put on a pair of skimpy pink panties and her ratty old Santa Clara T-shirt. It was at least three sizes too big for her. It hung like a tent and ended just above her knees.
Staring into the mirror, she took inventory and decided she came up lacking in the feminine wiles department. For the first time in her life, she wanted to look pretty. Boy, wouldn't Carrie have a good laugh now? She was always criticizing the way Avery dressed, and for once, Avery had to agree.
There wasn't anything she could do about her appearance now. With a sigh, she put her bag in the cor-
ner of the bedroom so she wouldn't trip over it, then walked into the living room just as the front door opened and John Paul came inside. He shut the door, bolted it, then turned around and froze.
'What happened to you?' she asked. He didn't answer her. 'You look like you showered in the dirt. What happened?' she repeated.
John Paul couldn't make himself stop staring at her legs. Fantasies were raging in his mind. 'I put the car in the barn, and I thought… the oil… the tires…'
'Yes?'
'What?'
He finally forced himself to look into her eyes, knowing he probably resembled a buck caught in the headlights. When he'd
noticed her standing in the doorway, his knees damned near buckled. That well-scrubbed look was intoxicating. She was simply gorgeous. Did she have any idea of the power she had over him?
'What about the oil and the tires?'
'That's right.'
He was blathering like an idiot, and she was fully responsible for his radical drop in IQ. He strode past her, muttering incoherent words as he went into the bathroom and shut the door.
She took a bottled water out of the fridge, turned the lights off in the kitchen and the living room, and then went into the bedroom. She kept telling herself to relax as she folded the quilt. She found clean sheets on the closet shelf and put them on the bed with a lightweight blanket she pulled out of the cedar chest. She climbed on top, scooted to the middle. Straightening her back, she folded her legs in the lotus position. She tried to clear her mind and concentrate on her breathing. Just as she was about to sit down in her imaginary porch swing without a care in the world, she was interrupted.
'Going to your happy place?'
Her eyes flew open. John Paul was standing in the doorway watching her. He wore a pair of shorts and nothing else. He hadn't even bothered to button them. He had taken the time to shave, she noticed, and he'd washed his hair too. There were big drops
of water glistening on his tanned neck and shoulders.
Sitting on the bed definitely put her at a distinct disadvantage. If they were going to approach their situation as adults, she
wanted to be on equal footing. She scrambled to get off the bed.
'Yes, I was,' she said. 'I was trying to relax.'
He yawned loudly. 'Avery?'
'Yes?'
He leaned casually against the door frame, one ankle crossed over the other, his arms loosely folded across his chest. She tried
not to stare at the dark swirl of hair around his navel.
'Am I sleeping on the sofa or in the bed?'
Did she have the courage to be completely honest with him, to tell him what she wanted? Put up or shut up time, she thought a little frantically. She cleared her throat, then whispered, 'In bed… with me, if that's what you want.'
Damn it, she sounded vulnerable, maybe even a little afraid. She couldn't quite manage to look into his eyes. 'If you want,' she repeated hoarsely.
'Yes, I want.'
John Paul took a step toward her but stopped when she put her hand up. 'Not so fast, Renard.'
'What?' he warily asked.
'There are a couple of ground rules we need to go over first.'
She wasn't kidding. He would have laughed if she hadn't looked so nervous. 'Ground rules? Like no hitting below the belt?
That kind of rule?' When she didn't immediately answer, he asked, 'Are we going to box, or are you going to let me-'
'I'm keeping my T-shirt on. Agreed?'
'Okay, if you want to, but if you change your mind and want to take it off, that's fine too.'
'If I want to, I will, but I don't want to, and I probably won't. Agreed?'
At this point he'd lost track of what she was negotiating. 'Yeah, sure.'
He took another step toward her. 'I'm not finished.'
He grinned. 'I didn't think so. Okay, what else?'
'You have to use protection. I can't have children, but we haven't had blood tests, and we…'
'I planned on using protection,' he said when she stammered to a halt.
'You planned?'
'Uh-huh.' He pulled the condom out of his pocket and tossed it on the bed. 'Anything else?'
'That was pretty presumptuous.'
'Avery, if I don't touch you pretty soon, I'm gonna go nuts, so hurry up and finish the rules.'
Her heart was racing. 'If you're disappointed…'
'I won't be.'
'But if you are, you keep it to yourself. Don't complain to me.'
'Honey, are you always this uptight before sex?'
'Do you agree?'
'Okay. I won't complain.'
'This isn't funny, John Paul. I'm serious.'
He'd waited for as long as he could. 'Now it's my turn,' he said as he grabbed a wad of her T-shirt and pulled her toward him. 'You are underneath here somewhere, aren't you?'
He let go and put his arms around her waist. His hand slipped up under the fabric and splayed wide across her back. She didn't
try to wiggle away when his fingers touched her scars. He leaned down and kissed the side of her neck just below her ear.
Shivers raced down Avery's spine. Her hands had been balled into fists, but as he tickled her earlobe with the tip of his tongue,
she began to relax. His sweet warm breath against her sensitive skin only made her shivers intensify. She could feel the strength, the power of those hard, steely muscles under her fingertips. How could anyone this strong be so very gentle? She sighed into his neck and dropped her head on his shoulder.
'Pay attention, sweetheart. I've got some ground rules too.'
She lifted her head and stared into his eyes. Why hadn't she noticed how incredibly beautiful they were? When he smiled, they
lit up.
'Yes?'
'Do you trust me?'
Trust him? She was falling utterly in love with him. Of course she trusted him. She was terrified of admitting it, though.
'That's not a rule.'
He wouldn't let her dodge the question, and when she tried to distract him by pressing against his groin and kissing him, he
shook his head. 'I already know the answer, but I want… no, I need to hear you say the words.'
'You are the most opinionated, obstinate, exasperating man I've ever known, but almost from the moment
