Page 53 of Fall for You
By jumping on his back.
“Hey!” But he was laughing as he swung her around and dropped down so he was crushing her against the ground.
“Ack!” She was wheezing with laughter by the time their tussle ended in a stalemate—her arm was choking his neck, but he still had her pinned.
His breath was hot and heavy in her ear, and the atmosphere was quickly changing temperature. Stunned by the realization that her need to beat this man was quickly shifting into an overpowering desire to kiss him, she let her guard down for a second and he took advantage, snatching her wrist and pinning it over her head.
She stared up at him, unable to avoid tracing his lips with her gaze, and she could sense the change within him.
He knew. He knew what she was thinking…wanting.
Her eyes bulged. Nope! No, she could not kiss Dallas King! He was Bailey’s brother. He was…annoying! The boy who spent their childhoods pranking her.
He…he couldn’t possibly be this attractive, this…irresistible.
Biting her lips together, she wiggled out from beneath him before she did something stupid. He let her go, his face as pale as hers as he sat back, settling his butt on the cold ground and basically gaping at her.
They sat there like that for a minute, panting and so obviously reeling.
“Uh…” Running a hand through his sweaty hair, Dallas finally murmured, “Truce?”
She took a quick breath. Then another. But her head was still spinning as she nodded, her voice coming out weak and shaky. “Truce.”
He climbed to his feet and then reached down a hand to help her up.
For a second, there was a heavy silence. Not necessarily awkward, but not the easy camaraderie they’d had for the last half hour.
Great. All that happy energy she’d been basking in—that reprieve she’d so desperately needed—was disappearing so fast there was no chance she could get it back.
But then Dallas gave her a lopsided grin and nodded toward the trail. “You done, or do you want to come with me to finish my run?”
A snort popped out of her before she could stop it, and she started jogging to the path, throwing over her shoulder, “Do you even have to ask?”
Chapter Twenty-Four
It was much too nice of a day to be trapped behind his desk.
Eric clicked his pen rhythmically, but his father either couldn’t hear it or was choosing to ignore it as he wrapped up a tedious story about his latest golf game.
When he finally came to an end, Eric leaned forward to speak into his phone, which was set to speaker. “Okay, well, if that’s all…”
But before he could hit the End Call button, his dad spoke up. “Of course that’s not all. That’s not even why I called.”
“Ah.” Eric refrained from pointing out that his father had spent the last twenty minutes talking golf, so it was hardly his fault that he’d missed the real point of this interruption to his day.
“I spoke to Fred,” his father continued.
Eric stared out the window, trying and failing to conjure an image of Fred. It was one of the lawyers, but which one? “Oh?”
His father sighed loudly, clearly exasperated, and Eric shifted in his seat. He knew what was coming.
“What’s this I hear about you backing down in the property battle?”
Eric winced. “I didn’tback down.” His tone dripped with disdain. “Why would I back down against the Kings? They’re no match for us.”
“Maybe so, but I’m expecting you to see this through, Eric. Developing the shoreline is huge for Blue Sky. Are you sure you can handle it?”
Eric’s temper flared, and it took everything in him to keep his voice steady as he resisted the urge to thump his desk and bark like a rabid dog.
