Highly Charged! Read Free

Ms. Lissander penned some pretty racy stuff.”
    Red-hot erotica, in fact, long before the women’s movement took hold. The thought of the lady professor studying that kind of thing was intriguing. He was vaguely aware that he hadn’t released her hand yet.
    Curious, he stroked the juncture between her thumb and her hand. He could have sworn a flicker of awareness darkened her eyes before she snatched her fingers back.
    â€œChloe Lissander channeled a great deal of passion into everything she did.” Nikki nodded toward the white farmhouse behind her. “But by the time she moved back to her childhood home, she didn’t have the energy to transform this place the way she wanted. She left it to me in the hope that I’d fulfill her vision.”
    Nikki stared at the sprawling farmhouse and lopsided deep porches while Brad considered the way she’d jumped when he touched her. As a man who knew athing or two about sparks and charges, he guessed his hand wasn’t the only one still humming with the aftershock.
    This grew more interesting by the minute. He’d never been able to walk away from a situation that could turn explosive at any second. And the gathering heat between him and his new neighbor was a hell of a lot more compelling than the countdown to doomsday he kept seeing in his dreams.
    At a time when he needed a distraction more than he needed his next breath, Brad quickly made Nikki Thornton his new number-one priority for the next two weeks until the shrink cleared him for deployment.
    â€œA bit daunting when you look at it from this angle, isn’t it?” he remarked, edging a half step closer while her back was turned.
    â€œIt’s daunting from every angle.” Straightening, she smoothed a twitchy hand over her glossy dark hair. “Guess I’d better get to work.”
    He tracked her movements, wondering how much time they had before this rogue spark combusted. For the first time in his life, he wished he could hasten the explosive process.
    â€œCan I give you a hand?”
    Â 
    S IZING UP HER SUPER STUD neighbor as he sent her surprisingly lustful glances, Nikki could think of numerous uses for his hands, none of which involved hard manual labor. And, judging by the way he’d lingered over their touch, he’d be amenable to a few of them. But she hadn’t moved out to the country to moon over a hot guy who only blew through town a couple of times a year betweenmilitary stints around the world. In all the times Nikki had visited Chloe, she’d never caught a passing glimpse of him until the other night when she’d gotten far more than a peek.
    The incident had played and replayed in her dreams ever since.
    But even if she’d been in a position to explore her much neglected sensual side, Nikki knew herself well enough to recognize a high risk relationship. She appreciated stability. A sense of home. Community. She’d been shuttled off to strangers as a kid every time her scholarly parents had an opportunity to participate in farflung archaeological digs or teach at exotic universities, so it was only natural she was drawn to put down her own roots at Chloe’s home. Getting involved with a guy who circled the globe for his job would be foolish.
    She just hoped her jumpy heartbeat and twitchy skin got the message soon.
    Because, no doubt, he was even more incredible looking up close. Tall and lean, he had the easy grace of an athlete when he moved. A tattoo roped one arm, the design thick and intricate with a Celtic feel. The pattern was visible just below the sleeve of his dark blue T-shirt with some kind of navy emblem imprinted on the chest. Sleek muscles beneath the cotton gave the shirt an outline that a store mannequin would have envied, with ridges and rises in all the right places.
    But even more than the killer bod, Brad Riddock’s face was the sort a woman couldn’t look away from. Aquamarine eyes were offset by