Page 34 of Hard to Love
“It’s all just been sitting in my dad’s house, and I thought…” Greer grabbed her hair in both hands, twisted it in a way he was coming to realize meant she was nervous or unsure. Biting her lip, she turned a circle, looking over everything in the place. “You don’t like it? I can change out the quilt or rug or—”
He caught her arm and stopped her second rotation. “It’s great. But why go to all this trouble for a stranger?”
Her uncertain expression hardened. “Normally, when I let a man get both his hands inside my bra, I elevate him to at leastacquaintance.”
“You know what I mean.”
“You wanted out of the B&B. It’ll be a lot harder for your fan club to find you out here, and even if they do, you can lock the gate to keep them away.”
“So you’re just looking out for my bodily safety?”
“I was a Girl Scout. Community service is in my blood.”
He could see that. An even shorter Greer wearing one of those little paramilitary uniforms he’d seen today. And knee socks. Oh, hell, he’d like to see her in those now. But thiscommunity servicething hit him like being pistol whipped across the face. “I’m not a charity case.”
She shuffled back a step. “I never said you were.”
“I have money.” Just not money to spend on hotels and other useless shit that didn’t gain him anything.
“Fine,” she snapped. “Then you can pay me rent. Think two grand a month would be fair?”
He rubbed his forehead. Even though the air drifting around him was cool, Greer’s swirling anger was approximately two hundred and twelve degrees. “What does your brother think?”
“About renting you this place or the artisan village?”
“Yes.” They were both big risks.
“He believes in me. And he believes in what our dad designed for me when I was just a baby.” She hiked up her skirt and stuck out her boot.
But it wasn’t her feet that caught his attention. It wasthe delicate curve of her knee and the shapely muscle of her thigh. God, what he wanted to do to those thighs. What he wanted them to do to him.
“These say I’m supposed to take risks.” All too soon, the fabric dropped to cover her skin, which disappointed him way more than was smart. “Alex, are you listening to me?”
He jerked his attention back to her face. “Huh?”
“I don’t get you. First, you’re all pissy because I offered you a place to stay. Then you’re not even paying attention because you’re so busy staring at my legs.” She paced closer until it felt as though she was wrapping him up with rope. “What do you want, Alex?”
“You.” Mother of God, why now, of all time, for him to develop a careless mouth? It was the hands-down truth, but he was not in Prophecy to get a little action. And that was all it could ever be if he took this woman to bed.
Greer was so up in his personal space, they were breaking some rule of physics. “What’s stopping you from having me?”
“What I meant is I want this damn contract with PBC.”
“And you can’t have both?”
“I don’t sh—”
She clapped a hand over his mouth. “Yeah, I’ve heard that one, so save it.”
He mumbled against her palm and pulled her honeyed scent into his lungs. Damn stuff detoured to his brain, making him feel like a bee on a nectar bender.
“Look, if you want PBC’s contract, then you have to win the tooling part of the competition. Which means you have to stick around for another couple of weeks. Why not enjoy yourself at the same time?”
Rather than try to answer, Alex flicked out his tongueand painted a tiny spiral on her palm. Her eyes widened and darkened. She drew her hand from his mouth, but before she dropped it completely, her fingertips grazed his lips.
Alex sidestepped, giving himself room. Room to breathe. To think.
Finally, he said, “I’m assuming you’ll want media coverage on this competition.”
