LITMIR.BIZ

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all in the same moment.

      He eased her into the sling and strapped her up, then stepped back. “There. All set.” He was back to his matter-of-fact tone again.

      She kicked off her shoes. Julie wanted to hear the husky desire in his voice she’d heard before.

      A little devil in her made her say, “Help me with my jeans?” Besides, she thought, how was she going to get the snug denim off without help?

      She could see beads of sweat on his upper lip just before he leaned over and fumbled under her nightshirt for the fastener on her pants. His position gave her a great view of his hair, thick, dark and slightly wavy.

      He eased the zipper down, hooked his thumbs into the waistband and slid the denim over her hips. She could feel the trail of heat down her body left by the touch of his hands.

      He backed up and heaved a sigh as she stepped out of her pants.

      “Anything else?” He rubbed the heel of his hand over his chest as if he was in pain.

      Julie looked down at her bare toes, hiding a smile. Just one more thing before she let him off the hook. “Ah, my, ah…panties.”

      She glanced up at him and swore she saw his eyes cross for an instant. It was all she could do not to smirk.

      “Sure.” His voice was gruff. He reached up and hooked his work-roughened fingers over the elastic and slid the satin down her legs.

      Satisfied he had been punished enough for being so controlling, she kicked the panties over with her jeans. “Thanks.”

      He skirted around her as if she was on fire and pulled the covers down on the bed. “Get in. I’ll go get you a glass of water.”

      He pulled her prescription of pain pills out of his shirt pocket and smacked the bottle down on the bedside table before he left the room.

      Awkwardly Julie scooted under the covers. She lay back against the pillows and thought about what she’d just done. It was petty to harass Tony like that, but people who thought they knew best annoyed her. Plus, she was so angry at herself for fouling up all her summer plans she’d taken out her anger on him.

      She supposed she needed to apologize, but she didn’t know how to do that without embarrassing both of them.

      One more thing she would have to deal with in the morning, she thought as her eyes slid closed.

      Tony came back with a glass of water and found Julie had fallen asleep. He pulled the covers up to her shoulders, turned out the overhead light and switched on a small lamp on the dresser across the room.

      He wasn’t going to wake her up to give her a pill to make her sleep.

      He didn’t want her awake.

      Getting her undressed had been harder than most of the missions he’d been on for the Navy.

      He picked up the scattered ledgers and righted the chair. Then he draped her jeans and shirt over the chair, along with the blue bra and matching panties. Her clothes were still warm and smelled like her. With a groan he settled into an overstuffed chair and watched her sleep. She looked so young and innocent lying there.

      Hah, he thought. About as innocent as Eve when she teamed up with the serpent in the Garden of Eden.

      And he wanted a bite of the apple.

      The woman knew just what caliber ammunition she carried. She thought it was safe to mess with his head because she’d been injured.

      She was right.

      There was time, and Tony was a patient man. She needed him because she wouldn’t be able to work on this place for weeks. By the time he had the house in shape and Julie had mended, he planned to show her what happened when you played with fire.

      Tony dozed off with a smile on his face.

      Chapter Three

      Julie woke after a restless night. She felt like she’d been hit by a truck. Groaning, she tried to lift her hand to rub her gritty eyes, but she’d forgotten her arm was strapped to her waist. She tried her other arm and found her elbow so stiff from the stitches she couldn’t reach up.

      She closed her eyes and fought back frustration, furious with herself for being so clumsy. Her plans to get the house fixed up to sell during her vacation would be on hold for at least a few weeks, if not longer.

      Her wonderful timetable was ruined, her dreams on hold.

      A tear leaked out from under her lids. She was about to give herself a talking to for being such a weakling when she heard her bedroom door creak.

      Before she had time to be frightened, Tony stuck his head in the room.

      He grinned, managing to look bashful and incredibly handsome at the same time.

      “I didn’t want to wake you.”

      Quickly she turned her head and wiped her eyes on the pillow case. No way was she going to let him catch her crying like some wimpy little female. He walked in and brought the smell of fresh coffee with him as he handed her a steaming mug.

      “Ah,” she closed her eyes and drank in the aroma. “You stopped for coffee. Thanks.”

      She sat up and used her feet to scoot herself against the headboard.

      She frowned as she noticed the coffee was in a mug from her grandmother’s kitchen.

      “Where did you get the coffee?”

      He grinned at her again. “Out of the coffeepot.”

      Besides being extremely good-looking, the man had a killer grin. She wished he would stop using it. It ruined her train of thought.

      Julie guided her thoughts back to the conversation. “I have a coffeepot?”

      Tony nodded. “In the cupboard above the sink.”

      She really hadn’t paid much attention to the kitchen. “And ground coffee?” Her grandmother had been a tea drinker as far as she remembered.

      He shrugged his wide shoulders. “I did have to go to Valley Grocery for that.”

      Julie peered at the travel alarm clock beside the bed. “How long have you been here?”

      “All night.”

      Oh, swell, she thought, noticing for the first time he had the same clothes on he’d worn yesterday.

      That would give the town gossips something to chew on.

      She’d known him less than two days and he stays over. “I thought we agreed you were leaving,” she snapped.

      Tony didn’t look the least bit upset at her annoyed tone. “I told you I was staying. You might have needed something in the middle of the night.”

      Vaguely Julie recalled Tony coming to check on her, but she’d been so groggy from the pain pills she had no idea what time it might have been. And since when did she care what the neighbors might think?

      She realized she liked knowing he’d been there and it made her temper rise. She hadn’t expected him to stay and she didn’t want to impose. She could take care of herself.

      “Well, thanks,” she said grudgingly. “That was nice of you. But I don’t want to keep you from your work.”

      “No problem. It’s raining and I can’t work on my house today.”

      She glanced out the window and noticed the storm for the first time. “Don’t you have a regular job?”

      “No. I’m building a house on my land.”

      She wanted to ask how he managed that without regular employment, but didn’t know how to do it without sounding like she was prying.

      Tony raised an eyebrow and the corners

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