Free Debra Webb - In His Touch Box Set (Here To Stay, Up Close, Tempting Trace, Basic Instincts) by Debra Webb Page A

shocked to discover that he hadn’t made love to her while engaged to someone else. If she had only known, things would have been so different. She and Nathan would have been raising Jesse together. But she couldn’t change the past. She prayed with all her heart that when she told Nathan about Jesse it wouldn’t undo the progress they had made today. Just to be sure, she’d give it a few more days to set before she tested their new friendship.
    She had been prepared to tell him today, but he had seemed talked out. She supposed it was best to let this soak in and then take the next step.
    Her mind conjured up the memory of Nathan’s arms around her. How on earth could she ever be just his friend? She sighed. She loved to look at him, to hear him speak... to smell his exclusive scent. Just watching him walk sent her heart into an acrobatic act.
    Paige frowned. What would she do when he actually fell in love with someone else? Like Celine, she thought with disgust. No matter how she had pretended to hate Nathan, Paige knew deep down inside that she didn’t. But it was too late. Too much time had passed. And then, of course, there was Jesse. When Nathan found out she’d kept his son from him, he really would hate her. She felt certain of that.
    Feeling the tremendous weight of her error, Paige sagged against the kitchen cabinet. She had done this to herself. Nathan had been right all along. It was all her fault. She should never have left after that night they spent together or she should have come back sooner. But she’d wanted him to be the one to make the move, to ask her to come back. She closed her eyes against the overwhelming darkness. How she hated not being able to turn the light on.
    A knock at the front door made her jump. She calmed her runaway heart, then felt her way to the entry hall. She hadn’t heard a car drive up, which wasn’t surprising, considering the storm raging outside.
    Another knock echoed in the hall as she neared the door. Why did anyone bother knocking, she wondered? Nearly everyone in town seemed to have a key. Paige opened the door hesitantly only an inch or so, and then wider. Nathan stood before her, his black hat and long duster dripping water on the porch. He held a kerosene lantern in one hand. A bright flash of lightning lit up the darkness behind him, silhouetting his tall frame.
    “Nathan, what are you doing out in this storm?” The dim light from the lantern cast a glow over his features. His dark eyes burned into her soul with a heat that threatened to devour her right where she stood.
    “I remembered that you didn’t like the dark, so I brought you a lantern,” he said in that low, sensual voice that sent shivers over her skin.
    “Come in.” She held the door open wider. A flame sprang to life inside her as his gaze flickered over her.
    “I’ll just leave the lantern,” he offered tentatively.
    “No, don’t be silly.” Paige took his free hand and pulled him inside. The feel of his hard, callused palm sent a wave of heat up her arm. “You don’t want to go back out into that storm.”
    She took the lantern so he could get out of his wet coat. Nathan hung his hat and coat on the hall tree. He raked his fingers through his damp hair; muscle bunched and flexed beneath his shirt as he moved. Paige tried her best not to notice the way his jeans fit against all that made him male, but it was impossible not to. Her nipples stood at attention, rubbing against her pink night shirt.
    “Come into the parlor and we’ll have a brandy to chase away the chill.” She smiled and then led the way. Surely with the dim light, he couldn’t see the physical response his presence had caused. She set the lantern on the sofa table and gestured for Nathan to have a seat. She poured them each a brandy. Friends would do this.
    Paige handed Nathan a snifter and then took a seat next to him, but not too close. She pulled the hem of her night shirt over her thighs as she tucked her feet