Sweet as Sin Read Online Free

down her body and
    came to rest on her hips. “Trust me, I noticed the ass.”
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    Sweet as Sin
    Livvy ignored him and sat, blowing away a slow breath. Tow went to flip the burgers and Andrea supervised, mainly protecting his butt with her hands in case some stray spark defied physics. John folded into the seat across from Livvy.
    He cocked his head, never dropping his gaze from her face. “Looks good enough to eat.”
    She arched her brow. “Okay, where’s the nice guy from this morning? This creepy flirting thing you have going again? Not working. Give it a rest.”
    John leaned his arms on the table. “Say yes first.”
    “Yes to what?”
    “Going out with me.”
    “That would be a ‘hell no’ not a yes.” Livvy snorted and cut into a bright green apple.
    “Why not? You don’t have a boyfriend or he’d have been the one you called to jump you.”
    “I didn’t call you , either.” Livvy dropped the last green-skinned apple chunks in the bowl and discarded the core before picking up a red one. A sharp crack sounded when her blade sank into the crisp fruit. “And I’ll pay you back whatever you spent on the battery but I am not dating you.”
    “What are you afraid of, Livvy?”
    The knife stilled deep in the apple-meat. “Not you, if that’s what you’re implying.”
    Inez Kelley
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    “Of course not.” John smirked. “I’m harmless.”
    “I’m not.” The apple split cleanly down the center.
    A simmer ignited in his eyes, a blue-hot flame that shouldn’t have warmed her but did. His low whisper turned the heat up. “I believe you. Makes the temptation even greater.”
    She handed him an apple. “Satisfy that
    temptation elsewhere.”
    John took the apple and chuckled. “‘And so Eve gave to Adam and he did eat, and their eyes were opened and they saw that they were naked.’
    An apple started it all, you know—man’s
    downslide into the tempting sins of the flesh.” He kept his eyes locked with hers and bit down. The crunch vibrated through Livvy with an electric current. It sizzled as his tongue slicked out to catch a stray drop of juice. “Sweet…as sin.”
    “About done with the salad?” Andrea jerked Livvy from the sensual haze by plopping a casserole dish onto the table. Behind her, the first of the neighbors trickled into the yard.
    Livvy hopped off the bench and thrust the paring knife at her sister, refusing to look at John.
    “You finish the apples. I want to talk to Helen.”
    She rushed toward the Sorensons, taking time to play ultra-Martha-Stewart-hostess. She directed potato salad and side dishes to the table and beer and sodas toward the coolers. Everyone
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    commented on the Cosgroves’ house finally getting bought and wondered about their new neighbor.
    The smile on Livvy’s lips quivered. She dared look back at the table. John laughed and talked with neighbors as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Then he raised his chin and caught her stare. Desire hissed. It coiled through her like a snake up a tree, mesmerizing and tempting. No serpent had ever been as alluring.
    She jerked away and greeted more people. She focused on everyone’s comfort, making sure there were plenty of cold drinks and enough plastic forks. She refused to look in John’s direction.
    Refused to look at the firm, calloused hands that could tantalize her skin. Refused to look at the strength that rippled the muscles in his arms when the men moved the heavy table farther under the shade tree. Refused to look at the odd silver strand tucked in his ebony hair that begged to be fingered. Nope, she refused to look.
    But she saw. It made her damp and soft and hot in all the wrong places.
    All evening she’d been trying to ignore him but she failed in spectacular fashion. She wouldn’t meet his eyes, but watched every move he made.
    She didn’t speak directly to him but licked her lips as he turned away. Every time he looked at her, Inez Kelley
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    her face snapped away