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She blew out a long breath, still trembling slightly. “Are you seriously asking me that? It may take me hours to be okay again.”
He moved his hand to her breast, pressing against the nipple again. “I could try administering another cure.”
Her head fell back against his shoulder as she laughed quietly. “No. Interesting though that might be, I think we’ve pushed our luck as far as we can.”
She reached down to pull up her jeans and panties, then fastened the button and pulled up the zipper. “We should probably move.”
Liam shook his head. Moving was pretty low on his list of priorities. Plus, he wasn’t entirely sure he could. “Where? Why?”
“To the living room, because Carol’s not an idiot. If she finds us in here with the door closed, she’ll probably figure there’s been some hanky-panky going on.”
“Hanky-panky?” Liam grinned. “I prefer canoodling.”
“If that was canoodling, I’m revising my ideas of what my grandparents did during hay rides.” She pushed herself to her feet, pulling down her shirt and bra.
Liam glanced down at himself. His clothing was mostly in place, but there was nothing he could do about the sizeable bulge of arousal. Or rather, all the things he could do about it were currently off limits. “Does Carol ever have overnights?”
Ruth narrowed her eyes. “Sometimes.”
“Any chance she could have one soon?”
Ruth shook her head, giving him a rueful smile. “Come on, we need to move to the living room.” She took his hand, pulling him toward the door.
“It’s a reasonable question,” he mumbled as he followed her into the much less private room at the front of the house.
“You’re incorrigible.” Ruth tapped his arm, grinning at him.
“What’s incorrigible mean?” Carol rounded the landing, heading down the stairs to the living room.
Liam’s shock at seeing her almost down the stairs did quite a bit to tame his unruly body. “It means you can’t be changed or taught something.”
Carol frowned. “That sounds like it means stupid.”
“Not exactly. It’s not that you’re unable to learn, it’s that you’re unwilling to do it. Stubborn is closer to what it means than stupid.” Ruth gave her a bland smile.
Liam was amazed. To look at Ruth now, you’d never know she’d been lost in erotic bliss not ten minutes ago. Which he guessed was sort of the point. It was quite a skill.
She raised her eyebrows at Carol. “Did you bring your dishes down?”
Carol looked faintly disgruntled. “No.”
“Then go get them. I’ll be loading the dishwasher soon.”
Carol’s expression slid toward rebellion, but finally she turned and trotted back up the stairs again.
Ruth beckoned to him. “Your hair’s a little mussed.” She smoothed her hand across his forehead and then paused, her dark eyes luminous in the lamp light.
He’d never wanted to kiss a woman so badly. Particularly when he couldn’t, when he shouldn’t even consider it because her daughter would be back in the room within seconds.
He closed his eyes as he heard Carol’s footsteps on the stairs. “Dammit,” he whispered.
Ruth put a hand on his arm, maybe warning him to shut up.
Carol was apparently back into sulking mode. She marched through the living room, heading toward the kitchen without giving her mother a glance.
Liam drew some air into his lungs, which suddenly seemed mostly empty. Ruth’s eyes were laughing, but her expression was sober.
A moment later, Carol reemerged. “I put my own dishes in the dishwasher.” She made it sound as if it was a major accomplishment, to say nothing of a major imposition.
“Great. Thank you.” Ruth gave her a calm smile.
Carol made a noise that sounded a little like “hmph” and marched back up the stairs. Apparently, she’d had enough of insults like being forced to bring her dirty dishes down to be washed.
Liam leaned forward, resting his forehead on Ruth’s. “I feel like I’m in a bedroom farce without the bedroom.”
Ruth chuckled. “It’s not always this exciting. This has been an unusual evening.”
