Free Attitude by EC Sheedy Page A

secondary assault on your delicious body the second I'm operational again. But—" He rolled, positioned her under him. He liked her there. A lot.
    "But? You've got a but?" She ran her hand over his ass, squeezed it before slipping those taunting fingers of hers between their bodies to test his current status. A little more of that, and being operational—real fast—wouldn't be a problem.
    He closed his eyes when she cupped his balls, played with them. "Uh-huh. And I'll remember what it is any second now." He had to hand it to her, Ginger sure knew how to avoid conversation. He stopped her hand from wringing out his thoughts completely. "Not a but exactly, more one of those 'aha' things."
    "'Aha' things?" She shimmied out from under him and sat up on the bed, a blanket jumbled around her midsection. She didn't bother to cover her breasts, for which he was sincerely grateful. Her breasts were definitely A-list, and he loved the way her nipples jutted, small and fierce, into the cool room. "And what exactly is an aha?" she asked, looking curious but wary.
    "An insight, a revelation." He pulled on the blanket, and it came away from her to expose her diamond studded navel. "This was one." He touched the glittering stone, circled it with an exploratory finger. She gasped and yanked up the blanket, and Cal couldn't tell if she was annoyed at him or herself for that giveaway intake of breath. "I felt that—on the way down." He pulled the blanket away again and leaned over to kiss her navel. "Pretty."
    This time she let the blanket lie pooled and rumpled across her knees. "Thank you," she said, sounding oddly prim. "Now, can we get back to that aha thing of yours?"
    He sat up, rested his back against the headboard. "You're definitely afraid of me."
    Her eyes flashed. "You think so."
    "You took the lead from the get-go and you hung on—literally—until the end." He organized the pillow more comfortably behind his back. "Not that I'm complaining, but you did seduce me, Cameron."
    "I seduced—"
    "You did. And while I loved every minute of it, a man knows that when a woman commandeers his brainless best friend, she's after control, which usually means she's afraid of losing it herself"—he watched her face—"with him."
    "Dear goddess, I've just slept with Dr. Ruth."
    He laughed, lifted her chin so their eyes could meet. "Admit it. You're scared."
    She started to say something, he guessed a denial, then stopped and looked away for a minute before turning her gaze back to his. "All right, I'm scared. Okay?" She still looked defiant, but she also looked as if she might cry.
    Cal's gut clenched. "I'm not in this bed to hurt you."
    "Men." She shook her head, looked at him as if he were the village idiot. "You just don't get it, do you?"
    "Get what? And drop the ' men ' thing, okay. You make us sound like a box of cheap panty hose."
    "Not a bad analogy, considering they all run—sooner or later."
    "Yeah? Well I'm not going anywhere. Not until you tell me why you're so determined not to ease up around me."
    "I don't want to 'ease up' around you"—she stopped, looked away, then back at him—"because I do not want to fall for another guy who won't be bringing me flowers on our golden anniversary."
    "Which takes us back to your virginity promise, aluminum suits, leather underwear, and crepe shoes."
    "I never wore crepe shoes!" That denial out, she hesitated, scrunched up her brow. "I dressed like that because I didn't want to lead anybody on, attract the wrong kind of attention."
    "Epic fail." He smiled at her discomfort. "You've been attracting my attention twenty-four-seven since you walked into Cinema Neo."
    "And you've attracted mine." She puffed out a loud breath, and mirroring his position, sat up and leaned against the headboard. "Show me a pretty face, and I'm a goner."
    Cal didn't much like the pretty face comment, but he let it go. He'd known his share of women who were out for the hunk-of-the-month award, but his gut told him