Fool for Love Read Free Page B

acutely aware of not Joe, her friend, but Joe, the man. Had she
ever noticed he was ripped with muscles? Or that he smelled so amazing? Right
now, he wasn't her brother's friend or her longtime friend. No, right now he
was here, he was warm, and she had no doubt, no doubt whatsoever, that he loved
her.
    "Joe."
    "I'm here, honey." He tightened
his hold on her, while under her ear, his heart pounded out a rapid beat.
"I'm right here."
    She drank in his clean fresh scent as well
as the lingering spice of his beloved clove cigarettes and salty sea air. In
her current state, it wasn't fair, she knew, to take advantage of him and all
he felt for her. It wasn't fair to manipulate his care and concern, to turn it
into something bigger than either of them could handle just then. She knew all
that, but knowing didn't stop her hand from setting out to learn the curves and
planes of his muscular chest.
    He sucked in a sharp deep breath.
"Janey." His hand on top of hers ended the exploration.
    "I can't bear it," she whispered
as new tears filled her eyes. "I can't."
    "I know." He caressed her hair
and massaged her shoulders. "It'll take time, but you'll get past it. I
promise."
    "I need to feel something else."
Since he had a firm grip on her roving hand, she turned her face into his chest
and nuzzled the soft blond hair.
    As if an electrical current had hit him,
he stiffened. "What're you doing?"
    "Make me feel something other than
devastated, Joe."
    He tried to get up, but she stopped him.
    His hazel eyes found hers in the moonlight
that seeped in through the open blinds. "You have no idea what you're
asking of me. No idea."
    "I'm asking someone who loves me and
who I love to hold me and love me and make this awful, unbearable pain go
away."
    He shook his head. "I can't, Janey. I
just can't."
    "Joe." Her lips found his, her
hand sank into his thick sandy hair, her fingers caressed his scalp, and he
trembled. "I need you. Don't say no. Please don't say no."
    His hands framed her face as he drew back
from her. "You can't ask me for this, Janey. I'll get you anything else
you need, but not this."
    "No one else could give me
this." She caressed his chest and belly, his rippling muscles responding
to her touch even as he continued to resist. Emboldened, she rose up to shift
on top of him. The press of his erection against her belly told her his body
was with her even if the rest of him wasn't.
    His hands traveled over her back and
stopped at the waistband to her shorts. He studied her as if he was making some
sort of decision.
    "We can't, honey," he said softly.
"It's not going to make anything better. It'll only make everything
worse."
    "No. It won't."
    "You're using me to get back at him.
Evening the score won't make you feel any less devastated."
    She shook her head and slid her lips back
and forth over his. "I'm not thinking about him right now. I'm thinking
about you, and I already feel better." Straddling him, she sat up and
reached for the hem of her shirt.
    He stopped her. "You'll hate yourself
in the morning. And worse yet, you'll hate me."
    "I could never, ever hate you."
    "You don't think so now…"
    "I know so."
    She tugged her fingers free of his grip
and pulled the top over her head.
    Joe's eyes flared with heat and desire at
the sight of her lacy bra. His fingers dug into her hips.
    "Take it off me." She rolled her
hips, pressing her heat against his steely length.
    " Janey …" He groaned and
fumbled with the hooks.
    Watching him react to her, Janey had a
moment of hesitation. After all, she'd never done this with anyone but David.
But he was gone now, dead to her in every way that mattered. Since she had no
choice but to go on without him, she may as well get started on the rest of her
life.
    With her eyes fixed on Joe's handsome,
familiar face, she slid down and took his boxers with her.

Chapter 3
     
    With every fiber of his being, Joe knew this was
wrong. Well, one part of his being wasn't listening to the rest, but he'd