Free Taboo by Mallory Rush Page A

last week's miracle was actually real.
    With infinitely more patience than he was feeling, he lifted Audrey as he stood, then carefully set the girl back down on the stool. She was so absorbed in her new toy, she simply grinned and flipped the latch to release her newest catch.
    "Hi, Aunt Cammie," she said while skimming the line through the water. "Watch me get the guppy this time."
    "I'm watching," Cammie assured her in a breathy voice that wasn't lost on Grant. "He's a big one, Audrey. A real trophy winner."
    "Maybe we should have him mounted," Grant suggested, forcing himself to keep it light when all he wanted to do was back her into the wall and take the kiss that was way past due. The one he'd been kicking himself all week for not taking, in spite of her maddening refusal.
    They stood close, Audrey suddenly forgotten. Grant couldn't look away from her face any more than he could stanch the immediate surge of desire, culminating in a familiar pain around his heart and radiating down to his groin. Her pupils dilated. He could feel the hum of mutual need and remembrance, so strong and electric it was a wonder it didn't roll off them, connect with the water, and shock them both.
    "This has been about the longest week of my life," he murmured, low and intimate. "I've missed you like hell, Cammie."
    "I've... it's been a long week for me too, Grant."
    He wanted more, but it brought him face-to-face with the battle he knew lay ahead. His strategy was plotted, and he wasn't wasting a minute assaulting her defenses.
    "Long enough to think about what happened... and what didn't?"
    "Long enough to realize—" she glanced away, then back, as though she was too hungry for the sight of him to deny herself that much. "To realize we—I—should have behaved more responsibly."
    "Do you regret it?"
    "No. But that doesn't make it right."
    "Not being true to yourself isn't right. Hiding from your feelings isn't right. They catch up to you sooner or later, Cammie. Avoiding the inevitable is a fool's game."
    "Just as fooling around is a very dangerous game."
    "Who's fooling around? This is serious business and you know it as well as I do."
    Because he couldn't stand the abstinence another second, because he couldn't forget how her hair had wrapped around his hands like silken chains, binding him irrevocably to the only woman he could ever love, and just because he wanted to, he stroked his hand over her flushed cheek and into her thick hair.
    Her response was immediate—the heady catch of her breath, the smoky turbulence in her gaze, which obliterated the caution he would stop at nothing to destroy.
    "Uncle Grant, why are you playing with Aunt Cammie's hair?"
    Damn, he thought. Cammie pulled back instantly. He gripped the nape of her neck, refusing the distance and holding her prisoner.
    "I'm fixing it for the party, Audrey. Isn't it pretty?"
    "Sure is. I want hair just like Aunt Cammie's. Will you fix mine too, Uncle Grant?"
    "Okay, under one condition. You skedaddle so I can tell Aunt Cammie a secret."
    "Ohh," Audrey moaned. "Do I have to? I wanna fish some more."
    "You can. But I'll bet Uncle Brian could give you a few pointers on catching that algae eater we couldn't get off the side. Why don't you go show him your new rod and reel and find out what we should do? When you come back, we'll give it another try."
    "Well..."
    "I'll bet you a dollar you can't do it."
    "A whole dollar?" Audrey promptly reeled in her line and hopped off the stool. "Oh boy! I'd be rich!"
    The second she was out the door, Cammie whirled on him. "You bribed her, Grant."
    "Damn right. And if the dollar hadn't worked I would have gone for a candy store. Audrey should have held out."
    "She knew something wasn't right," Cammie said urgently. "Even as young as she is, she noticed. What does that tell you about how long it would be before other people started to catch on?"
    "Let them." In one swift, fluid motion he reversed their places so she was right where he wanted