Page 362 of Summer Heat
“So that was the only reason? Honoring that favor?”
God save her from insightful men. “Not exactly,” she confessed. “It was just…easier to let you believe it.”
“Easier than…”
“Saying no to you.” She stared at the water, admitting quietly to herself as well as to him, “When all I wanted was to say yes.”
“Abby.”
It came out as a groan.
And sounded like pure sin.
She couldn’t help it, in the thick quiet that followed, her hands began drifting over her skin without any preauthorization from her brain whatsoever.
Eyes closed, she let her fingers roam. Until her broken breathing fractured the silence.
“Invite me over, Abby,” Connor rasped. “Let me see you. Help you.”
Her eyes shot open and she yanked her hands back to safer territory.
What the heck was she thinking?
“What? No.”
“Why not?” His voice sounded strained.
“Because we just met!”
“No, we met well over a decade ago. And as you so delicately reminded me the other night,” he added almost teasingly, “we’ve kept in fairly regular contact since.”
She tried to keep her smile from showing in her voice. Why was it so easy to like this man? “You can’t come over.”
“Then at least agree to dinner, Abby. Just one night.”
“Coming from you, Connor, that sounds less like a reassurance and more like a mandate.”
Crap. She hadn't intended for that to sound so bitchy. She had no right to judge him. “Errr...not that that's a bad thing.”
He was silent for a second. “Are you saying you’ve never had a one-night stand? Ever?” All their earlier playfulness was wiped clean from his voice.
“Nope.”
But for once, she was tempted. Boy, was she tempted. “Besides, even if I were that kind of girl, I couldn’t have one with you. Our lives are too connected. There’s Brian and Skylar to think about.”
Not to mention, you’d utterly break my heart.
“We both know it wouldn’t be a good idea, Connor.”
A resigned grumble vibrated over the phone line. “You’re probably right.”
“Sheesh, you don't have to be so upset about it...don't worry, I'll let you be right next time,” she teased without thinking.
A big, surprised chuckle burst out of him. “If you want to take the sting out of this rejection you just handed out, you’re going to have to work on being a hell of a lot less cute. And smart. The snappy comebacks are becoming a major turn on for me.”
She bit her lip. That was just about the sweetest compliment she’d ever received. “You know, we can still be friends.”
This time his laught
