remembering the feel of him. If her body reacted from a single touch to her hand, she didnât want to imagine him touching her anywhere else...her breasts, her stomach, between her legs. And when he smiled at her, sheâd been a goner. She could still feel the impact in the pit of her stomach.
She had never experienced this kind of need in her life. She didnât even have a battery-operated boyfriend like some of her single female colleagues joked about owning. Sex was something that had never been on her must-do list. Sheâd put her energy into her academic career. But there was something about Gavin that made her think of heat and desire. Something that made the area at the juncture of her thighs quiver. Made her hormones sizzle.
Drawing in another deep breath, Layla admitted she needed to get a grip. She wasnât in Cornerstone, Missouri, to lust after the man who jointly owned the land she needed as an excavation site. All she wanted to do was stay on schedule and have a successful dig. Besides, Gavin Blake probably looked at other women the same way heâd looked at her. Hadnât that waitress in town enlightened Layla as to just what a ladiesâ man he was? Now seeing was believing.
Seeing was also a warning to keep her common sense intact and be on guard. An involvement with Gavin Blake was the last thing she needed, even though her body was trying to convince her otherwise.
There was something else she should be concerned about, something she just remembered. Ms. Melody had said that her grandson might be against the idea of a dig on the Silver Spurs. Although Ms. Melody had given the okay, would Gavinâs return change anything? The thought of losing the permission sheâd gained sent nervous jitters through her.
Maybe she should talk to Gavin Blake herself. She would present her research to him the same way sheâd presented it to Ms. Melody. Layla wanted to believe he was reasonable. It wasnât as if she would be digging all over his property. She had narrowed it to one location.
Yes, she would talk to him herself, but only after she talked to Ms. Melodyâand after Layla convinced herself she could talk to him without every part of her turning to mush.
* * *
Gavinâs eyes flew open and his entire body went on full alert. His ears picked up the sounds around him and it was then he recalled he was back in the United States and not in some godforsaken country where he had to be on guard 24/7.
It was always this way for the first few days after he returned home. He had to regroup and get his mind back in sync with normal life, deprogram from battle mode and ease back into the life of a rancher.
Glancing at the clock on his bedroom wall, he saw it was ten at night. He wasnât surprised that heâd slept nearly nine hours straight. His ears perked up at the sound that had woken him. Was that a harmonica? Granted it was far off, but he could still hear it. His teammates teased him about having sonic ears, because of his ability to hear a sound over a hundred feet away.
He wasnât sure if that was a blessing or a curse when he involuntarily eavesdropped on conversations he wished he hadnât. Like the time Mac was outside the barracks and downstairs in the yard talking to his wife on the phone, telling her in explicit sexual terms what he planned to do to her when he returned home from their mission. Gavin had heard every single word and the details had nearly burned his ears. They had definitely made him horny as hell. For a fleeting moment it had made him wish he had a wife or an exclusive woman he could return home to instead of a little black book filled with names of willing women.
Gavin pushed the whimsical thought from his mind as he lay in bed and listened to the music. It sounded pretty damn good. He sat up and rubbed his hands across his face as if to wipe away the sleep. Pushing the bedcovers aside, he eased out of bed. Not bothering to