Free Addicted to You by Bethany Kane Page B

button. The beguiling trail disappeared, but it teased Katie’s gaze upward to a powerful chest, where dark hairs were again in evidence, albeit not thickly, just above Rill’s nipple line. Katie had formerly had a preference for a hairless chest, but she decided then and there that the sight of a real man—such a flagrantly male specimen—had completely reformed her.
    Well, Rill had.
    She wanted to touch, to run her fingers through that crinkly hair, to make a tactile feast out of the smooth skin and hard muscle just beneath it.
    When she realized she’d completely forgotten to be defiant in the midst of her drooling, she straightened and crossed her forearms beneath her breasts.
    “That doesn’t sound like a ‘deal’ to me. It sounds like a proclamation. What do I get out of it?” she challenged.
    He took another step toward her . . . close enough for her to see the gleam in his eyes. She didn’t look down, but she was highly aware of his cock straining between them. It was a little like trying to stand on the beach and ignore a tsunami roaring toward the shore. She resisted an almost overwhelming urge to retreat when he leaned down and his face came less than a foot from her own.
    “What do you get out of it? You stay out of my fucking way, and I won’t turn you over my knee and spank your ass fierce hard.”
    Her clit twanged. Air burned in her lungs until she finally released it. The roots of her hair prickled in rising fury.
    “I’d just like to see you try it,” she muttered darkly.
    He smiled. It hadn’t been what she’d expected him to do, but suddenly that grin was there: slashing, compelling . . .
    Dangerous.
    She backed away, stumbling when her hip hit the edge of the counter.
    “I’m not leaving,” she whispered.
    He glanced down pointedly to the bulging front of his briefs, his smile already a memory.
    “Do you see that? If you stay here, you’re gonna end up under me. Is that what you want? Is that what you came here to do, Katie? Destroy our friendship?”
    “ No . That’s not what I set out to do. But if it comes down to a choice between our friendship or you? Like I said, I’m staying . Go ahead. Fuck me. Your friendship means shit to me if you’re dead, anyway.”
    Out of the corner of her vision she saw his heavy erection lurch next to stretchy cotton. Her clit throbbed between her thighs in full sympathy, but her muscles remained as unrelenting and tense as his. He hissed under his breath, his accent too strong for her to catch the words. One thing was for sure: whatever he’d said, it’d been foul . . . and it’d been hurled at her.
    She didn’t move when he stormed past her. He slammed his bedroom door so hard the wood floor rattled beneath her bare feet.
    “Well, there you have it. The lines are drawn,” she said out loud to the empty kitchen.
    Even though she’d sounded brave enough, it was a lie. She just stood there, waiting for her zapping nerves to quiet and the clamor of alarm and arousal to shut off in her brain. When the adrenaline of their confrontation faded, guilt started to seep into her consciousness—regret for pushing Rill when he seemed so vulnerable . . . guilt for having officially spoken the words out loud to her onetime best friend’s husband.
    Go ahead. Fuck me. Your friendship means shit to me if you’re dead, anyway.
    She closed her burning eyelids. I hope you can understand Eden. It’s true . . . I’m doing it for me. But I’m doing it for him, too. I can’t let him follow you. I won’t.
    She waited, listening to the voices of her past, listening to her own conscience. Slowly, a sense of steadiness came over her, if not peace.
    Somehow, she thought Eden would understand.

Six

    Rill prowled around on the front porch, his gaze pinned to the road.
    Where the hell had Katie gone?
    It was going on suppertime, and he hadn’t seen her since he’d rolled out of bed at eleven this morning. He’d made a point of avoiding her since she’d