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Charity swallowed thickly. Berating herself for being surprised by his words. He wasn’t anything like Blaine. She wasn’t making the same mistakes with the same awful kinds of men.
“Shaving my head would be drastic,” she forced herself to say, struggling to insert some levity into her strained voice. “Although, going from nearly two feet of hair to barely two inches is pretty extreme in itself, I suppose.”
He laughed and she relaxed even more.
“What
did you two get up to while I was gone?” she asked. She bent at the waist to rub Stormy’s head again, grateful to have the dog there to offer some distraction.
“We went for a short run on the shore—” He held up a palm when she opened her mouth to chastise him for that. “I paced myself and didn’t overdo it. But I’ve got to say…I’ve pretty much recovered most of my stamina…thanks to you.”
He chuckled when she blushed and continued. “I also texted my sister and mother. I then called Bryan, as well as Hugh, and convinced them to give me a proper business update. Without tennis or golf anecdotes to bore me into hanging up. It seems that everything is going swimmingly without me. And, finally, I caught up on my audiobook.”
“Oh? Did Willow and Delonix finish the second trials?”
“Not yet.”
“I’ll expect an update later.”
“Of course.”
“Have you eaten? You must be starving.”
“I ate. A cheese sandwich. I’m not completely helpless you know,” he said, with a grin, stepping toward her and winding an arm around her waist.
Her weird earlier mood had dissipated beneath their banter, and she barely tensed at the gesture. She hoped the instinctive initial reaction was small enough for him not to notice.
He gave her a quick kiss.
“I missed you.”
She twined her arms around his neck and reciprocated his next kiss with a lot more enthusiasm.
“I barely thought of you,” she lied breathlessly after the kiss ended, and he laughed.
“Good. That must mean you had fun.”
“I did.”
He still had his arms loosely looped around her waist and she tightened hers around his neck, getting comfortable as she told him about her afternoon. “Lia’s sister Daff Carlisle, and her, Daff’s, five-month-old baby, Connor, joined us for lunch. We were talking about makeovers for some reason and I mentioned needing a haircut. Lia convinced me to get one today, before I chickened out. I never could resist a dare.”
“No? Well then…I dare you to give me another kiss and see what happens.”
“Oh, I already know what’ll happen,” she countered with a laugh, before giving him a light, teasing kiss. “And that’s not much of a dare, really.”
“Well then, I dare you to…” he paused and seemed to consider his options, his eyes taking a lazy meander over her face and lingering on her lips. His breathing sped up, and she could feel his heart racing against her chest. “Take off your panties.”
Her lips parted in a slow grin, and she unwound her arms from around his neck and hiked up the skirt of her knee length dress. Maintaining eye contact, she hooked her fingers in the sides of her bikini panties and slid them down, deliberately brushing her abdomen against his lengthening hardness as she shimmied out of the scrap of fabric. She slipped off her pumps and stepped out of the silky, white panties.
“Yet another easy dare,” she taunted him, her own voice husky and breathless.
“Well then,” he muttered, clearly trying very hard to keep it together. “Why don’t you show me how it’s done?”
She gave him a long, searching look. The inflexible ridge of his penis was an insistent presence between them, his hair was mussed, his eyes glazed, and he was starting to pant. She wasn’t much better off. Her nipples were so hard, she wondered they didn’t make dents in his chest. She was soaking wet and more than ready for him. She was still shocked by how fast this man could turn her on. Every single time. All it took was a look, or a word, and she was ready to climb all over him.
Their chemistry was mind-boggling.
“I dare you…” She hesitated and licked her lips as she considered her options. Her gaze dropped to where Stormy was staring up at them, her head tilted in confusion and she chuckled.
