Snow Bound Read Free Page A

face, and get her changed from that sil ky robe into something decent— without going to his knees and begging to see more?
    * * *
    Tori waited on the couch, tracking her visitor’s movement through the creaking of the oak floors upstairs. Those boards had been the bane of her existence as a teenager, bro adcasting every move when she hadn’t wanted her parents to know she was sneaking down the stairs . Leaning on the arm of the couch, she panted through the pain th robbing outward from her thigh.
    Adrenaline from hearing the noise outside and bursting through the door to find her outrageously gorgeous neighbor fighting a tall figure in the dark, then shooting over their heads to scare the other guy off must have masked the burning ache from her fall . She hadn’t really noticed the pain until she’d shifted aro und, trying to cover herself as best she could. Then her thigh had pounded like she’d been punched on the bruised flesh once more.
    She wanted to twist around to check out the source, but the thought of having Damon walk in while her backside was exposed incited a flush of heat that wasn’t entirely embarrassment. Not good. Really not good. With that characteristic Texas charm, Damon had made it clear on the few times she’d met h im that he wasn’t interested in her. So she’d hidden behind a measure of her own s outhern graces , treating him just as she wou ld any gentleman who would enter her business establishment instead of like a cowboy she wanted to hold down an d ride . He’d probably run for the hills if he knew the thoughts that raced through her head with just one glimpse of his wide, smoo thly muscled shoulders and dark blond military cut .
    Or maybe not. Enough cars parked overnight outside his house that he would definitely recognize the lust— and probably pity her for it. Though she thought she’d seen a moment of interest when his eyes traced the dripping mess that was now her robe, but she must have been mistaken. A few polite conversations and he’d kept his distance since moving here.
    Too bad, because that was a yummy hunk of man, and this town was severely deficient.
    As the footfalls overhead crossed out of her bedroom, Tori used her arms to lift herself from the couch and rearranged her robe around her, making sure it wasn’t tucked under her bottom. She clutched the front closed in a tight fist. Maybe this way she could transfer to a sleep shirt with as little flesh flashing as p ossible. The thought of him seeing her bare ski n had her squirming , but she forced herself to still before she got another bolt of pain from her thigh . Crying in front of him would be almos t as humiliating as exposing unwanted butt cheeks .
    When he reentered the room, her favorite gray Alabama football night shirt lay over his forearm. He switched off his flashlight before setting it on the table. “Okay,” he said, gather ing the shirt into his hands. “Let’s get you out of that wet robe.”
    Her gaze , which had been tracing the lines of his body in the tight jea ns and sweatshirt he wore, jerk ed up to his face. “What?” she asked, her throat tightening enough to make it difficult to force the word out. She was surprised that he wanted to help , though she probably shouldn’t have been. One thing the past half hour had taught her about her neighbor was that he knew how to take charge, which was more than she’d learned about him in the year he’d been living next door.
    He motioned toward her, displaying the shirt’s neck hole, which he held open as if she were two and in need of dressing assistance. “Slip off your robe so we can get this on you.”
    No matter how many times she’d fantasized about undressing in front of him, now that the moment was here, there was no way she could change clothes with him watching her. While she had a fairly healthy self-esteem at twenty-eight , the thought of seeing his disappointment over her unimpressive figure in those beaut iful brown eyes