Page 20 of Rebel Secrets
Strong arms wrapped around my back and hips, dragging me close to a warm body that smelled like spicy mint and vanilla.A warm, hard body with huge hands that molded into my skin.
And were connected to Rebel.
“Oh—”
“Shit—”
We froze, staring at each other like deer in headlights, not saying a word.I couldn’t unstick my tongue from the roof of my mouth.I stared into his eyes like I’d never seen them before.And I hadn’t.At least, not this close.I’d known they were dark, but not such a deep, velvety brown.And had his lips always been so…lickable?
Oh my god!Was I insane?Had I hit my head against the door while I was falling?This was Rebel.Not some random guy off the street I could lust over.I didn’t lust over Rebel.
Nope.Ick.Absolutely no.
A split second later, he pulled me to my feet and took a step back, pulling his hands away like he’d touched a hot stove.Or was standing a little too close.To me.
“Sorry—”
“Sorry—”
“Hey, you’re blocking the door.Everything okay?”
Rowdy had stopped just behind Rebel, holding the door open so it didn’t swing shut and smack us.
“Yep” I threw a smile at Rowdy.“Everything’s fine.Just need to get a few from chairs from the café.”
“Hey, Reb, why don’t you give her a hand so I can bring in the extra bottles we brought.”
Only I saw Rebel’s slight hesitation and the tightening of his lips before he nodded.
“Sure.”
I went into default mode.Smile and babble.And what made it worse was that I knew Rebel couldn’t stand that.
“Thanks, but I’m fine.If you just want to?—”
“Erin.Just open the door.”
His voice did something to my brain, I swear.Rebel’s voice was deeper than Rowdy’s and had a little bit of a smoky quality.Not raspy but like he was thinking dirty thoughts all the time.My mom would call it a bedroom voice.
I definitely knew Rebel was not thinking about me and a bedroom at the same time.No way in hell.I’m pretty sure that was exasperation in his voice when he’d basically ordered me to open the door.And of course I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of following that order.
I pasted on my finest fake smile and watched his eyes narrow and his gaze drop to look at my lips.Now, why did that make me feel tingly in my stomach?Probably indigestion from eating way too many cookies today.I’d been way too busy to eat anything else.(Ha!said my inner Mom voice.)
“I’m certain I can manage?—”
“You know we’d be done already, right?We can both get two chairs and won’t have to make another trip.”
Since I couldn’t argue with his logic, even though I really, really wanted to, I bit my tongue and turned to the bakery door, pulling the master key from my pocket.Slotting it in, I turned abruptly, determined not to let him think he’d won anything?—
And found him checking out my ass.I mean, I think that’s what he’d been looking at.It was such a foreign concept, I knew I had to be dreaming.There was no way Rebel had been checking out my ass.So naturally, I looked down to see if I had something stuck to my butt.
“Do I have…I mean, is there something…”
I looked up to find an expression on his face I’d never seen there before.I could almost swear he was embarrassed.Was he embarrassed to get caught looking at my butt?I had to be wrong.Rebel would never be caught dead checking me out.
“Erin.Let’s just get the chairs.”
I could take a hint.Sometimes it took a sledgehammer over the head, but eventually I got what people meant.Rebel wanted to put some space between us.As fast as possible.I turned back to the door, but before I did, my gaze caught on the t-shirt he was wearing.Okay, what it actually got caught on was the way it stretched across his broad chest.And the way it accentuated the muscles there.The very muscley muscles.
