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He turned her hand over. “Your hands are pretty smooth for a climber.” He ran his thumbs over the tips of her fingers.
“I don’t climb as much as you do. Also, I have a secret weapon.”
“You avoid washing up and lounging in hot tubs?”
“That, too, but also I use a honey moisturizer that we sell at the café. It’s good. You?”
“Grapeseed oil. And I rely on athletic tape.” He let go of her hand and sat back.
She felt a pang of regret. “You’re worried about gossip?”
He smiled. “I was thinking about you. You’re the one who has to carry on living here after I’ve left.”
It was a reminder that he’d be moving on and she’d be staying here, doing the things she always did. Talking to the same people she always talked to. Climbing the same mountains she always climbed. Running the café.
She reached for her beer and took a mouthful.
The years stretched ahead of her and she caught a glimpse of her future, which looked the same as her present. No surprises. No adventure. The only change would be the patterns she created on top of her cappuccinos. Her life was depressingly predictable.
And whose fault was that?
She put the bottle down. “I feel I ought to warn you that I’m about to kiss you.”
His expression didn’t change. “Interesting. But if hand-holding will create gossip, what will kissing do?”
“We’re about to find out. It’s my civic duty to give the community something new to talk about.”
There was a pause. “And you’re all right with that?”
“I’m going to learn not to care. This is a good place to start.” She stood up, took his face in her hands and pressed her mouth to his before she could change her mind.
At first the kiss was slow and gentle. She controlled it, he responded, and although his mouth was warm and undeniably skilled, he was also careful and restrained as if he was holding back. And then something shifted.
She’d intended the kiss to be fun. A statement perhaps, or possibly an experiment. She hadn’t anticipated that he might play an active part in that experiment.
He slid his hand behind her head, keeping their mouths fused as the kiss turned hotter and more urgent. She felt the skill of his mouth, the slide of his tongue, and lost all sense of time and place. It was insanely erotic, her response to him shockingly raw and primal. To anybody watching, nothing had changed, but for her everything had changed. Her heart hammered against her chest. Pleasure exploded inside her and her body was saturated with need. She lowered her hands to his shoulders, no longer confident that her limbs could hold her.
When he eventually withdrew his mouth from hers, she couldn’t work out why he would end something that felt so good.
His gaze held hers, his eyes sleepy and dark with desire.
Her heart was pounding. The loud hum of background noise faded to nothing. It was only as she floated back to earth that she heard the catcalls.
Why, oh why, had she chosen to do something so personal in a public place?
Having to sto
p almost killed her. She wasn’t sure she would have done it if he hadn’t eased away.
She stared into his eyes. “You...kissed me.”
“I did. My memory is a little hazy right now, but I seem to remember you started it.”
Her gaze dropped to his mouth. “You have hidden talents.”
He stood up. “Pick up your coat, Posy McBride.”
“Why? Where are we going?”
