Craving a Hero: St. John Sibling Series, book 3 Read Online Free

those sting kill swabs."
    "Did I miss a bite?" she asked, trying to stifle a grin.
    He took the swab she held up to him, cupped her chin, leaned in closer, and dabbed at her forehead. "Yeah. You missed one all right. But that's okay because I didn't."
    There was a husky tone lacing his words, something that implied he meant more than he was saying. It was in the way his dazzling blue eyes met hers and in how his less-than-Hollywood polished fingertips held her chin. It was in the way he smelled of the woods rather than pricey aftershave and the way his broad shoulders blocked out the sun as he hovered over her. Damn, but was she finally falling for his charm?
    "Has anyone ever told you how amazingly bright your eyes are?" he asked.
    "They're brown," she murmured, still caught up in his gaze, his touch, his smell.
    "Pale with a hint of green and oh so bright," he returned, his face lowering towards hers.
    Instinctively, her eyelids lowered and her mouth tilted up to meet his. His kiss was gentle, warm, just a hint of tongue testing the line of her lips. Then his lips were gone and she was left with hers slightly parted, expecting—wanting more.
    She opened her eyes to find him frowning down at her. All at once, the words rushed from both of them at the same time.
    "Why aren't you slugging me?" he asked.
    "Why'd you stop?" she asked.
    "You didn't want me to stop?"
    "You expected me to slug you?"
    Their words tangling, they laughed together.
    She noticed he no longer held her chin. Instead his hands filled the space between them, one still holding the used sting stop stick, the swab looked dwarfed between his long fingers, fingers in perfect symmetry to his large, masculine hands. Why was she noticing such stuff about him now. She better change the mood here real quick.
    She side-stepped him and gathered up the used swabs.
    "I still can't believe you didn't slug me," he said, propping a lean hip against the lowered tailgate of the truck where she dumped the used swabs into a waste bag.
    "Why?" she asked, pleased her voice sounded reasonably normal.
    "To say you haven't been receptive to my charms would be an understatement. You've been downright prickly toward me."
    She shrugged. "You were a job."
    "Babysitting job, I seem to recall overhearing you say."
    As if her cheeks weren't already warm enough, a fresh flush of heat flooded them. "I didn't mean for you to hear that."
    "Even if I hadn't, you made it pretty clear I wasn't welcome."
    "It wasn't personal," she said, putting her emergency kit in order.
    "Glad to hear it."
    "Being the token minority hire, I get all the jobs nobody else wants."
    "Didn't know I was such a bother."
    She closed the lid on her kit and gave him a chastening look. "You could listen better—follow instructions better. If you had, you wouldn't have fallen into that ground hornets' nest."
    "At least I got your attention…finally."
    She studied him for some sign he was making fun of her, that what he'd said earlier about trying to impress her was just some ploy to charm her. But damn , the man looked so blasted sheepish. Or maybe he looked vulnerable because his Hollywood face was studded with welts.
    "You didn't want me to stop kissing you?" he asked, this time with less astonishment and far more wonder.
    "It was a nice kiss," she said, stowing her kit—keeping her voice as neutral as she could manage.
    The cocky, movie star smile stretched across his lips. "Just nice?"
    Good grief, of course not! The kiss had been wonderful, but much too brief, she wanted to say.
    Instead, she cleared her throat, back to business. "I better get you to where a doctor can look at those bites."
    "I'm fine," he said, adding the swab he'd used on her to the bag she was about to tie up.
    "Sure you are," she said, closing the tailgate he still leaned against and making him jump away. "But I'm not taking any chances."
    She headed for the driver's side door. He headed for the passenger side but stopped dead, eyeing himself in