Page 48 of Baby It's Cold Outside

She shook her head. “First I attacked you, then I practically took off all my clothes in front of you—”

“That,” he interrupted, “was my favorite part. In case you were wondering.”

“Then I dump all my sorry dating woes in your lap and then I...then I...”

“Propositioned me,” he supplied, smiling as she obviously cast around for the right phrasing, her cute pixie cheeks a pretty shade of pink. “That was my second-favorite part.”

She groaned as she covered her face with her hands and his smile broadened to a grin. “Oh God, I can’t believe I did that... I told you all that...stuff...I’m so, so sorry...”

“Don’t be. I particularly liked the bit about how talking dirty to you makes you come.”

She gasped as she dropped her hands, and the look of scandal on her face would have been perfectly at home on a Victorian maiden. “I did not say that,” she sputtered.

He held her gaze as he raised an eyebrow and watched the slow dawning of truth. He tried very hard not to laugh out loud as pink turned to crimson.

“Oh God, I did, didn’t I?” She shook her head and shut her eyes tightly, as if she could erase the embarrassing admission by making him temporarily disappear. Then she opened them, a cool change in her gaze as she stood a little straighter. He admired her gumption. “Well, of course, I didn’t mean that,” she said as she picked nonexistent fluff off her gray turtleneck. “It was just the rum talking. It gives me this...temporary insanity...kind of like Tourette’s. It’s not pretty.”

Luke threw back his head and laughed. She was quick on her feet. Must be, dealing with all those expert kindergarten fabrications. “Liar,” he grinned at her haughty stance. “It’s okay. They say knowledge is power.”

And I am so going to use that interesting little tidbit later.

Just like that, her hard-fought composure vanished. “What?” She shook her head wildly, making her pixie haircut just a little more unruly, a little more sexy. “No. Really. I was drunk. Utterly intoxicated. I didn’t mean...I don’t...I don’t mean...that.”

He reached out to cover her hand, not surprised when she withdrew it as if he’d admitted to having anthrax. “Is the idea of you and me so ridiculous?”

“You and me?” she squeaked.

“Yes. You and me. A snowy cabin. A New Year’s Eve kiss? One of those of deep, wet, hungry ones you seem to like so much?” His gaze dropped to her mouth. The more her words had wormed into his brain the more he was tempted to partake. “It seems a shame to let such an...opportunity pass us by.” He shrugged. “You never know, it could be the start of something beautiful.”

Her throat bobbed and he dropped his gaze farther to follow the fascinating movement. “That is ridiculous,” she said.

Luke wasn’t so sure. He was liking the idea more and more. “Why? Because I’m younger than you?”

Her indignant snort should have been a sign to back down, but he’d never been one for reading signs. “Yes, that. And, your sister is a close friend. And…”

He waited calmly for her next decree. When it wasn’t forthcoming, he prompted. “And?”

“I don’t need pity sex,” she whispered loudly.

Even though Luke was pretty damn sure she did, he didn’t call her on it. Her chest rose and fell in little agitated shudders, and there were two spots of color high on her cheeks.

“Okay, sure. But just so you know, it wouldn’t be pity sex. It would be really hot, I’m-totally-into-you sex. Although I do really good pity sex, too. Actually I do really good sex, period.”

“You’re really quite cocky, aren’t you?” she snapped.

He grinned as she pinked up a little more at her unintentional referral to something she was obviously trying to avoid. “Well now, that’s for me to know and you to find out, isn’t it?”

She huffed at him. Actually huffed. It shouldn’t have been a turn-on, but it was.

“Let’s not talk about this anymore, okay?” she asked, and he’d have to have been deaf to not hear the pleading in her voice. “Can we just pretend that none of what happened, actually happened?”

“Okay.” It was cool. He could be patient. The snow was still bucketing down outside—neither of them was going anywhere. He sat back and crossed his arms across his chest. “What do you want to talk about?”

She blinked at him a few times, which was cute and distracting but not enough to negate the desperation on her face. He could almost see the cogs turning in her brain.

“I...thought you’d told Georgia you couldn’t be here for her birthday?”

He smiled. Good save. “Dates are kind of fluid over there. Often plans can change at the drop of a hat. I didn’t want to disappoint her if things didn’t work out...so now I get to surprise her. Win-win.”

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