That’s a fierce expression you’re wearing.”
    “Maybe it has nothing to do with you. Maybe I’m thinking about the traffic.”
    “You’re thinking about me.”
    No way would she agree and give him and his ego the satisfaction…though it just might wipe that smirk off his face if she told him she was contemplating the size and shape of the Colson jewels.
    Hell, what was she thinking? He’d enjoy it.
    Now he laughed, low and sexy, which only pissed her off more, and she took the left turn into a dusty commercial area more sharply than she intended. It threw his body sideways, and the glancing blow of his shoulder to hers ran through her body like reverb.
    “All right?” he said, reaching over to squeeze her upper thigh.
    She slowed her speed and didn’t dare look at him. “Fine. Sorry.” His pinkie was too close to the inside seam of her jeans and she was certain he knew that.
    It didn’t take a genius—or a run-in with randy triplets—to realize his expertise in the melting panties department. Desire was already pulsing between Rose’s legs.
    Brushing away his hand, she focused on driving until she came to a stop before a chain link fence. The gate was closed with a heavy padlock.
    Black graffiti scrawled across the dented metal sign that announced the business hours. Used fast food wrappers were swirled by a listless wind that then kicked them against the rusty links of the fence. Beyond it she could see a ramshackle building that looked as if the big bad wolf could blow it down with a huff and a puff. Beyond the structure were rows of rusting hulks that had once been vehicles.
    Rose stared. Not that she expected Payne to be some hot-shot entrepreneur, that would be too much to expect from one spoiled rock prince, but this establishment looked downright seedy.
    “Nice place,” she said in a snide tone, and immediately felt ashamed. But slapping at him seemed a necessary defense, because the gusset of her panties was damp and she was struggling not to press her legs together to assuage the ache an almost-innocent touch had incited.
    Damn him and his fabulous body and too-handsome features. He’d always been wildly good-looking, but that was a bug, not a feature, she reminded herself. Women came too easy for him and the knowledge of that was all the immunity she needed.
    Yep, she was totally resistant. Really.
    It was best to escape the close confines of the car, though. “Aren’t we going in?”
    “Yeah.” He opened his door and climbed out, digging for keys at the same time. Then he released the padlock and pushed back the gate. Rose parked near the building on cracked blacktop that played host to tall weeds.
    Payne stepped over them and shoved a key in the front door’s lock. The room beyond was dusty and smelled like rubber tires and motor oil. A plastic-topped counter separated the entry from office space.
    They pushed through a swinging door to cross through that area to another, smaller room beyond a half-open door. When he flipped on the lights she saw battered metal file cabinets and a matching dinged-up desk on which sat a computer, phone, and haphazard stacks of papers. Pinned on the