Free Mother, Please! by Brenda Novak, Alison Kent, Jill Shalvis Page B

felt confident enough to offer poor Keith a kind word and a smile.
    “I wasn’t flirting.” She weaved through showcases of silver jewelry and tables bearing T-shirts, tequila shot glasses and Cabo San Lucas bags, mugs and key chains. “I was merely being nice.”
    “Nice includes letting him put his arms around you?”
    She struggled to remember when Keith might have put his arms around her and finally it came to her. “Oh, that.” She dismissed his words with a shake of her head. “He was only helping me with my swing.”
    “He was doing a lot more than that,” Gunner muttered.
    April didn’t really understand why Gunner had a problem with how she’d behaved today, so she shrugged it off. Propping her hands on her hips as they came to the last row of merchandise, which was very similar to what they’d seen in at least a dozen displays so far, she sighed. “They don’t have what I need. I guess I’m going to have to ask someone for directions to a store that sells what I want.”
    “What are you looking for?” he asked.
    “Underwear.”
    “You didn’t bring enough?”
    “I didn’t bring the right kind.” She grinned. “This is part of my transformation. I need to buy some underwear that reflects my new liberated self.”
    She started toward the woman who ran the stall, but Gunner caught her by the shoulder. “What kind of underwear are you talking about?”
    “I don’t know yet. That’s why you’re here. You have to help me pick out something that really appeals to a man.”
    “I can only pick out what appeals to me, ” he said hesitantly.
    She nodded. “But there’s bound to be some crossover, right?”
    The fact that she didn’t particularly care whether she pleased him or someone else grated on him.
    “I’m thinking a couple of thongs might be fun, if I can get used to wearing them,” she confided.
    Thongs. That was it. Gunner was tired of letting April Ashton beat him at his own game. Tonight he’d seduce her on the beach, touch and taste her everywhere, make her shudder in his arms while murmuring his name. He’d show her he wasn’t interchangeable with any other man.
    Except that his breath grew short and his body hard at the very thought of making love to her. And for the first time in his life, Gunner was afraid he’d be the only one enslaved by the experience.
    “You can pick out your own underwear,” he said. “And you can do it later. Let’s go back to the hotel.”
    She seemed hurt by his gruff tone, and definitely surprised. “I’m not ready to go back.”
    “I am, but I can’t leave you here alone.”
    “Why not?”
    “I’m not sure it’s safe.”
    “Don’t be silly. I’m an adult. I shop here by myself almost every year.”
    “Fine.” He started to go, but she stopped him.
    “Have I done something to offend you?” she asked, obviously bewildered.
    He wasn’t sure even he understood what was happening to him. He certainly wasn’t ready to explain it to her. “No.”
    “Then what? Are you bored with our friendship?”
    Gunner tilted up her chin with one finger and kissed her, battling a sudden longing to pull her against him and whisper things he’d never said to a woman before. “This has nothing to do with boredom or friendship,” he said. Then he caught a cab and headed back to the hotel.
     
    W ALT SHOVED HIS HANDS in the pockets of his chinos and stared out to sea. He loved Cabo, owned a home on the mountain just north of town. But during the company trip, he’d chosen to stay at the Hacienda Del Mar with everyone else. There wasn’t any reason not to. The Hacienda Del Mar was a five-star premier resort and was more than comfortable. And he liked being in the middle of the action instead of twenty minutes away.
    The only thing missing from this trip was a companion, he decided. He should’ve brought Regina for times like this, when he had a couple of hoursto kill. If he’d known April was going to be so preoccupied with Gunner, he would