Free Rocky Mountain Heat by Vivian Arend Page B

held him, immobilized him. The rush of blood through his veins drowned out the part of his common sense saying he needed to leave. The pounding faded everything logical and rational away in him and stripped him bare to need and desire.
    His eyes needed him to stay here, to fill his brain with the vision of her glowing skin, her seductive movements. His hands needed to touch her, run over her curves in imitation of the water caressing in endless sweeps. His mouth needed to taste—not only her lips, but her breasts and the spot on her back where the skin dimpled above her ass.
    He desired her. Every fiber of his being wanted to show her how much, but his conscience kept kicking his feet from under him before he could cross the room.
    This was Jaxi .
    He wished he had never walked down the hallway.
    Jaxi opened her eyes, her gaze unfocused for a second before she noticed him standing in the steamy room like some ghostly Peeping Tom. Her quick intake of breath showed clearly enough she didn’t expect anyone, hadn’t realized she’d been putting on a show.
    Now was a perfect time for him to drop his head and slip away. He couldn’t do it. She stared back at him through the mist hanging in the air, her eyes as big as silver dollars. She bit her bottom lip, and he fought a mental battle to leave, fought to stay quiet.
    Then he noticed her nipples change. Tightening even as he looked at her. Electric pulses shot through him, and his hands itched to touch her, to lift the weight of her breasts and lap at those gems that had grown erect beneath his gaze.
    Jaxi turned off the water and stepped slowly toward him, head held high. She sauntered up, slippery and wet, naked as a jaybird. Her skin glowed with heat as she stopped inches away, staring unendingly with those mesmerizing grey eyes. She reached out, her naked skin brushing his shoulder. She drew back, her arm clasping a towel she’d grasped from the hook beside his head.
    He thought she’d wrap herself up quick. Instead she rotated her fingers and let the towel hang as she held the fluffy fabric to him. He glanced down, saw the way her hand trembled even as she put on a bold face and kept her body motionless under his heated gaze. He reached for her, his hand moving of its own accord before his brain fully engaged.
    What brain? All the blood he needed for thinking had pooled in his groin.
    This was the second time she’d taken him by surprise, and he couldn’t make the same mistake. He’d been haunted since the first incident.
    He couldn’t let anything happen. It wasn’t right for them to be together.
    Blake withdrew his hand.
    And fled.

Chapter Seven
    The morning passed in a blur of activity. Jaxi cooked and cleaned with a vengeance, but deep inside a huge lump sat and burned at her innards. Blake hadn’t said good morning to her. He’d avoided her gaze at breakfast and hightailed it from the house as quick as a jackrabbit. She wasn’t sure what to do next because after she’d crawled into her bed last night she realized she’d been way out of line.
    Apologize? That would be smooth. She could hear herself now. “Sorry for getting naked and hoping you’d ravish me in your parents’ house with your brothers just down the hall.”
    Damn. How was she supposed to get him to make a move when they lived in the same house? With the whole family always around or popping up unexpectedly? As much as she loved his family, it was Blake she wanted.
    This wasn’t going to be as easy as she’d first imagined.
    After dinner Matt tugged her aside. “You want to go to the children’s summer theater performance at the community hall this Wednesday?”
    She hesitated, panic flooding her. Not Matt too. Sweet, considerate, usually insightful Matt. He excited her about as much as a bouquet of dandelions. The expression on her face must have shown her fear because he chuckled and quickly reassured her. “I don’t mean with me, Jaxi. Hell if you need that kind of complication in