“Because you think I would get hurt?”
He stroked the back of her hand with his thumb.“Because I think we could both get hurt.”
Her gaze softened.“Thank you.You’re a kind man, Quinn.”
Not kind.Right now he wanted to come into that stall and push her down on the fragrant hay at her feet.“Just telling it like it is.I hadn’t thought this through as completely as you have.You’re right.Now that I’m going to impersonate Hastings, we really shouldn’t let anything develop between us.”He hated saying that, but it was true.
Jo sighed wistfully.“You sure look good with no clothes on, though.”
Quinn’s body tightened even more.“You sure felt good—whatever part of you I got a grip on when I was wrestling with Benny.”
“My thigh.You grabbed my thigh.”
“Mmm.”Probably another spot she slathered lotion on.An ache began to build in the vicinity of his groin.He should end this conversation while he could still walk.“I said I was sorry.I wasn’t really.”
“That’s okay.”She sounded breathless.“Maybe we should get all these comments out in the open, now that we’re not going to...do anything.I think you look lots sexier than Brian Hastings.It’s just my personal opinion, of course.”
“That’s the opinion that counts.”He kissed her palm and felt the shiver that ran up her arm.“I’ve been wishing I could run my fingers through your hair.I love your hair.”
She drifted closer, until they would have been nestled against each other if they hadn’t been separated by the stall door.“And I love your eyes.”Her voice grew husky.“Such a deep blue.I’ve heard Brian Hastings wears contacts.”
“How do you know I don’t?”
“Do you?”
God, but he wanted to kiss her.“No.Do you?”
She shook her head.“No contacts, no capped teeth, no breast implants.”
He glanced down and noticed she’d skipped putting on a bra under her T-shirt.Her nipples pushed at the soft material.He looked into her eyes.“I wanted to comb your hair over your naked breasts.”
Her breath caught.“And I wanted to feel your chest muscles flex.Do you… work out?”
“Not much.”Desire thickened his vocal cords.He sounded as if he had strep.“Mostly I go out to Murray’s house on Long Island and help him with his projects.”Only one project interested Quinn at the moment, and that was finding a quiet place where they could both get naked.“He’s always adding a room or something.”
“You can do handyman stuff?”Her breasts touched his chest as she leaned closer.
“Hey, I’m very macho.”He ached to kiss her, but he didn’t dare.Instead he ran a forefinger gently over her lower lip until she closed her eyes and sighed, surrendering to the caress.“Forget teaching me to ride and rope,” he murmured.As he eased his finger between her slightly parted lips, his erection pressed against the rough wood of the stall door.“I’ll impress the population of Ugly Bug by hammering a couple of boards together.Then for an encore I’ll saw a plank in half.”
“Coffee and cookies, anyone?”
Quinn and Jo leaped away from their respective sides of the stall door.Then Quinn quickly plastered himself to the door again, grimacing at the impact of the wood against the body parts most affected by Jo.
“Hi, there, Emmy Lou.Hey, Benny.”Jo blushed furiously.“We were just?—”
“Were they kissing?”Benny asked Emmy Lou.
“Not quite.”Emmy Lou set a wooden tray on a leather trunk in the aisle between the rows of stalls.
“We were talking,” Jo said.
Emmy Lou poured a mug of coffee and handed it over the stall door to Jo.“Honey, no explanation necessary.You already told me you thought he was cute.“ She filled a second mug and gave it to Quinn.
Quinn’s embarrassment turned to delight, “She did?”
“I just meant in a general sense,” Jo said, blushing.
“But you did say it.”
