Free Taboo by Mallory Rush Page B

her, with her back to the wall, a bookcase and the aquarium on either side. "If we're lucky we've got ten minutes alone. That's not much time, Cammie. Let's make the most of it."
    "What are you thinking, Grant? The entire family's on the other side of the wall. Let me go."
    "Not on your life. I've waited all week to get this close. Hell, I've waited forever. You can scream if you want to, but considering you want to be so secretive, I don't advise it."
    "Don't you have any principles? Don't you even care?"
    "I've got principles. Not that I need them, since you seem to have enough for us both. And yes, I do care. I care too much to ever let you get away." He leaned into her, forcing her to endure what he knew was an excitement she didn't want. "Quit squirming. I'm still so hard from last week I'm hurting, so do us both a favor and be still before I do something rash. All I want right now is to talk."
    She went suddenly still. "Then move away. We can talk better if we're not in each others' faces."
    "Why? So you can think some more while you keep me at a distance? No way." He cupped her face in both hands when she tried to give him her cheek. "How can you talk about the problem when you're afraid to confront exactly what it is?"
    "Okay, Grant," she said, her voice shaking. "We do have a problem. A very big one."
    "Yes," he agreed with an ironic chuckle, "Indeed it is a big problem. But it goes a lot further than that. We can work better as a team than we can playing hide-and-seek. Let's quit hiding from reality, Cammie, and seek some solutions to make it work."
    "I've thought, Grant, believe me. I don't see how it can work. Not without doing a great deal of damage that could possibly never be repaired. It's very selfish of us to let something as superficial as passion make decisions that can never be taken back."
    His anger was swift and deep. Grant struggled to keep his voice even, struggled to keep his hands off her arms so he could shake some sense into her.
    "Is that what all your thinking this week netted you? The realization that we were caught up in some temporary kind of hormonal rush?"
    "I..." She paled. "I told myself that, yes. We've known each other so long, Grant. It's—it's insane."
    "Insane? I've got news for you, lady. This is as real as it gets. Feeling you move against me was real, making you so hot you were melting into my hand was real. Hearing you moan my name while I found out you were so tight you could be—"
    She suddenly thrust away from him, her face ashen. Grant pushed her back against the wall, blocking her escape.
    "Stop it, Grant. I don't want to hear anymore—"
    "Too bad, because you're hearing me out." He anchored her face between his hands, forging mercilessly on. "You're right, all that was passion. It was the most incredible physical desire I've ever felt in my life, though God knows it was just enough to whet my appetite. But to hear you say it was no more than that makes me sick. All my life I've been waiting—"
    The door suddenly opened, the roar of voices spilling over the heat of his outrage.
    "Grant? What are you and Cammie up to?"
    "Hi, Mom," he said, his frustration barely contained. "I was just—"
    "Helping me get an eyelash out of my eye." Cammie bolted with spring-action reflexes, rushing past him and refusing to meet his gaze. "Thanks, Grant. Much better. Mom, can I give you a hand in the kitchen? I know you've been working nonstop all morning."
    "And loving every minute of it. And no, you may not help me on your day. Besides, I've already got too much help in the kitchen. Wash up, Grant, it's time to eat. I just came to call you both to dinner."
    "Thanks, Mom," he muttered as the door shut behind them. "Thanks a whole hell of a lot."
    * * *
    Cammie wondered if the agony that was passing itself off as dinner was ever going to end. Grant's constant stare was sandwiched between Dorothy's motherly concern about where her appetite was and admonitions that she needed to put on some