Free Face Value by Cheryl Douglas Page A

into unsafe territory. “I
can’t do that.”
    She got up and
stood in front of him. “Please, I can handle myself. Believe me,
this happens all the time with the crews who work with me. They
find out I’m single and suddenly I’m fair game.”
    His eyes
trailed over her face, and he could barely breathe when her tongue
moistened her lips. “It’s not gonna happen with my crew.”
    “You don’t have
to protect me,” she whispered.
    “Maybe I want
to.”
    Tucker shifted
and inched his legs wider. She stepped between them. He tried to
keep his hands to himself, but it was impossible with her standing
so close. He rested his hands on her waist to give her a chance to
retreat, but she looped her arms around his neck and moved farther
into his arms. He was in trouble. His brain was short-circuiting
and good sense was quickly getting lost in lust.
    “Why?” she
whispered, scanning his face. “Why do you want to protect me?”
    He ran his
hands up her back, trying to control the urge to dip lower. He knew
if he did, it would be over. “I don’t know. I just do.”
    “Tucker…”
    He saw she was
as conflicted as he was. Their behavior was wrong for so many
reasons, but the force drawing them together was impossible to
ignore. When he was with her, he wanted to touch her. One glance at
her lips, and he wanted to taste them. “Now would be a good time to
tell me to get my hands off you.” Before it’s too late.
    “I know,” she
whispered. But instead of backing away, she moved in closer.
    “Lauren…”
    She grazed her
lips across his, and that’s all it took to provoke the storm.
Before he could talk himself down, he fisted his hands in her hair,
loosening the knot, and claimed her mouth like a man possessed. He
told himself to stay seated so he wouldn’t take the kiss further,
but his body didn’t get his brain’s message.
    He stood,
confining her with his body, giving her nowhere to go. But when she
slipped her hands under his shirt and moaned into his mouth, he
realized she wasn’t trying to get away. She was trying to get
closer.
    He’d been
around the block enough times to know kisses like that were just a
prelude to the main event, but he couldn’t take her right there on
a dirty kitchen floor. Lauren was too classy to be treated that
way. She deserved a soft bed, roses, candlelight, music… Where the
hell had that thought come from? He’d never romanced a woman to get
her into bed, but something told him Lauren was unlike any woman
he’d ever known. She was in a class by herself.
    “Tucker…” She
finally pulled away, her hands clenched in his hair as she rested
her forehead against his chest and drew deep, gasping breaths.
    He should
apologize for letting things go too far, but he wouldn’t pretend he
was sorry. He wasn’t. She was a temptress; there was no other word
to describe her. She was the kind of woman who could drive a sane
man crazy and bring a strong man to his knees.
    Tucker had
spent the four years since his release rebuilding his business and
his life. He’d earned the respect of his employees and the
community again by proving he was a changed man. He’d even learned
to like and respect the man in the mirror by setting and achieving
goals and drawing lines he refused to cross. He’d honored his
commitments to others and himself, but that night, he broke a vow
to himself and to Lauren, and that didn’t feel good.
    “I didn’t mean
for that to happen,” he said quietly. That much was true. He went
there looking forward to spending more time with her. He hadn’t
intended to ravage her.
    “It’s not your
fault.” She hooked her thumbs through his belt loops and tipped her
head back to look him in the eye. “I wanted it as much as you did.
But it can’t happen again.”
    He knew she was
right, but the reminder still hurt as much as a swift kick in the
gut. “I know.”
    She stepped
back and pulled the black elastic from her disheveled ponytail,
letting her hair fall