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“I’m not sure ‘cool’ is the word you want.”
He glanced at her and gave her one of those slow smiles again. One of those smiles that made her stomach flip over and her heart start beating too fast. Yowza.
“ ‘P-pretty c-compelling,’ then,” he said.
“ ‘Compelling,’ I’ll believe.” She flipped the book over and opened it to the last page.
“Wuh-what are you doing?”
“Reading the ending.”
Sean tried to snatch the book from her hand, but she held it out of his reach. “D-don’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“It sssspoils the whole b-book.”
“No, it doesn’t. I like knowing how everything’s going to come out. Then I can read the story without all the anxiety.”
“Anxiety is p-p-part of the experience.”
“Not for me.” She finished reading the last paragraph and went back to his dog-eared page at the beginning. “You’re not very far. I take it you’ve read it before?”
“Yeah. I found it in my m-mom’s house. My old c-copy from high school.”
Katie dropped the book in her lap, liking that it was his from back then. Liking that he’d wrapped his big hands around it a minute ago. “I suppose you’re right. The cover could be worse.”
“The c-covers don’t t-tell you anything, anyway. Some of that stuff you read at work looks pretty trashy, and it still m-manages to hold your attention.”
That stuff you read at work. Oh, not good. Not good that he was turning out to be the sort of person who noticed things. Wedding rings and erotic novels.
What would she know about Sean if she’d only been more perceptive? He hadn’t shaved this morning, and she hadn’t realized a stubbled dimple was sexier than a regular one. Now she did.
“I’m not sure what books you’re talking about,” she said, leaning forward to turn down the heat controls for her side of the car. It was too warm. She peeled her sweater over her head and tossed it onto the backseat. Underneath, she wore a white camisole top and a red bra. She hadn’t anticipated taking the sweater off, so she hadn’t bothered to match the bra to anything. The straps showed, and the cups peeked out from the low neckline of her shirt. Parisian Katie said, Et alors?
“That b-book about phone sex,” he said. His voice had dropped to a lower register, and even though he kept his eyes on the road, her bare skin tingled as if he were looking. “The bondage one.” He paused, then added, “The one with the three-way.”
Oh, mama, the one with the three-way. “I never thought anybody paid any attention to what I was reading.”
Sean glanced her way, and the mischief in his eyes made her breath catch. She remembered that look from the aftermath of the kiss, and remembering it made her remember the kiss, and remembering the kiss made her pulse pick up and start throbbing in some very personal areas.
“I p-pay attention to everything.”
“But how do you know what’s in my books? Did you read them?”
“I read a lot of books,” he said. Which wasn’t any kind of answer.
“I hadn’t pegged you for the sort of guy who reads erotica. Isn’t that in violation of the Man Laws?”
“Is it?” He rubbed his fingers along his jaw, then asked, “What do you read those books for?”
“Same reason anyone does, I guess.”
“Are they your ffantasies?”
“Some of them,” she said. “Not all.”
His hands on the steering wheel drew her eyes. He had such big hands. His nails were blunt and short and unpretty. Rough hands. Hands that had gathered her close and held her in place when he took that kiss.
