Free After the Loving by Gwynne Forster Page A

moving.”
    “I’m driving to Baltimore today. I hope to be back before supper time.” It was on the tip of her tongue to add: so you won’t need to work in the warehouse.
    As if making the connection himself, his left eyebrow shot up. “Driving Alexis’s car?” She nodded. “Better let me check it out.”
    He opened the closet beside the door leading to the downstairs game room and got a bunch of keys. “Be back in a few minutes.”
    She sat on a stair step, waiting for him and ruminating about his protectiveness. He was responsible for the house and the family in Telford’s absence. Maybe that accounted for it.
    “It’s okay. Be sure and take my cell phone number in case you need me for something.”
    “Thanks.”
    He stood at the bottom of the stairs, and she sat on the third step, but he still towered over her. She looked up at him, seeing his long-lashed and slumberous dark eyes, full bottom lip and square but dimpled chin; the muscled chest that emphasized his six-foot-three-and-a half-inch height, his long legs, flat belly and the aura of power that he exuded. She sucked in her breath and knew he saw and heard her.
    His breathing accelerated, and she could see his Adam’s apple bobbing furiously. Her tongue rimmed her bottom lip, and he seemed to gulp air. He wanted her, and she wanted him inside of her. Disgusted with herself for having started it and for her inability to control her passion for him, she jumped up and raced up the stairs. But he reached the landing when she did, pulled her into his arms and lifted her hungry body to his, chest to chest and loins to loins.
    “Russ. Oh, my Lord.”
    He stared down at her, his nostrils flaring, his eyes telling her what she knew his mouth wouldn’t say. His lips were so close that she breathed his breath, and her senses swirled dizzily as her nostrils caught the odor of his heat. Spirals of unbearable tension snaked through her and, frustrated beyond reason, she put her hands behind his head and brought his lips to meet hers, open and waiting.
    He plunged his tongue into her mouth, and she took all that he would give her, as he tested and tasted every centimeter, swirling and tantalizing until she moaned the agony of her desire.
    Recovering as best she could, she rested her head against his shoulder. “Stop playing with me, Russ. You give in to your feelings when they overwhelm you, but you don’t want this to go anywhere.”
    “I am not playing with you. Whether you were aware of it or not, you gave me one of the most seductive invitationsa man could get. You know how things are with us. What was I supposed to do? Pretend you weren’t there?”
    His arms tightened around her and she kissed the side of his neck. “You’re famous for your self-control, so—”
    “So I decide when to use it. Is that what you’re accusing me of?”
    She leaned back and gazed into his face. So close and so precious. “Don’t you?”
    His rough half laugh almost startled her. “I would have gotten to you if I’d had to jump over a mile-deep ravine. Decision had nothing to do with it.” A grin spread over his face. “I suppose I ought to put you down.”
    “Yes, considering how much I weigh.”
    “It probably gets less every day, considering how little you’re eating.”
    “That’s the problem. I haven’t lost an ounce, and I’m hungry all the time.”
    “Then stop being vain and eat. Losing weight won’t change your personality and probably not your face. They’re what I find most attractive in you or any other woman. I’d better get dressed if I’m going to Tara’s school.” He leaned forward and kissed her forehead. “Be careful driving.”
    She had told him she hadn’t lost weight, but she had actually gained a pound. “If this continues, I’m going to see a nutritionist,” she vowed to herself. “Henry, I’ll be in Baltimore most of the day,” she called to him from the kitchen door.
    “Ain’t no need for that. Russ is working at the