Free Too Hot to Handle: A Loveswept Classic Romance by Sandra Chastain Page B

picked up a shovel in his life, yet he’d loadedwheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of fertilizer without complaint.
    “Okay, my lady farmer, what now?”
    “Leave the bucket on the ledge, sit down on that bench, and take off your shoes.”
    Matt complied, wondering if she planned to wash his feet. How quaint, he thought. It must be an old mountain custom. Just as he relaxed in anticipation he felt icy water cascade over his head and down his body like a great tidal wave straight out of the Arctic Ocean. The well water was so cold, it took his breath away.
    “Great glaciers!” he yelled. “Do you have a pipeline to the North Pole?”
    Callie laughed. “Well, you wanted cool water.”
    “Yes. But I didn’t expect this.”
    He shook his head, spraying little droplets on her. Her skin was so flushed with desire that she wondered why the water didn’t sizzle against it. He grinned.
    “Now that I’m used to it, I like it so well, I think another bucketful is in order,” he told her.
    He rose to his feet, completely unaware of the picture he presented, with his skimpy shorts plastered to his lower body. Callie was mesmerized by the sight of him, and she turned away, trying to regain her composure. She squinted up at the sun as if she might find answers to troubling questions there. She listened to the pulley creak as he brought up another bucket.
    “Hurry up,” she ordered. “I want to wash my hands and legs.”
    “I’ll help,” he said abruptly.
    “Matt, nooo!” Too late, she realized that he’d trickedher. The splashing sound of the water hid her more explicit words as the icy liquid hit her head and rolled down her body. She whirled around and hopped in place, shivering. Dripping wet, she looked up at him.
    He nodded happily. “Callie, this is much better than my pool.” Matt felt his smile fading as he noticed that her cotton bodice was now clinging to her chest, outlining her nipples perfectly.
    Callie read the intensity in his eyes. Her hands dropped to her sides, and she stood still.
    “Matt, no,” she whispered.
    “Yes,” he answered in a voice so soft and low that she wasn’t sure he’d spoken aloud.
    They stood there, not touching, breathing softly, and she was aware only that they couldn’t stop what was going to happen. She knew his thoughts as if he’d spoken them.
    Matt hadn’t intended to touch her. He hadn’t known his hand was moving until he felt the contraction of her nipple beneath his fingertips.
    “You’re so very beautiful, Callie,” he murmured, capturing her chin with his other hand. He held it as he bent down to kiss her. “And I want to kiss you. I have to kiss you,” he begged, stopping her words of protest before they could be aired.
    But she made no protest. Her arms snaked around his neck and held him tightly. She pressed her mouth and body against him in a wanton display of passion. She felt as if she were being torn apart, tortured by Matt’s lips and hands until waves of feeling broke across her body as though she were a reef in a storm. He felt so good, so male, so much a part ofher that it took a moment to realize that he soon would be, if she didn’t pull herself away.
    “No, Matt,” she managed to say thickly. “I don’t want to be one of the lady friends by your pool.”
    He drew back, his chest heaving. “Then let me be your gentleman friend by the well,” he joked softly.
    “No, Matt, no,” she said flatly, pushing against his chest until he let her go. She looked away from him, then busied herself by picking up the bucket and replacing the well lid. “I don’t want to get tangled up in the world you come from.” She started toward the back door.
    He walked beside her silently, then caught her wrist as she reached to grasp the door handle.
    “Wait a minute, dammit,” he said hoarsely, and pulled her against him. “I don’t know what in hell made you hate men who have money, but I resent being unfairly judged by you or anyone.”
    “I’m not