LITMIR.BIZ

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had to admit she had a great smile. Her whole face lit up. She’d said she was twenty-five, but in some ways she acted more like an awkward teenager than a grown woman. No doubt being the daughter of a single father minister had something to do with it.

      He thought about suggesting that next time she find her new experience at a more upscale bar, but then he reminded himself he wasn’t getting involved. He had enough problems of his own without adding her to the list.

      “It’s not that I don’t like the piano,” she said.

      “What?”

      “The piano. I play. It was expected. I can also play the organ, but only a few hymns and not very well.”

      “Okay.” He started eating his burger.

      “The music is great. But I wanted to be a teacher.”

      “Your father objected?” he asked before he could stop himself.

      She sighed. “He would never come out and tell me no. That’s not his way. But there was subtle pressure. In a way that’s a whole lot harder to resist. I mean, a direct statement can be argued, but hints and nudges kind of sweep you along until you suddenly wake up and find yourself in a place you don’t want to be.”

      She took another long drink of her margarita. The bartender appeared with a plate of fries. Haley smiled her thanks.

      Kevin finished his burger and thought about making his escape.

      “You want me to replace what I took?” she asked, motioning to his plate.

      “No thanks.”

      She shrugged, then munched on another fry. “So you’re a U.S. Marshal. What are you doing here?”

      “I just delivered a prisoner to the federal penitentiary up the road.”

      Her eyes widened. “There’s a prison here?”

      “Didn’t you see the signs about not picking up hitchhikers?”

      “Sure, but I thought it was some kind of joke. You know, a local gag on tourists.”

      “This isn’t a real tourist haven. Most of the folks are passing through or here to visit relatives.”

      She glanced over her shoulder, then leaned close and lowered her voice. “People here know men in prison?”

      He groaned. “Haley, have you ever been outside of your hometown before?”

      “Of course. I spent four years at the Southern Baptist College for Young Women.”

      Just perfect. “And after your college experience?”

      “I went back home, where I got my master’s in music and finished up the courses I needed for my teaching credentials. I graduated with honors.”

      She reached for her glass. Her hand missed the stem by about three inches. She stretched out her fingers, then curled them into her palm.

      “My skin feels funny,” she said. “My cheeks tingle.”

      Kevin swore silently. He glanced at the nearly finished second drink, then turned his attention to the bartender drying glasses with a dirty towel.

      “Doubles?” he asked.

      The old man grinned. “Thought you might want to get lucky.”

      Perfect. Just perfect. In less than forty minutes the nondrinking preacher’s daughter had just consumed the equivalent of four shots of tequila. The full effect of the alcohol wasn’t going to hit for about twenty more minutes. He would bet a week’s salary that she would be on her butt about thirty seconds after that.

      He slapped some money onto the bar and stood. “Come on, Haley. I’m going to get you out of here while you can still walk. Have you got a hotel room?”

      She blinked at him. “I can walk.”

      “Sure you can. Why don’t you try?”

      She wore the ugliest beige shoes he’d ever seen, but at least the heel wasn’t too high. When she slid off the stool, she stood straight just long enough to give him hope. Maybe he’d overreacted. Maybe—

      She swayed so far to the left, she nearly toppled over.

      “Am I drunk?” she asked, sounding delighted as she managed to stand straight. “The room is spinning. Wow. This is so cool.”

      Yeah, everything was cool to her. “Do you have a motel room?” he repeated, speaking slowly and deliberately.

      “Yeah. The pink one. I liked the color. It’s over there. Outside.”

      She pointed to the exit and nearly fell on her face. Kevin gritted his teeth.

      “Put your arm around my shoulders,” he instructed as he wrapped an arm around her waist.

      His first impression was of heat; his second, of slender curves that got his body’s attention in a big way.

      Instead of following orders, Haley simply sagged against him. “You smell good,” she said as he half carried her toward the door.

      “Thanks.”

      He would get her to her motel and leave, he told himself. She would probably pass out in a matter of seconds and wake up with a hangover big enough to cure her of ever wanting another margarita. She’d made it this far without him, she would get to wherever she was going without his assistance.

      Kevin knew he was trying to convince himself that he wasn’t responsible for Haley. Unfortunately he wasn’t doing a very good job.

      They stepped into the sultry evening air. Haley sucked in a deep breath, then turned to look at him. As she was leaning against him, her face rested on his shoulder. Her mouth was inches from his. One of her wisps of blond hair brushed against his cheek.

      “So,” Haley said, licking her lips. “Is this where you take advantage of me?”

      “What?”

      She blinked slowly, then smiled. “I don’t think I’d mind.”

      Chapter Two

      She wouldn’t mind?

      Kevin did his best to ignore the sexual desire that slammed into him the second she spoke the words. His unexpected attraction to Haley couldn’t begin to matter. Not with circumstances being what they were. She was drunk, alone, out of her element and, with his luck, a virgin. Thanks, but not tonight.

      Lightning cut across the sky, as if warning him the Almighty was keeping tabs on the evening’s events. With that in mind, Kevin ignored the curves pressing against his body and the way those curves made him feel. She might be a little slimmer than he’d first realized, but she seemed to have everything in the right place under her ugly dress. Not that he was going to be checking her out.

      “Did you say a pink motel?” he asked, looking around at the motor inns on both sides of the highway.

      “Uh-huh. There’s flamingos.” She blinked at him. “I like birds.”

      “Good to know.”

      He spotted a low, two-story structure that matched her description. He mentally cringed at the plastic flamingos stuck into the cement. If the place looked this bad at night, what did it look like in the light of day? Of course, there was no accounting for taste.

      At least they didn’t have to cross the highway to get there. The motel was only a couple hundred yards up the frontage road.

      “Let’s start walking,” he said, still supporting most of her weight.

      A second bolt of lightning illuminated the sky.

      “Look!” Haley said, pointing at the heavens. “Don’t you love lightning? Don’t you wish it would rain?”

      “Sure.”

      Because

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