Free Fly with Me by Angela Verdenius Page B

chatted
serenely to Ash.
    He’d like to
strip that serenity away, pull her down on the floor - better yet,
in the grass - kiss her senseless, lose himself in all that
softness, shake up her composure, have her moaning, squirming
beneath him, all that lushness his to explore, to taste, to bury
himself in while he watched those light brown eyes lose focus, grow
hot, those apple cheeks flush as desire rode her as hard as he
wanted - “Crap!”
    Simon leaped
back from the hot tea that had slopped out of the cup to spatter on
the table, the steaming liquid dripping off the wooden surface.
He’d jumped up just in time, the hot tea narrowly missing slopping
onto his crutch, which would have been damned painful.
    Grinning a
little sheepishly at the staring women, he held out his hand.
“Sorry. Clumsy. Toss me the dishcloth, would you, Ash?”
    She wrung out
the cloth and tossed it to him. “Are you all right?”
    “Yeah,” Scott
drawled from the doorway. “Something on your mind?”
    Simon’s gaze
shot to his friend, taking in the gleam in his eyes. Great. Scott
had seen him staring at Elissa. Time to head him off. “Just
thinking about everything we need to do today.”
    “That made you
spill your cup?”
    “Lost
concentration.” Simon sopped the tea up with the washcloth.
    “Oh, I’d say
you were concentrating just fine.”
    “Well, I am
dedicated to the job.”
    “Dedicated,
yes. Job? Hmm.”
    “Don’t listen
to him.” Taking the dripping washcloth from Simon, Ash handed him a
tea towel to mop up the last of the spilled tea. “I know how
dedicated you are to the job.”
    “He’s
dedicated to the job , all right,” Scott said. “Always got
his eyes on the goal.”
    Simon just
smiled. So he’d been caught watching Elissa, so what? She was
pretty, he was a man, he was admiring her.
    Okay, maybe
‘fantasizing’ would be closer, and possibly ‘lustful’ could have a
place in there as well, but he refused to be embarrassed at his
friend knowing. Besides, past experience had proven that pulling
the wool over Scott’s eyes was not happening.
    Carrying the
wet tea towel into the laundry through a door in the back of the
kitchen, Simon dropped it into a bucket. “Want me to put soaker in
here?”
    “What a man,”
Ash said. “You’d actually put soaker in there without being
asked?”
    Simon stuck
his head around the corner of the door to grin at her. “Your
wonderful, loving, dedicated fiancée wouldn’t?”
    Scott flipped
him the bird.
    “I saw that
with my eagle eye.”
    “Your eye is
doing a lot of eagling today.”
    “I’m not sure
that’s even a proper use of the word ‘eagle’.”
    “It’s fine,
Simon.” Ash handed him a paper lunch bag. “Something for you for
morning tea.”
    “All
right!”
    “It’s to
share.”
    “Are you
sure?” He held up the bag, looked at it worriedly. “Doesn’t seem
that much.”
    “Maybe you
better give it to Scott.”
    “Don’t you
trust me?” He grinned lazily at her.
    Ash arched an
eyebrow. “Giving your dedication to food , no.”
    “I’m wounded.”
Walking past her, he ruffled her hair. “Thanks, Ash, I’ll be sure
to guard this bag with my life.”
    “You think
that won’t worry me more?”
    Laughing,
Simon threw Elissa a wink, catching her off-guard. Her already big
eyes widened, a faint pink stealing into her cheeks.
    Interesting.
    “I’ll see you
later,” he couldn’t help but say, giving her a slightly longer look
that had her flustered.
    “Sure,” she
managed, picking up another plate and starting to wipe it, her gaze
going to Scott. “Have a nice day.”
    Scott caught
Ash’s hand, pulled her into him, gave her a smacking kiss on the
lips and released her with a roguish wink. “Keep those home fires
burning, honey, and I do mean burning.”
    Ash blushed,
but her smile was so bright it almost lit up the room. “You know
it.”
    “Oh, I do.”
Another wink, a smart smack to her bottom that made her squeal in
surprise, and