Kiss an Angel(64)

As she entered the trailer, she saw him standing at the sink drying his hands. A silly sort of giddiness passed through her. He looked too big for such small confines, and she decided those dark, brooding good looks were better suited to roaming a nineteenth-century English moor than managing a twentieth-century traveling circus. He turned and she caught her breath against the impact of his amber eyes.

“I’d like to borrow the keys to the truck,” she said when she found her voice. “I need to do some shopping.”

“Are you out of cigarettes already?”

“You must not have noticed. I’ve stopped smoking.”

“I’m proud of you.” He tossed the damp paper towel in the trash, and she saw how his T-shirt clung to his sweat-dampened chest. A grease mark cut across the sleeve. “If you wait an hour or so, I’ll drive you.”

“I’d rather go alone. This morning I noticed a laundromat next to the town library. I thought I could do the laundry and catch up on some reading at the same time. Is that a problem?”

“Not exactly. I just think it might be better if I drive you.”

“Are you afraid I’ll run off with your truck?”

“No. I just—it’s not really my truck. It belongs to the circus, and you’re probably not used to driving anything like it.”

“I’m an excellent driver. I’m not going to wreck it.”

“You don’t know that for a fact.”

She held out her hand, determined to have her way in this. “Please give me the keys.”

“I wouldn’t mind a trip to the library myself.”

She gave him her steeliest gaze. “The keys, please.”

He rubbed his chin with his knuckle as if he were thinking it over. “I’ll tell you what. Unbutton your shirt and I’ll give you the keys.”

“What?”

“It’s my best offer. Take it or leave it.”

As she saw what passed for mischief glinting in his eyes, she wondered how someone so serious could have such a playful nature when it came to sex. “You actually expect me to . . .”

“Uh-huh.” He leaned back against the sink and crossed his arms over his chest waiting for her.

A flare of heat bolted through her as she saw the desire in his eyes. She was by no means certain she was ready for another sexual encounter with him, but on the other hand, what would be the harm in a little naughty foreplay? The dampness of her blouse reminded her she’d been working all morning and wasn’t any too clean. On the other hand, neither was he, and after all, they were just playing around, so what did it matter?

She looked down her nose at him in her best imitation of royalty. “I’m certainly not going to use my body as barter. That’ s offensive.”

“I’m sorry you feel that way.” He withdrew the keys from his pocket and, with exaggerated innocence, tossed them up and down in his palm.

The soft skin of her breasts prickled beneath her damp shirt, and the nipples pebbled. “How would you like it if I did something like this to you?”

“Sweetheart, I’d love it.”

Suppressing a smile, she slowly opened the top button. “Maybe just a peek.” An inner voice told her she was playing with fire, but she ignored it.

“A peek might get you the key to the tailgate, but not the ignition.”

She opened another button. “What do I have to do to get the ignition key?”

“Have you got a bra on?”

“Yes.”

“You’ll have to take it off.”

She should call a halt to this game right now, but instead she opened another button. “You are responsible for the truck, so I suppose it’s only fair that you dictate the terms.”

He looked amused.

She took her time with the last buttons. When they were open, she lightly clasped the front edges of the blouse in her palms and toyed with them, deliberately teasing him even as she recognized that this was a dangerous sort of mischief. “Maybe I should think about this some more.”

“Don’t make me get rough.” His smoky whisper didn’t bear the slightest trace of menace, but it still made her shiver.

“Since you put it that way . . .” She parted the blouse, revealing the floral print bra that stuck to her skin.

“Open that clasp.”

She toyed with it but didn’t unfasten it.

“Do as I say and nobody’ll get hurt.”

She couldn’t hold back a smile as she opened the clasp. Slowly, she peeled the moist lacy cups away from her breasts and stood before him like a wanton, fully dressed, but with her blouse open and her breasts exposed.

“Beautiful.” His whispered compliment made her feel like the most treasured woman on earth.

“Good enough for an ignition key?”

“Good enough for the whole damn truck.”

In two long strides, he had her in his arms. His mouth swooped down to cover hers, and the world spun like a crazy carousel. He shoved her blouse down over her shoulders, then clasped her hips and lifted her just enough so he could grind against her. She felt him hard and demanding and knew the time for teasing had come to an end.

Blood rushed hot and needy through her veins. She opened her mouth to his tongue as he swept her from her feet and carried her toward the bed where he dropped her none too gently on the mattress.