Free Surrogate and Wife by Emily McKay Page A

is?”
    â€œDefinitely.” His fingers slipped first one and thenanother button loose from its hole. His knuckles brushed against the sensitive skin of her throat and chest, sending flashes of heat spiraling down through her body.
    She felt herself swaying toward him, suddenly unable to control her own body. Even though she knew what a mistake it would be, she found herself mentally urging him to keep unbuttoning. To pull her shirt right off her.
    He must have had way more restraint than she did in that instant, because instead of ripping her shirt open, his hands dropped to where she’d knotted the hem of her shirt low on her hips. Patiently he loosened the knot.
    She sucked in her breath as the tail of her shirt fell from his hands and his fingers continued unbuttoning.
    With every movement of his fingers, she willed him to meet her eyes, desperate to see his expression. But he kept his attention focused on the task he performed with such painstaking gentleness.
    By the time he retied the tail of her shirt into a loose knot just under her breasts, she felt light-headed and weak. In undoing the buttons on her shirt, he’d stripped away all of her defenses, as well.
    Still, when he stepped back to eye his handiwork, her hands darted to the skin he’d exposed. He grabbed her wrists before she could cover herself.
    â€œDon’t.”
    â€œBut my stomach is so much rounder than—”
    â€œLeave it.” Finally his gaze met hers and he seemed completely serious for the first time since they’d met. “You look…fantastic.”
    The doorbell rang. Jake dropped his hands to his sides. They both stared toward the front door.
    She could hardly bear the intrusion. The reminder of how little this encounter must have meant to Jake.After all, the past few minutes had been little more than skillful manipulation. When he’d said she looked “fantastic,” what he’d really meant was that she looked “satisfied.” Like a woman who’d just been made love to. Like the woman his friends expected to see.
    As Jake moved to get the door, she snatched the clip from the table and quickly twisted her hair back into a knot. But of course, it was too late. Before she could repair the damage and redo the buttons on her shirt, Jake’s friends were pouring through the front door.
    They’d seen her hastily putting herself back together. The way their voices, one by one, dropped, from loud, rambunctious chatter into silence proved at least that much.
    A scorching heat crept up her neck into her cheeks, fueled by embarrassment and kindled with more than a little anger. Anger at Jake for manipulating her, but mostly anger at herself for falling so completely under his spell.
    She knew better, damn it.
    At least, she thought she did.
    What was the point of carefully constructing defenses against men, if she cheerfully threw open the gates and allowed in the first man with a charming smile and plateful of breakfast tacos.
    Man, she was easy—when she looked at it in that light.
    Jake had been in her home less than a day, and she’d melted like an ice cube. And to think, while he’d been plying her with tacos, she’d been telling herself how she could get used to this.
    As Jake’s friends flooded the kitchen and began fixing plates, pouring coffee and introducing themselves, she felt her determination hardening.
    She might not be able to control her physical reaction to Jake, but, by golly, she was going to control her emotions. Make herself less susceptible to him. Which meant no more decaf coffee. No more hot breakfasts. No more morning intimacies. She was not going to “get used to this.” Not if she could help it.
    At least Jake’s friends were polite enough not to say anything about what they’d seen, but their sideways glances and knowing grins said plenty. They’d inferred exactly what Jake meant for them to.
    They assumed she and