Free Hurts So Good by Mallory Rush Page B

"I'm ticklish."
    "You hate it. You love it. And then you laugh at the pain 'cause it hurts so good."
    She hadn't understood the first time he'd said that, but it clicked now as she giggled and struggled, then collapsed against his chest.
    "What am I ever going to do with you, Neil? You are the most impossible, irresistible man I've ever met in my life."
    "I'll tell you what you can do with me. Invite me inside, and let me make up for the last time I was here."
    "I'm not going to bed with you."
    "Certainly not. I meant it when I said I wanted you out of here, two keys for you and none for me till my fatal charms convince you to share. But since you don't seem of a mind to let me do that— yet —at least let me watch you take out the voodoo pins and fish my glossy out of the trash."
    "I didn't trash it. Even if I did come close to burning it in effigy."
    "Am I charred?"
    "Just a little singed. Lucky for you that you came after me tonight and... apologized, sort of. The glossy thanks you."
    He chuckled as she shook her purse to locate her keys. It was so dark in the hallway, she couldn't see to find them.
    "Darn, I wish my landlord would replace the bulb. I left a message on his answering machine yesterday. If I had a ladder, I'd do it myself."
    Neil's chuckle abruptly ceased, and she wished she hadn't brought up the subject. Feeling his disapproval in the taut silence, she was relieved to grab a hold of her keys.
    "Can I come in?" His breath tickled her ear, and his chest brushed her back in a soft persuasion. "I promise to be good."
    "Of course—" Had she put away her typewriter? She couldn't remember. Either it was stashed safely in her wardrobe or still sitting on the small table in clear view. "Of course not," she said, feeling frustrated and flustered.
    "And why is that?" He leaned in closer, and she shoved the key into the lock, gripping it as if it could save her from something she really didn't want to be saved from.
    "Because... because it's a mess, and you were less than impressed after I'd just cleaned. I'll say good night now and see you at work tomorrow, or make that later today."
    She should be unlocking the door. Why wasn't she unlocking the door? Was it because his arms were wrapped around her waist and his palm softly rubbed a slow circle around her belly that quivered beneath his touch? Or maybe it was the touch of his lips nuzzling her neck and the trickle of Cajun French words she didn't need to understand to blush at them.
    What power did this man have over her? She felt it with greater intensity each time he put hands on her. She was slipping, succumbing to a force that terrified and thrilled her.
    "You're fighting me. Fighting yourself," he said quietly. "Don't. It's a no-win battle, chere."
    "Don't—don't you need to write down your composition before you forget it?"
    "I'll tell you a secret," he murmured. "I call my muse Simon. And Simon says remember. I always do. Right now all I want is to hold you, kiss you, and maybe even risk getting a bit closer to the heart I can almost hear racing in your chest. Can you feel mine?"
    "Yes." She felt more, and it was that more she feared.
    "But you're pulling away from me. How come?"
    "It's the way you're touching me."
    "But I've touched you before. We danced with my hands on your—"
    "Please, Neil. Don't—"
    "Mention how we kissed the first time, the way it ended? You remember, don't you? I got a little carried away, and my fingers went between your legs, while my palm—"
    "Stop it," she groaned, frantically clutching the key because she didn't trust where her own hands might go once she released it. "I don't want to hear any more."
    "Maybe because... you like hearing it too much?"
    "Yes—no! I don't know. All I know is you're trying to seduce me, and I'm not ready for that. Not after tonight."
    "Seduce you?" He laughed. "Believe me, chere , if I was bent on seducing you, our current position would be lots more intimate than this. I'd already have us on