Free Night Heat by Brenda Jackson Page B

shoulders, but then the alluring aroma was absorbed into her nostrils at the same time her body was flooded with soothing warmth, and she’d decided to keep it on. The man could certainly be a gentlemen when he wanted to be.
    â€œOkay, he’s nice but I still don’t like him,” she muttered out loud.
    And as she backed out of the parking space and headed toward home, she had to reaffirm her dislike for him several more times.
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    â€œAre you taking your medicine like you’re supposed to, Bas? What about getting an adequate amount of rest? Are you eating right?”
    Bas shook his head as he wandered out of the bathroom, where he had just finished taking a shower, and into the bedroom. After awakening this morning and downing his first cup of coffee, he’d figured he would have a pretty good day…at least he’d thought so until the phone rang. Before he could say hello, his sister-in-law was bombarding him with questions.
    â€œDid Chance put you up to calling me, Kylie?” he asked, sitting on the edge of the bed. The sunlight was pouring in through the window and in the far distance he could see the Smoky Mountains.
    â€œNo, I’m just concerned about you.”
    â€œI’ve only been gone a week.”
    â€œYes, but you know what a worrywart I am. Besides, Chance and I want to tell you our news.”
    Bas lifted a brow. “What news?”
    He could hear her throaty laugh. “Here’s Chance. I’ll let him tell you.” He heard her handing over the phone to his brother.
    â€œBas?”
    Bas leaned back against the headboard. “Okay, Chance, what’s going on? What’s this news you and Kylie have to tell me?”
    â€œNothing major. Just the fact that you’re going to be an uncle…again.”
    A huge smile spread across Bas’s face. His brother had remarried eight months ago after being a widower for seven years. “Hey, that’s wonderful. Congratulations. How do the kids feel about the upcoming addition to your household?” By kids he meant Kylie’s fifteen-year-old daughter, Tiffany, and Chance’s sixteen-year-old son, Marcus.
    â€œThey’re thrilled and already fighting over baby-sitting rights.” Chance laughed. “I’ll see how eager they are for the job when the baby arrivesand they find out what changing diapers is all about.”
    Bas talked to his brother for another ten minutes, filling him in on how things were going. “So, Jocelyn Mason wasn’t glad to see you, huh?” Chance asked.
    â€œNope, not that I figured she would be.”
    â€œShe sounds like a handful.”
    Bas smiled. Yes, she was a handful all right, but at the moment he thought of her being a mouthful. At three in the morning he’d been wide awake remembering just how good that sassy mouth of hers had tasted. Even now the memory shot his pulse up a notch or two. And then there was the luscious scent of her perfume that he was convinced had gotten absorbed into his skin, since he could still smell her.
    â€œYes, she’s a handful for now, only because she sees me as a threat. Once she sees that I’m only here to help, she’ll be okay,” he said with more confidence than he really felt.
    â€œI hope you’re right. The last thing you need is to get stressed about anything.”
    â€œTrust me, Chance. The last thing I’d do is let any woman stress me out. You should know that about me.”
    After a few more minutes of small talk with his brother and sister-in-law, who reminded him of the surprise party next month for his brother Donovan’s birthday, Bas hung up the phone then stood and walked over to the window and looked out. Whathe’d told Chance was the truth. He didn’t plan on letting any woman stress him out. If Cassandra Tisdale hadn’t done it during the six months of their engagement then such a thing wasn’t possible.
    He smiled as he