Unbuttoned Read Free Page A

people . . .”
    “Good. Deductive reasoning. Very sharp.”
    “Or you like me a whole lot more.”
    Her chest tightened. “Are you serious?”
    “I don’t know, Carly,” he said, his voice curling around her name like a caress and making her feel more than a little hot and bothered. “That’s the part you’ll have to fill in for me.”
    She started to tell him just what she thought. Why not? It would be satisfying to take a little of that attitude out of his hide. He deserved it.
    But then he shifted, moved so that he was standing in front of her, one of his hands on the counter behind her, the heat of his body in front. And she caught the scent of his aftershave. Clean. Masculine. Just like him. Like leather and soap. And beneath that, his skin.
    And something in her, something she’d tried to suppress, more than suppress, beat into submission, every day since she was eighteen years old, woke up. And it woke up hungry.
    That part of her had wanted to be close enough to Lucas Miller to smell his skin for ages, and it was making itself known big-time now.
    “I don’t—” she said, the words coming out more as a squeak than a beginning to a confident and witty insult that would take Lucas down a peg or two.
    “You don’t what?” he asked, angling his body toward hers.
    It was like magic. Or like a magnet. She found herself angling toward him too. Into his heat. Her heart was pounding fast, her head spinning. She had to bite her bottom lip to keep it from trembling.
    Then, for the second time that day, Lucas extended his hand and brushed his thumb along her lower lip, his touch hot and rough, sending an arrow of pure want through her, hitting a target in her stomach, the impact vibrating through her.
    Her eyelids started to flutter closed, and that was when she knew, even as she surrendered, that she’d lost this battle. And she was going out white flag waving, giving up of her own free will.
    The sound of boots knocking against the front step, and the warning provided by the rattle of the turning doorknob, broke her out of her trance. She sidestepped Lucas and scurried to the center of the kitchen, her heart thundering in her ears, her entire body trembling.
    If she hadn’t been so desperate to hide what had just happened from everyone in the entire world, including herself, when Mac walked through the front door she might have thrown herself at his feet and kissed those muddy boots in thanks.
    “Thanks for having me over, Mac,” she said, crossing the room and pulling her brother in for a hug. She felt like she’d just had too much caffeine. Her words were coming out too fast, her body still trembling from the inside out.
    “You aren’t going to stay to do the dishes?” She shot her brother an evil look. “I mean for dessert,” he amended.
    “No to both. I think you can do it all without me.”
    “All right.”
    “I’m going to take off too,” Lucas said, pushing off from the counter.
    “Beer tomorrow?” Mac asked.
    A half smile curved Lucas’s lips and something tightened in Carly’s stomach. If Mac and Lucas were going out tomorrow night, they were probably going to try to pick up some women. And if they tried, they would succeed.
    And after what had just happened . . .
    No. Nothing had happened. Nothing at all. And being annoyed about Lucas and other women made even less sense now than it had six years ago.
    “Well, I’m off. I have work in the morning,” Carly said.
    “Someone in violation of the Historic Colors Ordinance?” Lucas asked, referring to the town regulation that ensured all historic homes and buildings were painted colors that were accurate to the time period they were built in.
    “The Historic Protection and Design Regulation?” she corrected. Lord, she even sounded prissy to herself. “That rule has been around since long before I have been. And no. That’s not it. I’m going to the elementary school to help with the launching of a summer art