Following Love Read Free Page B

concussion or head trauma.
    Dena lay on the ground covered from head to toe in ice cubes, lemons and sweet lemonade. Unable to speak, she just lay there completely drenched and completely humiliated.
    â€œNo, yes, I’m fine,” she said, not only winded by the sudden jolt to the ground but also chilled by the frozen ice cubes in her shirt. She quickly unfastened the top buttons and removed several ice cubes from inside her shirt. In doing so she inadvertently revealed a very lacy, very lavender bra and the moistened swell of her bosom. “Are you crazy, swinging that thing around like that?”
    â€œMe, crazy? Are you kidding? Any sane person would have enough sense not to sneak up behind a man swinging a sledgehammer.” She attempted to get up. “No, lie still, you might have injured yourself in the fall.” He took off his glove and tipped her chin up to see into her face and look into her eyes. “Look at me.”
    â€œWhat?” she asked, batting his hand and jerking away from him.
    â€œLook at me,” he repeated more persistently.
    â€œWhat are you, a doctor or something?” she asked.
    â€œYes, in another life,” he said as his years of medical experience clicked in and he looked deep into her big brown eyes. Clear and steady, he quickly concluded no sign of concussion. But signs of another kind took form.
    â€œI’m fine, really. You didn’t make contact.”
    â€œI know, but you fell back. Did you hit your head?”
    â€œNo, I fell on my…” She paused and looked away. “Uh, you don’t need to tend to that.”
    â€œAre you sure?” Julian asked. She looked up at him, obviously questioning his bedside manner. “That’s not what I meant. Are you sure you didn’t bump your head?” he clarified, then swallowed hard just as a wave of desire hit him like a swing from the sledgehammer. This obviously wasn’t going to be easy.
    â€œPositive,” she muttered.
    â€œGood,” he said, still looking down at her.
    â€œYeah,” she muttered.
    â€œThen are you insane or something?” he asked huskily, averting his eyes from her exposed cleavage.
    â€œExcuse me?”
    â€œDidn’t you see me with the sledgehammer?”
    â€œOf course I saw you.” All morning I saw you. “And no, I’m not insane. You would have heard me coming over if you hadn’t been talking to yourself.”
    â€œSo what exactly were you doing behind me like that?”
    She didn’t reply. Watching you.
    â€œDidn’t you see me with the hammer?”
    Are you kidding, I couldn’t take my eyes off of you.
    â€œDo you have a death wish?”
    No, not anymore. To her surprise the answer came quick and clear and suddenly the thoughts she’d once considered seemed ludicrous.
    â€œYou could have been killed.”
    Dena smiled wide at the obvious realization.
    â€œYou’re smiling?” His rant didn’t faze her until she realized he was finished and was staring at her, waiting for an answer.
    â€œI was, uh, distracted, by…” She paused, seeing the full beauty of his glorious brown chest hovering over her. “The sun.” It was a lie, of course. She’d been distracted by his body. Each time he’d drawn the hammer back, the muscles in his back tensed and rolled, and she’d moved in closer.
    It had been a long time since she’d seen a man’s chest over her. And even then, nothing remotely similar to his. Forester had been thin and wiry. Something she had grown to treasure.
    â€œThe sun?” He looked, seeing the now-overcast sky. “You must have hit your head harder than you thought,” he said.
    Still holding the lemon slices, he saw that her nipples had perked up through her open wet shirt. Still feeling the pull from his body, he closed his eyes and scrambled back, then stood and reached out his hand to help her up. She took his