Lightning Strikes. Colleen Collins

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      There was a long pause during which the guy frowned, downing another slug of coffee. She could tell by the glint in his eyes that his mind was working, the wheels turning. Oh yeah, he was cautious all right.

      When he finally nodded, Blaine realized it had taken all that time to decipher what she’d said.

      “And?” he prompted.

      “And…de bed was delivered to de wrog address.”

      “Rog?”

      She nodded.

      “Oh, wrong.”

      She fought the urge to roll her eyes. This guy was serious to the max. The last thing she needed to do was make light of the situation.

      “Delivered to the wrong address by this Ralph person.”

      “Yes.” She tried to down a sip of coffee, but the stuff damn near scalded her tongue. She sucked in a cooling breath of air, her eyes watering. “How do you drik this stuff?”

      “I like hot things.”

      Heat flooded her face. That’s what last night had been. Hot. The hottest she’d ever experienced. God, her skin burned with the memory of his touch. Those calloused hands were skilled, relentless…

      She looked around the room, too embarrassed to meet this guy’s eyes…her lover’s eyes. She shifted, trying to find a more comfortable position on the floor. Man, she was sweating in places she’d never sweated in before. Memories of what happened last night—in her sister’s wedding-present bed, for God’s sake—were better than anything, anything, Blaine had ever experienced with a guy, which now just seemed a blur of fumbling and body parts.

      Maybe it had been better because last night had been like…a fantasy. Lush, provocative, meltdown hot.

      Maybe that bed was magical, after all.

      She looked up at the man with whom she’d shared the ultimate intimacy—what had Milly called him?

      “What’s your nameb?” she asked.

      He frowned. “Oh, name. Donovan. Donovan Roy.”

      His finger played along the lip of his cup, circling it slowly. “Yours?”

      “Blaind Saudders,” she answered, forcing herself to look him in the eyes and not at his finger, whose sensuous, circling motion reminded her of how he’d touched her last night. “I rud de Blaind Saudders Temp Agency.”

      He stared at her, his brow furrowed. “Okay,” he said slowly.

      His last name rang a bell. “Roy’s Eggs?”

      He seemed to hesitate before answering. “My mom sells those, yes,” he said gruffly. A shadow crossed his features.

      He took another drink of coffee, but seemed to keep the mug in front of his face afterward. As though not wanting to face something?

      Not face Blaine? Uh-oh, and here she was, savoring last night’s sensuous finger play while he was analyzing his great escape. Maybe this was one of those dreaded “morning-afters” she’d heard Sonja and her girlfriends talk about. The guy’s uncomfortable, afraid the woman doesn’t know the difference between a fling and forevermore, and he’s dumb-ass clueless how to deal with it.

      Blaine looked down at the scuffed hardwood floor.

      Shame. I could sand and varnish this, make it shine like new.

      “So,” she finally whispered, “when de bed could’t be redelivered, I decided to do it byself.” There. She was picking up their previous thread of conversation, saving him from having to deal with whatever-it-was-that-happened-between-them last night.

      “I see.”

      Donovan searched Blaine’s face so long, she had the eerie sense he read beneath her words, sensed her feelings. And for a moment, she despised him for it. Wanted to tell him, in no uncertain terms, that she wasn’t wondering some girly thing like “will he call me?” That she didn’t pine and daydream over any guy…

      “Milly let you in.”

      “You have a problem with dat?” Blaine snapped. Some of her coffee sloshed onto the floor. Bending over, she wiped it up with the sleeve of her T-shirt.

      “No,” he said slowly, looking at the smeared brown stain on her T-shirt. “Milly has a key. I’ve told her to use it when necessary.” He paused. “You didn’t have to do that. I have paper towels, you know.”

      “I know.” She slugged back a mouthful of hot coffee, wincing as she swallowed.

      “You okay?”

      She nodded, afraid to speak. Sometimes even she was aware she was behaving oddly, but damn if she was going to let him know that.

      After a long moment, he continued, “I’m still trying to understand why you decided to sleep in my bed.”

      Decided? As though she’d planned this little escapade? She bit her tongue, reminding herself that her bed—her gorgeous, magical bed—was at stake. She needed to stay reasonable and calm because the bed was now in this guy’s possession. And wasn’t possession nine-tenths of the law?

      “Allergy pills,” she said softly. “Too many. Fell asleep.” She expelled a weighty breath, which unfortunately came out as a scratchy wheeze.

      “You sound terrible.”

      “I am terrible.” She winced. Maybe she was trying to be calm and reasonable, but it didn’t mean her tongue didn’t move ahead of her mind sometimes. Okay, so she felt bad about what had happened. Not such an awful thing for this guy to know.

      One corner of his mouth kicked up in a grin. “No, you’re not.”

      “I like to follow the rules.”

      His eyes sparkled. “Could’ve fooled me.” He took another slug of his coffee. After swallowing, he said. “Myself, I abhor rules. Maybe you should rethink your stance, be easier on yourself.”

      This wasn’t at all what she expected. Rather than ranting and raving at her, he wanted to talk, so she was talking—or trying to. And in return, the guy was acting interested, heck, even sounding concerned.

      As though he cares.

      Her insides went all swampy. And the way he looked at her—his rugged face softening, those full lips giving her a loose, kicked-up grin, made her feel…special.

      Guys often looked at her kid sister this way. Blaine knew because she’d seen it plenty of times. And she never begrudged her sister for it, either. It was part of being the surrogate mom, happy for Sonja’s beauty and popularity. Thankful, even, because Blaine knew life would be easier for Sonja. It wasn’t a bad thing, just a reality. Some people stood a bit more in life’s golden light.

      But at this moment, Blaine suddenly had an inkling of what it was like to bask in that light. To СКАЧАТЬ