8 Brand-New Romance Authors. Avril Tremayne

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СКАЧАТЬ curled her fingers into a tight fist, bringing the errant tingling into submission. Control yourself, woman!

      “Coffee?” Oh, his voice even sounded like she had imagined, all gravelly and rough with sleep.

      “Yes, please.” She sat on the barstool at the kitchen counter. He turned and set a cup of hot coffee in front of her, but avoided eye contact. That was fine with her. She couldn’t have him analyzing her and finding out about her late-night musings. Her thoughts were never safe with the way he read her like a book.

      “I’m gonna start clearing off my truck, then we can go pick up your car. We may have to dig it out, though.”

      “Okay. I’ll get dressed.”

      Ten minutes later she found Josh outside, meticulously removing all evidence of snow from his truck. She wouldn’t dare offer to help. He never let anyone touch his baby. She jumped into the cab and waited for him.

      When they pulled up to the coffee-shop parking lot, her car was barely visible. It appeared to be more a giant mound of snow than a vehicle.

      “This is going to be fun.” Josh parked the truck and looked over at her. “You ready?”

      “As ready as I will ever be.”

      * * *

      Josh couldn’t believe she didn’t remember. He had walked on eggshells all morning, waiting for the awkward conversation that never came.

      He looked over at her. Micah softly hummed to herself as she was hard at work on the one side of her car while he tackled the other side.

      They had to shovel around the car just to get close to it. Despite the frigid temperature, Josh had worked up quite a sweat. Slowly but surely they were uncovering her little car.

      He looked up at her again. She really was oblivious to what had happened last night.

      Josh had woken to the sound of her walking around the apartment. It had been dark, but he’d found her in the kitchen, where she appeared to be making tea. But tea never happened.

      Still in a sleepy haze, he hadn’t been able to control himself and apparently neither had she. The heated make-out session had annihilated any semblance of control he thought he still possessed. Never in his wildest dreams had he expected her to be so responsive to him.

      Her uninhibited passion in all of its blinding glory was far more beautiful than his finite imagination could ever have made up.

      And she didn’t remember a thing about it. Had she been sleepwalking? Or was it sleep kissing? Oh, God. If that was how she kissed in her sleep, he wouldn’t be able to handle a kiss with her fully awake and not drunk.

      Maybe this was a blessing in disguise. If she didn’t remember and had truly been unaware of what transpired between them, then there was no harm done. If he could just go on as though it had never happened, she would never know.

      Micah must have pushed the scraper a little too hard, because it slipped and sent snow flying into the air in his direction. He tried to duck out of its path, but failed, getting hit on the side of his face.

      He couldn’t pass up this opportunity. He reached down, grabbed some snow and shot back up, tossing a snowball right at her.

      “Hey! We are trying to clean off the car, not put more back on it!” She countered with a snowball that just missed his shoulder.

      “You started it.”

      Snowballs went flying through the air, rapid-fire. He threw then dodged, accidentally nailing her in the head once or twice. He felt a small pang of guilt, but got over it quickly. She would survive.

      Micah hid behind the car, attempting to make as much ammunition as she could, but he was onto her. He quietly crept around the car. And as he peeked from behind the trunk, he could see her stand abruptly and fire one toward where he had been standing. She stood on her tiptoes to see if she could find him. He took the opportunity, lunged from the rear of the car and tackled her into the snow.

      A spark of heat jolted him as he fell to the ground on top of her. Her body was warm beneath his, a stark contrast to the icy, wet snow that engulfed them. His face was mere inches from hers. It had started to snow again, and tiny snowflakes floated all around her.

      He watched as they slowly came to rest on her hair, forming a halo about her. He was entranced by the sight of her. His mouth moved on its own accord, without permission from his mind. Lower. Lower still. Until he could taste the cotton candy lips that beckoned him.

      Sweet heaven!

      His entire body chose to rebel against his mind’s clear commands—hands off! His hands didn’t want to obey. They wanted to touch. His mouth wanted to consume. He wanted more. He needed more. She had turned him into a glutton—for punishment or pleasure, he wasn’t sure. Maybe both.

      Her lips moved in hungry response. Her fingers pushed past his hat and combed through his hair. His own hands moved to touch more, but instead of the hot flesh he was expecting, he got a handful of snow, dousing the fire immediately.

      Josh jumped to his feet. “I am so sorry, Mike. I don’t know what came over me.”

      So much for being in the clear about last night. You weren’t supposed to repeat the performance. That ominous pit in his stomach returned with vengeance. Guilt and betrayal consumed him. When would he finally learn? The last time he’d allowed himself to get this out of control, this unguarded with Micah, horrible, unthinkable things had happened. And she had paid the price. He couldn’t do it.

      He could tell she was still lying in the snow, but he refused to turn. He didn’t want to see the shocked expression on her face. He returned to the task at hand and cleaned off the remainder of her car as quickly as he could, fully aware of her movements as she finally stood and brushed herself off.

      Josh was so disgusted with himself. He ran a rough hand over the back of his neck. He needed to get out of here. Pretend this never, ever happened.

      * * *

      Micah was a mess.

      Her drunken kiss with Josh could be laughed off as a moment of stupidity fueled by too much tequila. Her dreams, which were so hot she feared her sheets would catch fire, could be ignored. Okay, maybe not ignored, but at least kept hidden from anyone and everyone.

      But it was something else entirely when she kissed him in broad daylight in an empty parking lot without any excuse or hope of explanation. There had been no tequila to blame it on this time.

      She couldn’t erase from her mind the look of disgust evident on his face when he’d jumped up to get far away from her. The thought made her sick. She had made an utter fool of herself in front of the most important person in her life.

      Tears pooled in her eyes before overflowing and streaming down her cheeks.

      “Oh, Mikey. What’s wrong?”

      Micah hadn’t even realized Sabina was home. She looked up at Sabina’s concerned expression.

      “Is it Drew?”

      Why СКАЧАТЬ