Free Cowboy with a Cause by Carla Cassidy Page B

he entered the living room, his gaze automatically went in the direction of Melanie’s bedroom.
    He froze. Her bedroom door was halfway open, allowing him a view of the bottom half of her bed. He could also see the bottom of her midnight blue nightgown and her slender bare legs beneath. She was sitting up and appeared to be rubbing the calf of her right leg.
    He hadn’t ever considered that she might have actual pain. He’d just assumed that her leg was numb...dead. But as he stepped closer, he could hear her emitting soft, whispery moans as her hands worked up and down her leg.
    Without realizing what he was doing, he moved to her doorway. She looked up, her eyes widening, obviously startled by his presence.
    He didn’t speak; he wasn’t sure if he could if he wanted to. Instead he walked over to the foot of the bed and sat down, then pulled her leg into his lap, surprised when she didn’t fight him.
    He began to massage it like she had done, up and down her calf with just a light pressure. Her feet were bare, her toenails painted a pearly pink. Her right foot pointed downward in an unnatural resting position. A perfect ballerina point for a ballerina who couldn’t dance, he thought.
    “Can you stand on it at all?” he asked.
    “I can stand on my left foot and balance a bit with the right but not for long,” she replied. “The right foot and leg really have no function at all.”
    “Does it hurt often?” He hated the idea of her being in pain.
    “From the knee down it’s a chronic ache with electric tingles and what I call zingers. It’s hard to explain the pain. It’s usually manageable, but sometimes, like tonight, it becomes a bit unbearable.”
    “Do you have medicine to take?” he asked, half mesmerized by her skin beneath his hands. It was like stroking fine silk.
    “I have pain pills, but I never take them during the day and only occasionally at night. I don’t like feeling drugged up and the pills don’t really take away all the pain.”
    “But if it hurts, you should at least get a little relief and take a pill.” He wasn’t looking at her, but rather his gaze was captured by the sight of his big, bronzed hands against her pale, slender leg. She had dancer’s legs, slim, but with calf muscles that gave them shape.
    Her scent filled the room, clean and floral and utterly captivating. He closed his eyes for a long moment, just breathing in her essence.
    When he did look at her again, her eyes were dark pools of midnight blue and her lower lip looked full and inviting. Once again his need to kiss her hit him full force in the pit of his stomach, nearly stealing the breath from his body.
    She appeared to be holding her breath and her nipples were erect against the silk material of her nightgown. Adam’s blood heated in his body and he realized he was fully aroused.
    There was a part of him that was half confused by the effect she had on him, by the physical attraction that was a visceral force inside him. All he’d meant to do was alleviate some of her pain, but somehow touching her had completely turned him on. There was also a part of him that recognized that she appeared to be affected in the same way.
    It’s easier to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission. The same words he’d thought as he’d built her ramp now screamed inside his head.
    He stopped manipulating her calf and in a swift, fluid movement slid closer to her, close enough that he leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers.
    She stiffened. He mentally winced, believing he’d misread the signals, misread her and that he definitely would need to beg for forgiveness, but before he could pull away, her lips softened and opened to him.
    He fell into the soft, sweet taste of her mouth, swirling his tongue with hers as all other thoughts were driven from his head.
    She responded by leaning forward slightly as the kiss grew deeper. She tasted just as he’d imagined she would, like sweet fire that ignited a flame in the pit