Enough. He was a grown man for cryin’ out loud, not some horny frat boy. He gave himself a sharp mental shake and forced his gaze from her distracting and oh so tempting nipples.
“How does it feel?” he asked.
“It barely hurts. Look.” She waggled her bare foot. “It’s not even swollen. I think the worst injury was to my pride. At least I can be thankful I wasn’t wearing a skirt when I fell ass over backward.”
“Right.” Because then he would have seen her ass. Encased in…
“Are you okay, Evan?”
“You sure? You look…flushed.”
Good God. “It’s the lighting in here. And the exertion of, um, carrying you.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You insinuating I’m fat?”
He latched on to the speck of annoyance like a lifeline. Anything to diffuse the lust raging through him. “Why do women always ask questions like that?”
“Why do men always make statements that can be interpreted as that?”
“I wasn’t insinuating anything. And you’re not fat. You’re…”
“I’m what?”
Her eyebrows rose. “A compliment? From you? Hardly. I’d be stunned into silence if one passed your lips.”
“Well, if that’s the only way to shut you up, I’ll play. You’re…curvy.”
A snorting sound escaped her and her lips twitched. “Gee, thanks. You entice many women with smooth lines like that?”
“I meant it as a compliment,” he said through clenched teeth, not sure if he was more irritated at her for being amused or at himself for sounding like a jackass.
“Oh. Uh, thanks. I think.” She glanced down at her bare foot. “I probably should put some ice on my ankle.”
“Ice. Right. Good idea. Something icy cold is just what I, I mean you, need.”
She wrapped her arms around herself. “Although how I’m going to stand having ice on me I don’t know. I’m already freezing.” As if to prove her words, her teeth chattered.
When it looked as if she meant to get down from the counter, he said, “Stay put. I’ll get the ice. But first, why don’t you let me have a look?”
The instant he spoke the words he regretted them. Looking at her ankle would mean moving closer to her. Touching her. And those were the last things he wanted. Really.
But this time it was his brain and his feet that disagreed because seconds later he stood in front of her. His gaze flicked down to her ankle. “May I?”
She set her palms on the counter and leaned forward, a position that afforded him a heart-pounding view of her generous cleavage. “I wouldn’t have thought you the sort of guy who’d be polite enough to ask before you touched.”
“I guess there’s a lot you don’t know about me. Now, are you going to let me take a look, or are we just going to remain here and freeze?” Freeze? Definitely an impossibility as far as he was concerned. The way she was looking at him, with those big caramel-colored eyes, made him feel as if fire were about to spew from his scalp.
Keeping her gaze steady on his, she raised her foot and rested it against his belly, a move that had him sucking in a quick breath. There was no missing the challenge in her eyes. “By all means. Look all you want.”
He lightly grasped her ankle and gently prodded her soft, damp skin. And told his raging libido to behave.
“What does a property manager know about ankles?” she asked.
“I put in some time as a camp counselor and a few summers as a lifeguard. It’s been a while, but I remember the basics.” He gently rotated her ankle. “Does that hurt?”
“No.”
He felt the weight of her stare as he continued to manipulate her ankle. Her very shapely ankle. That he really needed to let go of. Now.
But instead of doing so, he looked up. And found her staring at him. In a very distracting way. His fingers stilled. Her tongue peeked out, a flick of pink that tensed his every muscle.
“Well?” she whispered.
“Well what?”
“What’s the verdict?”
When he remained silent, she prompted, “My ankle?”
Her words brought him back with a jolt. Good God, maybe he really was insane. “It’s fine,” he said, ignoring his brain’s command to release her. Instead his thumbs lightly massaged her instep. “No need to call in a surgical team.”
“That’s…um…” Her foot flexed in his hand. “Oooh. Good. Really good.” Her eyes drifted closed and a long sigh escaped her, a sigh that ended on a husky moan that shifted his libido into overdrive. “Soooo good.” After another deep moan, her eyes slid slowly open and his fingers stilled at the unmistakable arousal he saw.
“Evan…I think we should take off our clothes.”
5
LACEY’S BREATH CAUGHT at the fire that flared in Evan’s eyes at her words. There was no mistaking that heated glitter for anything other than what it was.
Arousal.
Pure lust swamped her, an unstoppable wave of the very sexual longing she’d been desperately trying to hold back since the moment he’d clasped her hand for their ill-fated dash across the lawn. No doubt about it, Evan Sawyer had everything female in her standing at attention and saluting.
And she’d been doing a damn good job of controlling her libido, if she said so herself, especially given the incredible way he’d felt lying on top of her. The delicious press of his body against hers when he’d carried her. The warm strength of his hands massaging her ankle and foot. Why, she deserved an Academy Award for managing to retain her air of aloofness.
But now, now that he was looking at her like this-as if she were a bowl of cream and he was a very large, very hungry cat-her resolve to stay indifferent was dissolving at an alarming rate.
“Take off our clothes?” he repeated in a husky rasp that instantly brought to mind naked entwined bodies and rumpled sheets. “But Lacey…we haven’t even kissed yet.”
The sound of her name whispered from those gorgeous lips shot heated tingles straight to her womb. Surely the reason she opened her mouth was to inform him that she’d merely meant they should put on something dry, but any words she might have spoken turned into a shocked gasp of pleasure when he raised her foot and pressed his lips to her inner ankle.
Fire sizzled through her. Holy cow. His mouth looked positively sinful pressed against her. And felt positively sinful, too. His teeth lightly grazed her skin, and before her mind could process all the jolts of pleasure shooting up her calf, he lowered her ankle and stepped between her legs. Tunneling his hands into her wet hair, he slowly lowered his head. Anticipation pumped through her, and she parted her lips.
His mouth settled on hers and Lacey felt as if everything inside her melted. Good God, the man knew how to kiss. He tasted warm and delicious and the sensation of his tongue exploring her mouth pulsed heat to her every nerve ending. She ran her hands up his chest, over his broad shoulders, then skimmed her fingers through the thick wet silk of his hair. All thoughts of time and place evaporated in a haze of lust. Her every heartbeat seemed to reverberate with the word
