We're One by Mimi Barbour Read Free Book Online

themselves from her cheeks. His shaking snapped her out of the groove, and she hurried to do his bidding.
    With the Parks security called in to play bodyguards, they cautiously made their way to her apartment, where he collected the paraphernalia for the cats, birds and turtle, and she stuffed a bag for herself. Before the door closed she reached behind it and grabbed her best friend, the slugger, and hefted it under her arm.
    Her human protector might have need of her old wooden standby. She wasn’t about to take any chances with that man’s health.
    Not as long as those incredible lips were attached to his body.
    She needed to keep him safe.
    She wanted more of his special brand of magic.

Chapter Six
     
    “What is wrong with you? Why are you being so hard to get along with?” Her temper ignited slowly, even when pushed, but if and when it caught, look out. She could feel the eruption coming.
    “I don’t understand why we couldn’t stay at my penthouse. Why you’ve dragged us to this dumpy motel. I don’t like sleeping in bug-infested beds in rundown dumps or dealing with smirky-faced desk clerks. He stared at you as if you were a Dixie cup full of his favourite ice cream, for heaven’s sake.”
    “Don’t yell at me.”
    “I’m not yelling!” The banging on the inside wall along with the distinct word, “Shaddup!” proved him wrong.
    “Sorry!” Sullen and childish, but cute as a choirboy, he made her grin. When he noticed, he had the grace to redden. “I had plans for us, and they sure as hell didn’t include this kind of surroundings. You don’t belong here. I don’t belong here. The guy at the desk thinks you’re a working girl and I’m your john. I don’t like it one bit.”
    He went to place his jacket over the chair back, but he stopped abruptly. Instead he threw it on the floor, kicked off his shoes and they flew, one landing by the window and the other on the coffee table. He brushed his hands together, and looked back at her with a pleased smirk on his face.
    She groaned, looked upwards, and shook her head slowly back and forth until she noticed his enquiring expression.
    She tiptoed over to where he sat morosely on the side of the twin bed, his hands flat on the washed-out mauve satin spread that almost matched the shoddy purple shag rug. “I realize you don’t like it, but I feel safe here.” The small room appeared dismal, reflected in the floor-length, tarnished mirror on the opposite wall from where they sat. But they were safe—away from the Strip and in a place where Arnie would never think to look.
    She rubbed her hand up and down his back. Leaning close, breast brushing his arm, she pacified him as best she could. Thoughts of getting those lips of his plastered to hers again bombarded her. She had no talents as a seductress, just the honest needs of a frustrated virgin, plus the reminiscences of the incredible tingling he’d initiated earlier.
    To think she had taken special care with her outfit. An angora sweater of the softest rose hue fitted her like a second skin, and her swirling grey maxi skirt snugged her body, showing off the curves most men craved to get their hands on. What the heck was wrong with this man?
    He sprang up, and she toppled over, sprawling against the mattress. She groaned, and the satin spread creased in her clutching hands.
    His gritty voice sounded choked, and his caustic tone deflated her hopes. “You’d better get some sleep. I’ll stay up and watch to make sure no one sneaks up on us. I’ve decided that tomorrow we drop the pets off at Rhett’s house for his housekeeper to look after. Then we catch the first flight to where he and Carrie are visiting her grandparents. It’s as good a place to hide as any.”
    “Where does her family live?”
    “A small place in England, called Bury. You’ll love it. There’s an old vicarage there I must show you.”
    She interrupted him. “Will your brother be able to help us stop Arnie?”
    “He’ll