Free About That Man by Sherryl Woods

without taking the time to think about what was smart or right or anything else, he kissed her.
    And realized belatedly that he’d just slammed smack into more danger than he ever had on the streets of D.C.

5
    â€œM aybe we’d better go back,” Daisy whispered, when she could finally unscramble her thoughts after Walker had ended that totally unexpected, mind-boggling kiss. Nobody had ever kissed sensible Daisy Spencer with such total abandon, such wicked hunger. She was too stunned to even contemplate lecturing him on the inappropriateness of his behavior. In fact, she was wondering if she could get him to kiss her again.
    Bad idea, her remaining functioning brain cell announced. “We definitely need to go back,” she said more emphatically. “Besides, we’ve been driving around for two solid hours, and there hasn’t been a sign of Tommy. Maybe the others are having better luck.”
    â€œYeah, good idea,” he said, barely sparing her a glance.
    To Daisy he sounded a little too eager. She found it vaguely insulting. Not that she intended to let him see it. She wasn’t going to let him think for a second that she was some inexperienced country girl who could be shaken by a simple kiss.
    â€œWell?” he prodded when she still hadn’t started the engine. “Are we going back or not? My gut’s starting to tellme that if Tommy felt safe with you, then he didn’t wander that far off. He’s probably hiding close by.”
    â€œProbably.”
    She was very proud that she managed to get the response out without sounding breathless. Obviously they weren’t going to talk about the kiss, she concluded with a sigh. She certainly didn’t want to focus on it. At least he hadn’t apologized and listed a litany of regrets, even if his expression indicated he wasn’t at all pleased with the turn of events between them. She could leave it alone, too. She could pretend that nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
    Or at least she thought she could. The fact that she hadn’t risked touching the keys for fear he’d see how badly her hands were shaking indicated she wasn’t as cool and calm as she wanted Walker to believe. And the longer they sat there, the worse it got. Darkness had fallen, making the atmosphere in the car just a little too cozy, a little too intimate. The tension sizzling between them wasn’t going to go away, which meant it needed to be addressed.
    She took a deep breath, then blurted out, “Look, you don’t have to be embarrassed. I mean, it was just a kiss. No big deal, right?”
    â€œRight,” he said flatly.
    Clearing the air apparently wasn’t going to be the snap she’d hoped. Her nerves were still jumpy; his expression was still insultingly grim. She plunged in one more time. “I’ve been kissed before. I’m sure you have been, too. And I suppose I started it with that hug. I was just so relieved that you were willing to meet me halfway on this.”
    He turned then and scowled at her. “Daisy, will youplease let it drop? Maybe it shouldn’t have, but it happened. It’s over. Forget about it.”
    She blinked rapidly at the irritation in his voice. “Of course, yes, I can do that,” she said. With a great deal of concentration, she managed to keep her hand steady as she started the car.
    In fact, she even kept her mouth shut until they turned the corner to her block. Then she decided that she couldn’t go the rest of the way home without trying one more time to address the ridiculous tension between them. If they walked into the house like this, her brothers would know in an instant that something had happened. For men, they were way more intuitive than they should have been. She’d learned early never to hint by so much as a down-turned mouth that a date had gone badly. Otherwise Tucker and Bobby would threaten to take on the boy who’d hurt her.