Free Beauty & the Beasts by Anne Weale, Janice Kay Johnson Page B

frantic beat of her pulse.
    And his mouth hardened, captured hers. She felt his teeth against her lip; his tongue touched the tip of hers. Her knees almost buckled. Warmth flooded her belly, and for the first time in her life, she understood the urge to have sex.
    With a whimpering sound she pulled back, frightenedby this new awareness. For a moment his hands tightened, as though he wouldn’t let her go, and her panic grew like a fire worked by bellows.
    Behind Eric, footsteps came down the hall. One of the double swinging doors whooshed as it opened. Madeline heard the sounds, but her brain made no effort to figure out what they meant. Eric lifted his head, and she thought only that he’d finally sensed her resistance.
    It wasn’t until a young male voice said awkwardly, “Uh…I’m sorry, but customers aren’t supposed to be here,” that awareness parted the fog.
    Her cheeks flooded with heat. Discovering she was gripping Eric’s shirt, Madeline let it go and took a quick step back, grateful he released her so quickly.
    “It’s…it’s me,” she said inarticulately.
    The twenty-year-old in the orange vest blushed as fiercely as she did. “Madeline! Oh. I didn’t know…that is, I’m sorry. You can…I mean, I shouldn’t have interrupted.” He backed away, eyes bulging. “I thought…”
    Eric kept a hand on her arm. It steadied her, for reasons she didn’t want to analyze.
    “That’s okay, Jon. I promise we weren’t back here necking.” Yes, they were, her conscience objected. She ignored it, forcing a shaky smile. “I just placed a couple of kittens I was especially fond of. It always makes me a little weepy. Eric was…was being nice.”
    The young man stopped backpedaling. “I’m sorry. I know how that is. We had a litter of puppies once— our dog is a purebred Dalmatian, see, and we tookher to this breeder. Only then when it came time to sell the puppies, it was really hard. I mean, I’d named them all, and—” He stopped and blushed again. “I’m sorry. I came in to get something, but I don’t have to.”
    “I’m leaving,” she said with a more natural smile. “I just needed a minute. That’s all.”
    Jon stood back to let them pass. Madeline couldn’t look at Eric. They walked silently side by side to the front of the store. Linda was in the room with the cages, engrossed in a conversation with two older women. Madeline’s knees gave way, and she dropped into one of the folding chairs behind the table. There, right in front of her, sat her half-eaten hamburger and milk shake.
    Eric didn’t sit, just leaned over the table, his hands flat on the top. His voice had an undertone she couldn’t identify. “I feel like I’m fourteen and the principal just caught me making out with my girlfriend behind the gym.”
    A giggle came out like a hiccup. Madeline clapped her hand to her mouth, but she couldn’t stop. Soon she was laughing so hard it hurt.
    Finally she managed, “I feel like my kid brother caught me.”
    He winced. “Ugly thought.” But the deepening of one crease in his cheek let her know he was suppressing amusement, as well.
    Her laughter died. “Oh, dear. Are you hopelessly embarrassed?”
    “Not me.” His gray-green eyes held an intensity that shook her, even though there was something peculiarlyreassuring about it. “I’ll kiss you in public anytime.”
    Because of how I look? she wanted to ask, but chickened out.
    “Thank you, kind sir,” she said, instead.
    One eyebrow went up. “My male ego will be wounded if you don’t reciprocate.”
    If she wasn’t scared to death of men, relationships and herself, it would have been a great kiss. Maybe, just maybe, if he kissed her again she would have the courage to find out where it led.
    How to express any of that? “Ditto,” she said a little shyly.
    A smile lit his eyes, softening the intensity. He leaned farther across the table. “Is that an invitation?”
    She licked dry lips. “I—”
    A man stopped