Free Stevie Lee by Tara Janzen Page B

week of working with him side by side, she’d never heard the same story twice, and although he obviously always survived, he never failed to put enough doubts in her mind to make her wonder each time whether Halsey Morgan would come out alive.
    “Ted fell in the river and shot the rapids the hard way, getting tumbled around and bouncing off every rock. Lars went next,” Hal’s voice softened to a hush, “and that left me and Charlie. I could hear him praying in the back of the raft, and I’ll tell you, there’s nothing like hearing your team leader praying to shoot your confidence all to hell.”
    The drivers chuckled in unison, and a wry smile tilted Stevie’s mouth. Tom, she knew, wouldn’t even dip his big toe in Grand Lake, let alone get on a river raft.
    “So there we were, hanging on that boulder, most of our gear and our buddies floating off into a jungle, the waves drowning our boat, and Charlie praying.”
    The phone jangled in her ear, startling her. Stevie jumped, cussed, and failed to make a run for the office.
    “Back in a second,” Hal cut his story short and stepped into the hall.
    If she only could have disappeared once in her life, Stevie would have chosen this moment. But she didn’t have time to pull the look of surprise off her face or get out of his way.
    “Oops, sorry,” he whispered, accidentally knocking against her in the small space. He picked up the phone. “Hello.” Then he settled against the old Frigidaire, trapping her once more.
    “Yes, Yes. Well it’s nice to talk to you too.”
    Stevie wondered who he was talking to; she wondered how to slip by him. She started to move, but he had another idea. Very casually, he stretched his arm out and rested his hand on the wall behind her, bringing them chest to chest, with only the phone cord between the pearly gray snaps of his shirt and the blue plaid flannel of hers. The heat of his body touched her knee, her thigh, the top of her shoulder. She felt his slow, teasing smile blush her cheeks.
    “A spectacular view,” he drawled into the phone, but his gaze remained fixed on her, the indigo depths of his eyes darkening with appreciation and setting off all of her warning bells. She took a step back, right into the wall.
    “Very cozy. Thanks to Stevie Lee . . . yes, she is . . . very nice.” The deep roughness of his voice strummed across her emotions and echoed through her breasts as he followed her with a step of his own. Stevie squirmed, but only once, immediately realizing her mistake. His smile broadened, deepening the creases in his dark cheeks and feathering the whiter lines of crow’s feet at the corners of his eyes.
    “Definitely . . . a wonderful job . . . all kinds of fringe benefits.” The lazy, heated track of his gaze over her face came to rest on her mouth, and his own mouth softened, his smile fading. Stevie’s heart did a slow slide up into her throat, making it impossible to catch her suddenly disappearing breath.
    “Thanks. I’ll look forward to meeting you . . . okay, good-bye.” Without taking his eyes off of her, he hung up the phone. “Hi, Stevie.” He whispered the words across her lips as he bent his head down. “It wasn’t the same around here without you today. I missed you.”
    “Hal, please—”
    He never gave her a chance to save herself. His mouth opened over her lips, his hand came up the side of her neck and cupped her face, and his hips rolled into hers, pressing her against the wall and into his heat.
    What little rational thought she’d been able to hold onto fled on wings of stolen pleasure. Desire weakened her knees and pulled a gasp from her lungs.
    “Yes, Stevie,” he urged her on, with his words and the warmth and pressure of his body. Then his tongue delved deep, tasting and giving a sweetness like none she’d ever known.
    Stevie sank willingly into the sensual fascination of his kiss, feeling the muscled hardness of him beneath her hands, the gentle, insistent passion in