Free What a Woman Needs by Judi Fennell Page B

thought about that.”
    She was lying through her teeth. She didn’t react that way to anyone else touching her. Hell, she hadn’t reacted that way to the few kisses she’d received on those dates that hadn’t worked out and they’d been a hell of a lot more sexual than a mere brush of his fingers. “No, it’s not that. It’s just . . .” Geez, what was she supposed to say that wouldn’t embarrass them both?
    “Beth, I—”
    And there he went with the touching thing again. Granted, this time it was her shoulder, but still . . . same reaction. Only this time neither one pulled away.
    But she should. She shouldn’t be contemplating what she was contemplating.
    But he looked as if he was contemplating it, too.
    This was crazy. Insane. Foolish. It could go nowhere. And they were in her backyard where anyone could see them.
    Including Jason and Kelsey if they looked out their windows.
    “Sherman!” Maggie squealed from the other side of the fence.
    Maggie. Oh God. And Tommy. And Mark. They couldn’t see her and Bryan this close.
    “Sherman, no!” This from Mark, accompanied by another squeal from Maggie and a word out of Tommy’s mouth Beth hadn’t realized he even knew.
    “I need to see what’s going on.” Yeah, it was an excuse, but it was valid. Amazing that
Sherman
was her savior.
    “I’ll go with you.”
    Bryan grabbed her hand and they ran around the gate, all the while Beth was desperately trying not to notice the fire blazing along her nerve endings from her palm up through her arm and searing all throughout her body at the thought of what could have been.
    Then she saw Sherman. Nothing like a good dose of dog-rolling-in-compost to cool one’s sizzling nerve endings.
    “Oh, Sherman, no!” all four of the Hamiltons said in unison.
    “Oh, Sherman, yes,” growled Bryan as he directed the kids to form a circle around the dog. “Come on, guys, get ready to grab him when he bolts.”
    Bryan shifted his weight back and forth, ready to pounce, and oh, what it did to his butt. And Beth wasn’t looking away.
    Then he lunged and the physical perfection that was Bryan was nothing compared to him coming to her rescue yet again—even when he slipped, taking a header onto the pile.
    And it was that and the fact that he managed to keep hold of her squiggling pet that sent his knight-in-shining-banana-peel status up a whole bunch of notches.

Chapter Nine

    B RYAN used the fluffy pink towel Maggie had insisted on lending him before he’d headed into the shower, and tried hard not to look around Beth’s bathroom when he finished. To imagine her in here, showering. Wet. Covered in suds.
    Or not.
    Okay, he wasn’t doing very well on that front.
    He scrubbed his head with the towel. Ah, that smelled like her. Not perfume, just an inexpensive bottle of shampoo, but combined with her natural scent . . . Bam! Got him right in the midsection.
    As had that almost-kiss earlier.
    He should have done it—well, no, he shouldn’t have. There was too much baggage. His included. But, damn, he’d wanted to. Especially when he’d been within one tiny step of tasting her. Of holding her in his arms and discovering all the sweetness he knew was inside of Beth. Of feeling her against him, how her body would match the contours of his, how she’d fit into his arms. There’d be fireworks. He knew it. He didn’t know how he knew; he just did. He hadn’t felt fireworks in, well, years. Even with all the beautiful women he’d dated, he knew Beth would eclipse all of them if he only had the chance to take her in his arms and kiss her.
    But he didn’t and he’d better suck that up and deal with it, not stand here mooning over something that would just complicate things. He wrapped the towel around his hips and looked for something to put on. Sadly, he doubted his uniform was out of the laundry yet, but he couldn’t very well go walking around her house in a towel. He wasn’t stupid; he worked hard at keeping his