Free The Mason Dixon Line (A Horizons Novel) by Linda Morris

track record with guys. What
if this was another mistake?
    Sweat popped out on her upper lip.
    “Ahhh, I don’t know—”
    “What?” He tugged the lowest button on her
shirt free and slid his hand across her ribs. She shivered in response. Maybe
one more minute under his intoxicating touch . . .
    Her reason made another grasp at taking
control.
    “Maybe this isn’t a great idea. I mean, we
have to work together.”
    “So?” She could feel his hardness against
her leg. A part of her wanted to reach down, stroke and explore him, to watch
him flame up and go crazy under her touch.
    She could do that to him. She knew she
could. His attitude toward her had softened, even as his dick had hardened. He
might not approve of her, but he couldn’t disguise his attraction. The
challenge was almost impossible to resist.
    The glimmer of her topaz ring caught her
eye. It wasn’t paid off.
    She needed the money from this project to
make a dent in her balance. Otherwise, she’d be asking her dad for another
loan, and she couldn’t face that.
    She had to be smart for once and do the
responsible thing.
    She visualized her credit card statement,
and calling her dad the next time she couldn’t make her minimum payment. If
that wasn’t a boner-shrinker, so to speak, she didn’t know what was.
    She pushed at his shoulders. He froze,
looking at her with his dark eyes that she had so much trouble reading. What
was he thinking? “I don’t think it’s a good idea to mess up this project so
that we can get naked for a few minutes. I’m sure it would be fun, but we’ve
have to work together afterward and that might be awkward.” She plunged on. “I
really need the money for this project. I have some debt. . .” She trailed off.
“Kind of a lot, actually.”
    He looked confused, and maybe even hurt?
Surely not. “It’s nothing personal. I’m sure it would have been fun.” She heard
the wistfulness in her own voice and realized she was disappointed in spite of
herself.
    Mason shook his head as if to clear it. “You’re
right. I don’t have casual sex anyway.”
    Oh, great. Now he remembered that. Why
couldn’t he have thought of that a few minutes ago and spared her this?
    He maneuvered back into the driver’s seat
and helped restore her seat to its normal position. She immediately missed his
weight and warmth. Her thigh tingled where his hand brushed it as he reached
across her to lift her seat back up again.
    “Why don’t you run in and get out of the rain?
I’ll bring in the groceries.”
    “I can help.” The spitting rain hit her in
the face, chilling her to the bone, but she grabbed two bags of groceries and ran
to the patio, waiting for him to unlock the door. He got the rest of the
groceries, slammed the trunk, and made a dash for it.
    His glasses were back in place, she
noticed.
    He put the groceries down and unlocked the
door. Before she could enter, he put a hand on her arm.
    Just a simple touch of his fingers to her
forearm, but it arrested her attention like a thunderclap.
    “I’m sorry about what happened out there,”
he said, as if the whole thing had been his idea. As if she hadn’t reached out,
touched him first, kissed him first. “I don’t know what came over me.”
    I did , she
wanted to say. I came over you, and you
couldn’t resist me.
    But that would be stupid, and she was
determined once in her life to do the smart thing where a guy was concerned. “Don’t
worry about it. It won’t happen again.”

Chapter 9
Barney Arrives on the Scene
    That had to be some kind of a record, even
for him. He’d screwed things up with a girl and he wasn’t even dating her.
    In the outer room, the TV blared. He and
Carolyn had spent the day working, their time together quiet but productive. After
a quick dinner of spaghetti and a salad, she’d found an old Goldie Hawn movie
on DVD and settled in for the night. Restless, he’d headed into the office with
the convertible sofa bed to curl up with a book.