“I can’t.” Savannah groaned, closed her eyes, and leaned back against the arm of the couch as he rubbed her feet. “Oh. My. God. Don’t stop.”
“Ever?”
“Funny man. Seriously.” She opened her eyes and smiled at him. “Thank you. Not only for this but for all your help tonight.”
God, she was pretty when she smiled. Who was he kidding? She was gorgeous whatever she was doing. He realized he’d been staring at her without speaking. “Any time.”
Harlan woke up withSavannah in his arms. The last thing he remembered was talking until one or both of them fell asleep. They didn’t talk about anything deep or important. Rather it was a surprisingly easy conversation, mostly just catching up with what they’d been doing with their lives. Maybe they could be friends after all.
Oh, right, Sullivan. You just want to be friends.That’s why you’re hard as a rock just from holding her in your arms.
They were both divorced, both uninvolved as Bill had pointed out so unsubtly. So maybe he wouldn’t mind having a fling with Savannah. Or even...something more serious. She was a beautiful, sexy woman with a keen mind. Exactly the type of woman he went for. But with the barrier of their past always with them, he didn’t see how anything more than friendship, if that, was possible.
Somehow during the night he’d wound up stretched out on the couch and she had curled against him, half on her side and half lying on his chest and the right side of his body.
He should wake her up. But she felt good in his arms, like she belonged there.
Dumbass. She doesn’t belong there. She never did.
Savannah stirred and looked up. “Good morning,” she said sleepily, looking into his eyes.
The night before she’d washed off her makeup. She didn’t need it to look good. More than good. He wanted to cup her face in his hand. Wanted to touch his lips to hers, slip his tongue into her mouth and taste her.
Her eyes, a beautiful blue-gray, gazed into his. Her lips parted slightly.Oh, hell, he thought and kissed her.
And she kissed him back. Her mouth softened, her lips opened, her tongue met his in a slow, sultry dance. It was a lazy, sexy good morning kiss that felt completely natural.
And then she woke up.
Savannah yanked her mouth away from his, pushed on his chest, and sat up. Or tried. She was stuck lying half on top of him. “What thehellwas that?”
“Sorry. Normal male reaction to waking up with a beautiful woman in his arms.” He didn’t point out she’d kissed him back. After all, he didn’t have a death wish.
“Don’t even,” she said, glaring at him. “Get up.”
“Maybe you should go first—”
“If you want your manly parts to survive, get the hell up. Now.”
Shaking with laughter now, he managed to slide out from under her. Once standing, he offered her a hand. She gave him a dirty look, sat up and got up from the couch by herself. She stalked to the bathroom without another word.
Damn, he thought, still grinning. He shouldn’t have laughed. For that matter, he shouldn’t have kissed her. But he wasn’t even the tiniest bit sorry that he had.
A short while later she came out of the bathroom. “Your turn.”
He figured the less said the better and went into the tiny bathroom off the Harwoods’ small living room.
When he returned Savannah had folded up the blankets, placing them and the pillows in a neat pile, and was fluffing up the couch pillows. “I wonder if the Harwoods are up and in the kitchen already.”
“I don’t know but I hope there’s coffee.” Strong, black coffee, and lots of it.
“There must have a door leading outside in their bedroom. I never heard them or the dog come through.” She paused and added, “Did you?”
“No. Wondering how long I was awake before I kissed you?”
She shrugged. “Not really. I’m sorry I overreacted to something so...minor. I’m grumpy without my morning coffee.”
If it was so minor, why had she reacted the way she did? That kiss had affected her as much as it had him. But if that’s the way she wanted to play it, he’d go along. “No problem. I shouldn’t have done it but I opened my eyes and well—” he spread his hands “—there you were. It wasn’t personal.”
