Free Aspen Gold by Janet Dailey Page B

into the sack, then stood up and shook any crumbs from her skirt before she finally faced him--"you said you wanted to talk to me and I'm the one who's been rambling on--as usual. I tend to do that when my nerves are all strung out."
    "I noticed." He was amazed by how much he'd noticed about her, and how much more he wanted to find out.
    "So?" She took a deep breath and smiled out a sigh. "What is it you wanted to talk about?"
    "Your reading today." He dropped his cigarette and ground it into the rocky dirt underfoot.
    Unable to stand the suspense or the silence, Kit said, "I know I did well."
    Her stomach was knotting again, making her conscious of the dryness in her throat. She tried to brace herself, but she didn't know which way it was going to go.
    "You did better than well. You gave an excellent reading. We want you to do a screen test. If you come off on film as well as you did today, then--all other things being equal--you've got the part."
    Kit tried to take the news calmly, to be professional about it. But her joy was too boundless. She had to release it. She had to share it. Laughing, she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him.
    His arms automatically wound around her, then stayed to keep her there when he discovered how well she fit against him, their bodies perfectly aligned, the warmth of her breath on his cheek, a carelessly sexy scent radiating from her skin.
    "You don't know how much I want this part, John T.," she declared earnestly, fervently.
    "It's such a wonderful part. Eden is such a challenge. There are so many layers to her, so many levels." She drew away, giving her head a dazed little shake, then throwing it back to laugh silently at the sky, her hands still linked behind his neck. "I can't believe it. I've been waiting my whole life for a chance like this."
    "The part isn't yours yet," he reminded her.
    "There's still the screen test."
    "I know. But I'm not going to blow it. I'm just not." She lifted her shoulders in an unconcerned shrug of supreme confidence.
    He saw the dance of laughter in her eyes.
    Yet there was something else in them, too--a kind of inexpressible gravity that fascinated him as much as the laughter. Everything about her fascinated him.
    "I believe you." His gaze shifted to her lips. The same impulses were back, the ones he'd felt at the reading. This time Chip wasn't around to call a halt to the action.
    "Good. It's the truth."
    When he lowered his mouth to hers, she came up to meet it. After the first brief and warm pressure, she started to pull back. He tunneled a hand under her hair, cupping the back of her head to prevent her escape. He wanted no quick kiss of gratitude. Teasing and nibbling, he rubbed away that flicker of resistance, then explored the softness, seeking the passion the scene had called for, the passion she seemed to exude so naturally.
    Taken by surprise, Kit had no time to prepare for the kiss--not that it would have made any difference. His mouth was mobile and warm, and he kissed with the skill and attention of a man who both knows what he's doing and enjoys doing it. Soft then demanding, giving then taking.
    She responded out of pure pleasure, while some distant part of her mind recognized that the kiss between Eden and McCord would have been hard and bruising, erupting in full-blown desire. There wouldn't have been any of this warm kind of heat, this intimacy, this sudden kick of feeling.
    Greedily she wanted to run with it, but she knew better. It was too soon, too sudden, too dangerous, and she was too vulnerable.
    With practiced self-denial, she pulled back, resting her hands against his chest and lowering her head, waiting a beat for the ground to feel solid beneath her feet again. Only then did she open her eyes and try to breathe normally.
    "You come by your reputation honestly, don't you?"
    A faintly dazed, faintly dazzled smile took any sting out of the mild accusation.
    "What reputation?" His hands moved to her waist, keeping her close.