Free Hot and Bothered by Linda Cajio Page B

see.”
    He fiddled with the stove’s knobs, then opened the flap that allowed him to view the inner workings. Judith stood next to him, feeling more inadequate than usual.
    He straightened finally. “Looks okay. With Pedro you never know.”
    “Thank you.”
    He gazed down at her, his eyes lambent. He was close, so close, that she could easily reach out and run her fingers along his shirtfront. The loosely woven green cotton suited him so well.
    As if disembodied, her hand come up to rest on his chest. The heat of his skin almost burned her through the material.
    “I thought we weren’t going to do this,” he said in a hoarse voice.
    She closed her eyes, her fingers digging into the shirt. “I thought so too.”
    His lips took hers in a heady kiss. She didn’t have to open her eyes to see what she was doing. She already knew. None of this was like her. None of it. She had become a different person since leaving home. She was beginning to want never to go back.
    His tongue didn’t need to coax hers into participation. She met his fully, mating and swirling together. Paul gathered her to him, his hands strong on her back. His palms traveled down her spine until they cupped her derriere. His fingers kneaded the sensitive flesh. She moaned in the back of her throat and pressed her hips intimately to his. He shuddered and the kiss turned wild and demanding. She loved it. She loved the way he responded as if he were out of control for her. The sensations sent all kinds of heat shooting along her veins, turning her to jelly in his hands.
    He kissed her cheeks, her neck, her throat, then buried his lips in the soft flesh just under her ear. “I thought we weren’t going to do this either.”
    “We weren’t.”
    “Just checking.” He kissed her again, sending her spinning into the atmosphere.
    A sudden sharp whistle pierced the charged quiet. Judith leaped back, yelping in surprise. More calmly, Paul turned off the teakettle.
    “I guess our coffee’s ready,” he said.
    “I guess so.” She could barely hear her own voice. She fumbled around with mugs and coffee. Paul poured with steady hands that annoyed her as much as they had just thrilled her. Why wasn’t he a mess of raging hormones like she was? She forced her pounding heart to return to normal. Or tried to. It still insisted on fluttering erratically, but at least she was no longer in danger of fainting.
    She had to keep a grip on herself. Her living there was very temporary, and she should keep that in mind. If she didn’t, she’d get involved with a man who would turn her whole world upside down and leave her defenseless for the pain afterward.
    They sat across the narrow table from each other. Judith could easily lean forward and begin the kiss again. She forced the temptation away and tried innocuous conversation. “I like your friends. They’re charming.”
    “They’re good people.” Paul took a sip of his coffee.
    “How is it?” she asked, anxious.
    “Good, actually, though it looks like tea in this bag.”
    “For a cooking idiot like me, it’s a blessing.”
    “You sound like you don’t cook anything ever. Don’t you get tired of restaurants?”
    She wondered how to answer that and decided the truth would do well enough. “I live at home with my parents.”
    Paul raised his eyebrows. “How old are you?”
    She flushed. “Twenty-eight.”
    “And you don’t cook?”
    “I
barely
cook. Not beyond popping something in a microwave.” She clenched her teeth, hating how babyish she sounded. After his problems, she was ashamed even to admit her family’s lifestyle. It would be like throwing it in his face. Lamely, she added, “I … well, my mother had a cook so I never had to learn how. I went to a cooking school once. They threw me out. Now I’m finding out I really don’t have a talent for it.”
    “I figured that out already. Yet you eat anything. You didn’t even flinch at dinner tonight.”
    She knew he was referring to