Accidental Magic Read Free Page B

him, shielding her eyes from the setting sun with her hand. Yep. She vaguely recognized the echo of the gawky teenager within the man. “What was that, five years ago?”
     
    “More like ten.” He crouched next to her and nodded at her bare leg. “Did you hurt yourself?” he repeated.
     
    “Oh, no. It’s nothing. Just a cramp.” He was so close to her that she could feel the heat of his body and smell him—young and virile and masculine. Holy shit, he was one wickedly sexy young man!
     
    “I can fix that,” he said. “I like to jog and I’m prone to legcramps, especially when it’s hot out like this. I know just what to do to make it go away.”
     
    Without waiting for her to respond he took her foot and propped it in his lap. Then he began to massage her cramping calf. His hands were strong and his touch was warm and experienced.
     
    “Lie back. Relax.” His voice had dropped to the deep, throaty tone he’d used when he’d first come into the clearing. “Let me take care of you.”
     
    She stared at him. She should tell him to take her foot out of his crotch and take his hands off her leg. But his touch was doing the most amazing things to her body. His fingers were sending little ripples of shock from her calf up the inside of her thigh and directly to her crotch, filling her with an unexpected rush of heat and wetness.
     
    “Don’t fight it. There’s no reason to. It’s just me,” he said. His breath had deepened and his eyes kept traveling from her mouth to her breasts. She glanced down at herself and saw that her aroused nipples were clearly visible through her damp T-shirt and sheer white sports bra.
     
    What would it hurt? It had been years since a beautiful young man had rubbed anything on her body. Years…
     
    The thought of realistically just how many years it had been since a man this young had touched her had Candice sitting straight up and pulling her tingling leg from his warm hands.She flexed her foot and refused to meet his eyes as she pulled on her sock.
     
    “Thanks!” she said with considerably more perkiness than she felt. “That’s fine. Good as new.”
     
    “Well, at least now I know how you stay in such great shape.”
     
    “Yeah, that’s me. Miss Great Shape.” She cringed. Miss Great Shape? What the hell was she saying?
     
    “I had a huge crush on you in high school,” he murmured.
     
    Her eyes widened with surprise and finally lifted to meet his. He had leaned back on his elbow and he was watching her with an intent expression that was anything but boylike.
     
    “I thought you were the sexiest woman I’d ever seen,” he said.
     
    Candice was trapped by his frank, masculine appraisal, and the fact that he clearly liked what he saw. Her mouth felt dry and she couldn’t seem to find her voice.
     
    “You’re still the sexiest woman I’ve ever seen.”
     
    She felt excitement slither low and hot through her belly. Lord, he was delicious! Her gaze slid from his beautiful eyes to his lips. He smiled, confident and handsome and just a little bit teasingly.
     
    Candice blinked.
Reality, girl! Snap the fuck out of it!
     
    “You shouldn’t say things like that,” she said in her best teacher voice, forcing her gaze from his lips and pulling on her shoe.
     
    “Why not?”
     
    “Because you’re my ex-student!” she blurted.
     
    He flashed the smile again and scooted forward. Brushing her hands gently aside, he began slowly tying her shoe.
     
    “I’m of age. Well of age. I’m twenty-six.”
     
    “Twenty-six!” Her voice sounded shrill. “I thought you were twenty-seven.” As if one year actually made a difference. He was an infant! Practically a teenager.
     
    “I’ll be twenty-seven if you want me to be,” he added huskily.
     
    “Uh, no. A year really doesn’t make that much difference.” Thank God, he was done tying her shoe. Candice started to stand, only to feel his strong hands under her elbows as he helped her to her