Page 22 of Chasing Dreams
As if by some sort of mutual amazement, they moved fractionally apart. His breath still touched her face. Reciprocal yearning configured his expression, and she prayed it wasn’t just something she wanted to read.
“Is that what you meant by trusting instincts?” she half whispered.
The portal to the inner man she’d seen only a second ago disappeared, and his protective shell once again separated them. He moved back and released a pent-up breath. “Didn’t get anywhere with the food, so you’ll try a new tactic, right?”
She blinked. “What?”
“Think coming on to me will win me over? Change my mind?” His mouth curved up in a cynical smile that pierced her to the quick. “I won’t change my mind about what I’m going to teach you.”
As if she’d intended for that to happen. As if she’d been the one to initiate it. Shaine picked up her cup and carried it toward the kitchen. “You’re crude.”
“No, I’m honest.” The look on her face would have been the same if he had slapped her. Austin couldn’t help watching her move around the divider. He’d been too long without female company.
She ran water in the sink, and for some illogical reason he went after her.
She stopped scrubbing the pan and spun around, indignation burning in the depths of her gemstone eyes. “The thought of exchanging favors never crossed my mind, Mr. Allen. But if that’s what it took to find my nephew, you can believe I’d do it. Compromising myself would be a small price to pay for that little boy’s welfare.”
The anger dissipated from her body as though a force field of energy had been turned off. Suds dripped from her fingertips to the floor, and when she spoke again, her voice had lost its bravado. “If only it were that easy.”
He didn’t have the skills it took to relate to her, to anyone. His defensiveness was unbecoming, and he knew it. Immediately sorry, Austin started to move forward, but stopped himself before he invaded her space. Getting too close to her again wasn’t smart. “You’re right. I am crude. I don’t mingle with polite society much.”
She shrugged as if it were of little consequence.
“I apologize.”
“Might as well have it all out,” she replied, dried her hands and opened the dishwasher door.
“Look, I haven’t apologized to anyone in the last decade. You may as well acknowledge it because it might be another ten years.”
She rinsed the plates and loaded them. “I accept your apology. There.”
He put away the wine and took Daisy outdoors to give her the steak bones. The sooner this woman was gone, the better. She was beyond his experience. She wasn’t a client or a one-night stand. He sensed the initial upheaval in his gut. She had the ability to turn him inside out. She was trouble.
He wasn’t going to let her open any old wounds or allow her to carve new ones. He’d been attracted to a woman before. But not with this intensity nor with this chest-tightening longing that didn’t really feel like a physical ache that could be appeased. And if he’d been hurt by that past desire, he could only fathom the devastation that would come from deep and dangerous yearning.
Whatever happened and however he handled this time with her, he would either have to regret it or justify it forever.
Chapter 5
His face hidden by deep shadows, his mere presence filled her with trembling anticipation. She wished she was brave enough to go to him, but she wasn’t. She unerringly knew everything would change—she would change if she made a move. She didn’t have to. The dream man came closer until his warm breath caressed her chin, and her skin tingled. He wanted her. As badly as she wanted him it seemed. In his arms she felt secure, desired, safe. His lips hovered near the corner of her mouth as an eager response rose within.
Daringly, Shaine crushed her body against his, pressing closer, as close as possible. yet not close enough. She wanted to envelop him, to possess him She wanted to know...
His voice, soft and low, spoke against her lips, uttering words that drove her out of her mind with need. He pressed a chain of kisses across her chin, down the column of her neck to her shoulder. He kissed her throat, and her breath came out in a shudder.
From the other room a dog barked
“No, no, don’t stop, ” she whispered, but the shadow had already disappeared.
Her chest ached with poignant emptiness, and the unexpected night air chilled her heated flesh.
The dog barked again.
Heart pounding, Shaine leapt from the bed and raced to the railing, unable to see anything in the dark room below. Daisy’s agitated barking continued. Barefoot and dressed in her cotton nightshirt, Shaine groped her way down the stairs, clinging to the banister.
At the bottom, she ran solidly into a heated wall of flesh. “Oh!”
Hands gripped her shoulders to steady her just as she brought her fingers up and met the warm skin and springy hair of Austin’s chest. She jerked her hand back like she’d touched fire. He released her.
