AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It was hard to believe that a day that had taken such dramatic turns could end up so cozily on her couch.
There was a break in the game, and a silly beer ad filled the television screen. Grace glanced at her watch. “You need to take another painkiller in a few minutes. Can I get you anything else to drink?”
“Thanks, but I still have half a can of soda left.”
“Is your arm hurting?”
He shrugged. “It’s making itself known, but it’s tolerable.”
She glanced at his bandages. “It has to hurt. I’ve burned myself before and it’s awful.”
To illustrate, she twisted her left leg and pointed to a whitish oval scar on the back of her calf. “I did this on the exhaust pipe of a motorcycle when I was fifteen and too dumb to know it was hot. That sucker hurt like hell for weeks.”
He looked intrigued. “Were you driving the bike?”
“No, I was riding on the back—barefoot and wearing a pair of shorts. I did have on a helmet.”
“That’s encouraging, I suppose. So who was driving?”
“The high school bad boy. Everyone called him Bodie. His hair was long and his ears were pierced. He was the first guy I actually knew who had a tattoo. It was a skull with a snake coming out the mouth.”
“Charming.”
She wrinkled her nose, remembering the thrill of riding that powerful motorcycle with a boy everyone considered dangerous. She’d had to sneak around to see him, since her parents practically went into spasms every time his name was mentioned.
Bryan eyed her speculatively. “So far you’ve mentioned dating a biker and a rodeo cowboy. Drawn to the rebel type, are you?”
She looked intently at the television screen, where the baseball game was back in play. “I suppose I was—once.”
“What about Chloe? Did she ever tiptoe on the wild side?”
She gave a short laugh. “Chloe dated the president of the chess club. In college, her boyfriend was the vice president of the College Republicans. Donovan’s the most dangerous man she’s ever been involved with—and he’s a white-collar rebel.”
“An interesting way to describe him.”
“A former soldier turned bodyguard turned corporate executive. What would you call him?”
“I just call him my friend.”
She took a sip of her soda, then nearly spewed it across the room when she felt Bryan’s fingers on her bare leg. She lowered the aluminum can to look at him. “What are you doing?”
“Just looking at your scar—in case mine ends up the same way.” He traced the outline of the scar with one fingertip—and it was all she could do not to shiver in reaction.
She tried to speak coherently. “I, uh…maybe you’ll luck out and you won’t have a scar at all.”
“I could always cover it with a tattoo. Would you find that irresistibly attractive?”
She had no intention of admitting that she already came all too close to thinking of him that way. “I told you, I outgrew that sort of thing a long time ago.”
He was still stroking her leg—very lightly, his fingertips barely brushing her skin. “What would it take for you to find me irresistible?”
“A miracle,” she snapped, shifting her weight on the couch.
He gave her a smile that should have been illegal. “I’m rather good at arranging miracles.”
As he spoke, he tickled the back of her knee, a spot she had never realized was particularly erotic—until now. A quiver ran just beneath her skin from that point of contact to the center of her abdomen. She gulped and swung her feet to the floor. “I’ll get your pills. I think you need to be medicated again.”
“I can wait awhile longer.”
