AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She gaped. “She had you at gunpoint.”
“Right.”
“She made you take off all your clothes.”
“She didn’t reallymakeme,” he explained in his own defense, not wanting Caroline to think he’d been intimidated. In truth, he hadn’t been, not by the gun, at least. The Daddy threat had put the one and only shiver down his spine.
“Oh, so you just decided it was too warm in here this morning and decided to strip down to nothing to get some fresh air?”
“No.”
She tapped the tip of her fingertip on her cheek. “Let’s see, you’ve become a nudist since the last time I saw you?”
“Not exactly.”
“So, she was right? You consider yourself hot enough that she’d fall over in a faint when she saw your manly magnificence?”
“Something like that,” he replied with a long, low chuckle.
She rolled her eyes. “You’re not allthat, Mick.”
He raised a challenging brow, daring her to be honest. Once upon a time, he’d been all that and a lot more to this woman.
No, Caroline hadn’t exactly fainted away the first time she’d seen him naked. But she had dropped to the nearest flat surface pretty damn quick.
“She’s a nice, misguided lady, who I don’t think has ever had a date in her life,” he explained, recognizing that Caroline really did think he should call the police on poor, sad Louise. “So, yeah, I somehow thought I might be able to scare her off.”
“But you’re noBuddy.”
He remembered Louise’s comments about her daddy’s prize bull, who was famous in these parts. “Ahh, you were eavesdropping for quite a while, hmm?”
She pinkened. “Just…scouting out the situation before I decided what to do. I wasn’t sure whether I’d interrupted some lovers’ tryst, a robbery or a bizarre sex crime.”
Mick pulled his shirt on, tucked it in, then refastened his belt. It was easier to deal with Caroline when fully dressed. Half-naked felt too damned vulnerable. “What would you have done if it were a lovers’ tryst?”
“Backed out gracefully.”
“Bizarre sex crime?”
She didn’t hesitate. “Called the police.”
“And since it was neither,” he said suggestively, “you just decided to, uh…watch.”
She straightened her back, looking so stiff he thought she might break in two. “I did no such thing.”
“You were out there a long time,” he countered, keeping his voice at the level of a purr. “Staring at the…scenery.”
“The only scenery I was staring at was the nightmare on your butt.”
He couldn’t prevent a triumphant smile for getting her to admit she’d been staring at his naked body.
“I was trying to figure out what kind of man would shout his true nature to the world. ‘I am dog, hear me roar.’”
Tsking, he clarified, “It’s a wolf.”
“Same species.”
He shook his head. “Actually, no. But same genus, I think.”
