Page 69 of The Best Laid Plans

Burke came up behind me and braced an arm against the dumpster. He bent one leg at the knee, then tapped the side of my bare leg. “Set your foot on my thigh.”

Right.

He dropped his hand, but the heat of it remained on my skin. With a more solid place to brace my weight, I could get a better grip on the dumpster and use my upper-body strength to haul the other leg over. When I was straddling the ledge, I could finally see what I was looking at.

“Oooh, there are a couple of lights that aren’t broken. They still have chains on and everything.”

“Oh goody.”

I shot him a look. “I don’t dare set these down on the ground in case the glass breaks. I’ll hand them out; you’ll have to walk them one at a time to the car so you can set them in the back seat carefully.”

He cocked his head. “Did I miss apleasein there somewhere? Manners go a long way, Cunningham.”

I turned and gently dropped my feet into the dumpster until I had fairly solid footing. Then I fluttered my lashes at him. “Burke, would youpleasetake these lights when I hand them to you?”

He sighed but nodded.

I only fell once trying to get to the lights, and I wrinkled my nose at a stench emanating from one of the bags. I was able to grab the first light and gingerly hand it over.

For as much as he gave me attitude, Burke treated the light as delicately as I would have.

After I got the second one into his careful hands, I tried unsuccessfully to pull myself over without his assistance while he brought it to the car.

When he returned, he found me with my upper body hanging over the ledge.

“Wipe that smile off your face,” I told him.

Not only did he not wipe the smile off his face, but the smile broadened. Why was the dimple in his cheek that deep? And that adorable?

More importantly, why were we like this with each other?

It was bizarre. Like nothing I’d ever experienced.

I wanted more of it. And I was absolutely terrified of what would happen if we pushed beyond this harmless flirtation that we seemed to always be suspended in.

“Come on, Red. Swing that leg over.”

“What a clever nickname,” I said dryly.

“I’m a clever guy.”

My hands tightened their grip on the rusty metal surface. “You’ll catch me?” I asked. “Because I wouldn’t put it past you to let me fall on my ass just to prove a point.”

Burke stepped closer, his eyes locked on mine. “I’ll catch you.”

My stomach went weightless, but I nodded. Moving slowly, I pulled one leg over the top until I felt his big hand wrap around my hip. A hard puff of air left my lungs, and all my focus zeroed in on his hand on my body. Before attempting to swing the second leg over, I balanced there until I felt like I was as stable as possible.

“That’s it,” he murmured.

The sound of his voice so close to my ear had me shivering slightly, and I pinched my eyes closed in the hope that he didn’t notice.

Burke, true to his word, didn’t let me fall. With his palm hot against my side, he guided my second leg down until my foot found purchaseon the top of his leg. His fingers curled around my thigh. Thank God I’d shaved that morning.

“Can you turn?” he asked.

I cleared my throat because I sort of felt like I was about to have an orgasm with his hand that close to the hem of my shorts, but I didn’t think he needed to know that.

Carefully, I turned until the dumpster was hard against my back. Burke stared up at me, his face inscrutable and his eyes hot. I took a shuddery inhale and set my hand on top of his shoulder so I could hop off onto the pavement.

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