Hearts on Fire Read Online Free Page A

scared me. I thought you were going to pass out.”
    “I don’t know what came over me. The heat, I guess.”
    Steve swept an assessing gaze over her face. Her eyes were clear, reacting to the change in light from the sunlit front of the booth to the shadowed rear where they sat. Her color was returning, and her speech lucid, not slurred. He’d bet his bottom dollar she knew exactly what had come over her, and it hadn’t been the heat. If anything, she should have been wearing a sweater. The sun hadn’t had time to remove the early morning chill.
    “Are you pregnant?”
    “No!” He was glad to see the flush of color her swift answer brought back to her cheeks.
    “Have you seen a doctor?”
    “I don’t need to see a doctor.” She stood. All traces of distress were gone, replaced by imperious resolve. “I am not pregnant. I am not ill. I am, however, sick of you.”
    Steve eased to his feet. His brain got the not-so-subtle dismissal, but his body refused to go along with the program. She was nothing more than a sprite compared to him, but she was a sprite with nerve. Looking down at her upturned face, he could see how much her bravado cost her. She trembled, and he desperately wanted to make her shiver for a different reason.
    Slowly, as if reaching out to a wild mare, he lifted his hand to her nape, giving her all the time in the world to tell him to fuck off before he slid his fingers beneath her hair to caress the silken skin of her neck. With a patience and desire he hadn’t experienced in his life, he held her still while he closed the distance between them, one inch at a time.
     
    She could get away. He only had a hand on her nape, and there wasn’t anything sinister about his touch. If she stepped back, he’d let her go. She felt certain he wouldn’t force her to do anything. If he planned to molest her, he’d just get on with it instead of taking his time.
    Time she needed, time she hated. All I have is time. Endless, lonely days. Endless, lonely months. Endless, lonely years.
    It had been so long since she’d felt any desire for a man. She didn’t know what to do with the hunger inside her for this one. If she let him kiss her, would he want more?
    Could she give him more?
    I don’t know if I can give him even this much.
    His lips brushed hers, warm and…alive. Her heart raced like it was hooked up to an adrenaline pump.
    “Tell me to stop.” The words, spoken against her lips, were rough, mirroring the turmoil inside her.
    Stop. Stop. Stop. Ignoring the mantra in her brain, she followed the insistent urging of her body instead, rising up on tiptoe to press her mouth against his.
    She expected him to take over, to pull her body against his, but he didn’t. She wasn’t in control, far from it, but somehow the kiss remained mutual, a give and take of exploration that slowly escalated from interesting to carnal.
    When he lifted his head, they were both breathing hard, and the air around them was thick with shared desire she couldn’t ignore. His thumb, stroking the pulse in her neck, made her knees weak. She could imagine his hands on her body, capable and strong, stroking life back into areas too long deadened to sensation.
    “When are you leaving?”
    “Leaving?” She couldn’t think with him touching her. She stepped back, and he let her go. Turning away from him, she fidgeted with the loom, anything to keep from putting her hands on him.
    “Somerset. How much longer will you be here?”
    She knew what he was asking. How long did they have to finish what their kiss had started? Endless, lonely nights reared up to remind her how long it had been since she’d felt anything at all for another person, and how dangerous those feelings could be. Yet, his kiss had awakened something inside her, something she desperately wanted to feel again if only for a short time. Taking a shuddering breath, she turned. He looked toward the front of the booth as if contemplating escape. She understood the