Free Luring Lucy by Lori Foster Page B

meant.”
    Bram sighed. “You’re talking normal wear and tear, honey. Trust me, I like your body just fine. More than fine. Hell, I
lust
for your body in a big way. Any man who looks at you would feel the same.”
    Lucy shook her head. “I used to be attractive, I know. It’s what drew David in the first place. But now . . . I’m tired-looking and my waistline is shot and I’m . . . average at best.”
    Bram left his seat across the patio table to settle at her side. He reached for her hands and ignored her reserved attempts to pull away. “Do you know what I feel when I look at you?”
    Blue eyes crystal clear and wide with curiosity, she shook her head.
    Bram kissed her quickly, softly. “Whenever you’re around me, my stomach gets all jumpy, just like it used to when I was fifteen and getting laid seemed about the most important goal in the world. A girl would give me that certain look and I’d get the inside jitters just thinking about what I was going to do.
You
give me the jitters still.”
    He touched his open palm over her head, delighting in the feel of her baby fine hair heated by the sun and teased by the hot breeze. “You toss back your hair and I feel it like a punch in the gut. You laugh and I get hard. When it’s cold outside and your nipples get puckered, I shake like a nervous virgin.”
    She laughed at him, shyly.
    â€œAnd babe, there’s no two ways about it. You have always had a world-class ass. When you walk down the street, it doesn’t matter if you’re wearing a skirt or jeans or baggy slacks, male heads turn.”
    Her mouth struggled with a smile and lost. “Bram,” she said in admonishment.
    â€œLucy,” he teased right back. “You might not think you’re beautiful, but my gonads strongly disagree.”
    Lucy stared at their clasped hands rather than at his face. “I look a lot different without my clothes than I do with them on. Clothes hide a lot of flaws, you know.”
    He curled his hand around the nape of her neck. “When I have you laid out naked before me, you can bet it won’t be flaws I’m looking at.”
    The smile changed to an outright laugh. “Maybe. But you’ll see them all the same.”
    â€œLucy, no man in his right mind expects a woman to be perfect, because men aren’t perfect, either.”
    She thrilled him when she said, “You are.”
    Bram bit back a grin of sheer joy and remarked teasingly, “Want me to get naked and you can check to see for sure? It’d probably take a real close examination, but I’m sure you could locate a few imperfections.”
    â€œYes. I’d like that.”
    â€œDirty pool, Lucy!” He could feel her words stirring him, making his muscles tighten anew. “And I’ll tell you right now, if you give me another boner you’re going to have to take care of it.”
    She trailed one fingertip over his jaw. “I wouldn’t mind.”
    He groaned at the husky way she said it. “Now stop that, woman. The next time we get something going—which, if you have any mercy at all will be real soon—it’ll be the full mile, and we’ll both be naked.”
    Lucy looked out over the lake, at the way the slowly setting sun turned the water different colors. She said abruptly, “I thought about getting a boob job.”
    Startled, Bram stared at her. “Good God! Whatever for?”
    She looked down at her chest with a wry expression. “Pregnancy and nursing is hard on a woman.”
    Bram cupped both breasts in his hands. Leaning down to see her face, not letting her shy away from him, he said, “You’re soft and sexy, just the way a woman should be. You sure as hell don’t need anything plastic added.”
    â€œI’m not . . . pert, anymore.”
    Holding her gaze, Bram reached around her and with casual ease lowered the