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“I’ll be right there.”
He gathered his thoughts while retrieving a big bag of sugar from the cabinet. With everything balanced on the tray, he headed back to the living room, expecting to find Kara on the couch, snuggled under one of his grandmother’s quilts. When he found the cushions empty, he paused.
“Hey, sweetie,” Kara’s soothing voice called out.
The tray rattled in his hands. Sweetie? Every nerve ending stood on high alert. Had he heard her correctly?
“Come on over here,” she crooned.
His heart careened into his ribs with enough velocity to leave
a big bruise. Where was she? In the bedroom? A flood of testosterone roared through Jason’s eager body, drowning out the pleading strains of his common sense.
“Hey, big boy. You know you want to. I promise I won’t bite.”
CHAPTER FIVE
JASON SNAPPED HIS gaping mouth closed. His jaw clenched, grinding his back teeth together.
The tray in his hands tilted. The tea sloshed over the rim of the cup, while the sack of sugar slid to the edge. He righted the tray before the contents could spill onto the floor. In haste, he safely deposited the armload on the table.
“Kara?” He cleared the hoarseness from his voice. “Where are you?”
“Over here.”
He scanned the couch and the two easy chairs, but saw no sign of her. “Quit playing games.”
“I’m down here.”
His gaze fell to the floor, and in the corner, behind the easy chair, he spotted the most enticing derriere sticking up in the air.
“Come on, sweetie,” she coaxed. “A little closer.”
His heart rate shot into the triple digits and showed no signs of slowing down. He reached for the back of the couch to anchor himself. His ears must be playing tricks on him. She despised him...didn’t she?
“Please,” she crooned. “I promise to be gentle.”
“Kara,” he said. “What are you doing?”
“There’s the sweetest kitty under this chair.”
“You’re talking to the cat?”
She raised her head to look at him. Amusement danced in her green eyes. “You thought I was talking to you?”
Her lips bowed and a peal of laughter danced through the room, making him all the more uncomfortable.
“It’s not funny!” The air grew uncomfortably warm and he yanked at his shirt collar. He shouldn’t have built that fire up so much. “Leave the cat alone. She’ll come out if she wants to. Your tea’s on the table. I’m going to grab a shower.”
He headed for the bedroom, needing a cold, cold shower to set him straight. On second thought, he’d be better off to go outside and roll around in the mounting snow. He could just imagine the steam billowing off his body. How was it possible that woman could still drive him crazy, like some hormonal teenager?
With the door firmly closed, he raked his fingers through his hair. He sucked in a ragged breath. The cat. He shook his head in disbelief. Wow, he’d been alone way too long.
Maybe once he got the resort back in operation, he’d consider spending an evening or two with a cute snow bunny. The problem was when he closed his eyes and sought out the ideal woman to spend time with, his mind automatically conjured up Kara’s image.
Jason groaned. Boy, he was in deep trouble. If he couldn’t keep his feelings for her in check for this one evening, how in the world would they work together?
* * *
