Feeling The Heat

by Rhonda Nelson

  And you’d better be ready to explain hung unspoken in the air.

  Once she’d heard Jack’s engine start once more, she slipped out from beneath Linc’s arm and glared up at him. “Boyfriend?” she asked shrilly, her voice vibrating with an emotion she didn’t recognize. “Boyfriend? Have you lost your mind?”

  “YES,” LINC REPLIED. “But not my appetite.” Still trying to figure out what the hell had possessed him to make such a moronic statement to her brother, Linc settled himself at her kitchen table and helped himself to a slice of ham and a biscuit. “I don’t suppose I could talk you into making some redeye gravy, could I?”

  “I’m more tempted to bean you over the head with the frying pan,” Georgia told him. “I can’t believe you just did that.”

  “Come on,” he cajoled. “You know how to make it, don’t you?”

  Looking adorably annoyed, she harrumphed under her breath. “Of course I know how to make it. It’s ham drippings and coffee, for pity’s sake.” She rolled her eyes. “It’s not baked Alaska.”

  Georgia poured him a cup of coffee and unceremoniously thunked it down next to his plate, then opened the refrigerator and pulled out a jar of homemade strawberry preserves and set it on the table, as well. “Here,” she said. “You might as well try this while you wait.”

  Linc felt a smile twitch on his lips. She was more a grudging hostess than grateful, but he’d take it. He was used to getting a home-cooked dinner thanks to Cade, but breakfast was a rare treat. “Thanks,” he murmured. “So I take it your brother isn’t used to seeing men around here?”

  He knew the answer, of course. The equally thunderous and shocked expression on Jack Hart’s face had been evidence enough. Though he knew she’d made the mistake with Carter, Linc had to admit something about knowing that she was ordinarily quite selective with her male company made him inordinately happy. Which was ignorant when he wasn’t supposed to care. Still…

  He heard Georgia sigh. “No, he isn’t.” She poured a bit of coffee into the pan and a gratifying sizzle met Linc’s ears. “In fact, that’s the first time it’s ever happened.”

  Linc slipped a little bite of ham to Stitch, who’d come to beg at his chair. “Didn’t you tell me that Carter took the ring from your house?”

  “I did.”

  “But Jack never met him?” Now that was interesting. She’d dated the guy for a month and had never introduced him to her brother? Why not? Linc wondered, the plot thickening.

  Georgia poured the gravy into a little ceramic boat and brought it to the table. “No. Carter was only here the one time and Jack was out of town on business.”

  No doubt that was on purpose, Linc thought, judging from her brother’s reaction this morning. “Is he ordinarily so protective?”

  Her lips quirked with wry humor. “What do you think? I still can’t believe you told him you were my boyfriend. What the hell were you thinking?”

  He poured gravy over his ham. “I was thinking that I couldn’t tell him the real reason I was here, and the boyfriend angle seemed like the best scenario.”

  At least, that was the logical reason. The illogical reason had something to do with marking his territory and not caring for the way her brother had looked at him, as though he were suspicious parasite hanging around his sister. Linc knew that look—the few times his own sister had brought home a new guy, he’d worn the same don’t-fuck-with-her expression.

  Curiously, Linc didn’t like being on the receiving end of that look. It had annoyed and goaded him into an action he ordinarily wouldn’t have taken, particularly with Georgia, or Trouble as he’d decided to call her. He speared another bite of his breakfast and shot her a brooding look.

  Hair down this morning as opposed to the infernal ponytail and dressed in another pair of jeans, Roper boots and a burnt orange sweater, Georgia carefully slathered butter and jam on her biscuit. The bright morning sun poured through windows, painting copperish highlights in her dark brown curly hair and a rosy glow bloomed on her cheeks. Despite being irritated with him, she looked relaxed and content, fresh-scrubbed and invigorated.

  A thought struck. “Have you been out this morning?”

  She looked up, a frown creasing her brow. “Out where?”

  “Outside. Have you been riding?”

  She nodded. “I try to ride every morning, why?”

  Linc felt a smile tug at the corner of his mouth. “I can tell.”

  “How?”

  “You’re not as uptight.”

  A droll grin shaped her lips as she finished chewing a bite of her biscuit. “Thanks. I think.” She swallowed thoughtfully. “And thank you for not telling my brother the real reason you’re here. Not that I liked how you improvised, but…” She pulled a helpless shrug. “I suppose it’s better than the alternative.”

  “It’ll actually work to our advantage,” Linc told her. “I’m going to be in and out of here until we find Carter, so we need to have some sort of game plan in place.”

  Finished eating, she stood and started clearing the table. “Yeah, well. Remember this. When the time comes for us to break up, I’m ditching you, hoss, not the other way around.”

  A bark of laughter erupted from Linc’s throat. “Why do you get to dump me?”

  “Because I called it.”

  Smiling, he followed her to the sink and rinsed his cup. “You called it?” he asked. “What are we? Four?”

  “Hey, you’re the one who made up this fake relationship.” She smiled and leaned a hip against the counter. “It’s only fair that I get to be the one who calls it quits.”

  Linc considered her for a moment. “What reason are you going to give for cutting me loose?”

  “Oh,” Georgia said, chuckling knowingly. “Don’t worry. It’ll be something good.”

  That certainly sounded ominous, Linc thought, staring at her. At that lush, ripe mouth specifically. God help him, he wanted to taste her. Needed to taste her. “When you say good, just what exactly do you mean?”

  Georgia paused to look at him, those chocolate eyes crinkled at the corners. “Well, it goes without saying that I’ll have to have a good reason for dumping you. And my good reason will have to coincide with some sort of bad behavior on your part.” She chewed the corner of her lip consideringly. “Tell you what. I’m a reasonable woman. I’ll give you a choice. You can either be a cheating bastard or a premature ejaculator. Take your pick.”

  A sharp chuckle burst from his throat. Dishonest or emasculated? He should have known. “What’s behind door number three?”

  “I caught you wearing my panties,” she said without missing a beat.

  Linc laughed again. “How about I get back to you on that?”

  Georgia smiled, though a flash of seriousness lit her gaze. “Of course, I could always tell the truth.”

  “And what would that be?” He knew the minute the words left his mouth he shouldn’t have asked the question.

  “That you’re commitment-phobic to the nth degree and that keeping you around simply because you’re handsome and charming, and no doubt a great kisser and hot in the sack, would be an exercise in heartbreak and futility.”

  Linc stilled and his gaze tangled with hers. If wanting to stay single and commitment-phobic were synonymous then she’d hit the nail on the head.

  It was the rest of what she said that he found infinitely more intriguing.

  “Sounds like you’ve given this a lot of thought.”

  “Nah,” Georgia said, evidently realizing she’d said too much. He watched her pulse flutter wildly in her throat and she nervously played with a hand towel, avoiding his gaze.

  Smiling, Linc sidled closer to her. “You think I’m handsome?”

  With a long-suffering sigh, she glanced at him once more. “We’ve already established that. I told you last night that you were handsome. It’s not a state secret, for heaven’s sake.” She rolled her eyes. “You own a mirror.”

  Odd how he’d never realized how sexy
a provoking female could be. “You think I’m charming?”

  “In your own boorish way, yes,” she admitted.

  “What makes you think I’m a great kisser and—” he pretended to be searching his memory for the correct phrase though naturally his ego hadn’t let him forget it “—hot in the sack, I believe is what you said?”

  “Intuition,” Georgia said, a bit breathlessly. “But I don’t require any p-proof.”

  But she wanted it, Linc realized, recognizing his own desire in hers. Pupils dilated, shallow breaths, her gaze lingering on his mouth… Oh, yeah. She definitely wanted it.

  “Are you sure?” he asked softly, cupping her jaw. Unable to resist, he slipped the pad of his thumb across her bottom lip and had the pleasure of watching her eyes go all sleepy and melting. Her sweet breath washed over his hand, making his belly quake. “Since I’m your boyfriend and all,” he whispered. He lowered his head, put his mouth a hairbreadth from hers, drawing out the tension, making her lean forward.

  “But you’re not really my boy—”

  “Shh,” Linc told her. “Follow my lead, remember?”

  Then, because he’d clearly lost his mind and any semblance of self-control, he fitted his lips over hers. They were plump and pillowy-soft, sweetened with strawberry jam and butter, and the first taste of her against his tongue rattled the cage around his heart with enough force to shatter the lock. An unrecognizable emotion whipped through him, tearing him up from the inside out.

  Holy mother of—

  A little sigh of supplication eddied out of her mouth and into his, and that one tiny breath was all it took for Linc to push his hands deeper into those beautiful curls he’d been fantasizing about for the past few days. His dick jerked hard against his zipper and he shifted, trying desperately not to let the damned thing leap right out of the top of his jeans. Fire licked through his veins and his balls hardened to the point just shy of pain.

  A little mewl of pleasure issued from Georgia’s throat as she went up on tiptoe and twined her arms around his neck. Her sweet tongue tangled around his, exploring his mouth with a fervor that was at once seductive and wondrous, as though she’d received some sort of confirmation, had found something she’d been looking for but had always hovered just out of reach.

  God help him, Linc thought…because Trouble tasted good. In fact, he could easily see himself becoming addicted to it.

  8

  SO SHE’D BEEN RIGHT, Georgia thought as Linc’s hard body molded perfectly against hers.

  This was the more.

  This coming apart at the seams, burning inferno of desire ripping through her body, making every hair on her being stand on end, her nipples pearl and her sex weep was the it she’d been missing.

  The tiny, miniscule part of her brain that recognized that this was a bad idea knew that she should pull away, that she should stop “following his lead” as it were. But the rest of her brain—the part that was consumed with indulging her inner sexually underprivileged bad girl—wouldn’t let her. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed herself shamelessly against him. He tasted like strong coffee and salty ham, like wickedness and sin…heavenly, Georgia thought dimly.

  Linc groaned into her mouth, rasped his tongue against hers in the most toe-curling fashion. In and out, in and out, an erotic waltz of taste and sensation. The faint scent of patchouli and soap teased her nostrils and those big warm hands gently cupped her face and pushed into her hair, kneading her scalp. She felt her muscles go all weak, her belly muddle with heat. Tactile, she thought dimly, wondering if she’d become like clay in his hands, as well. It was so damned wonderful it made her bones melt, made her want to scale his body and dissolve all over him. An insistent throb built between her legs, pounding with every beat of her heart, making her squirm even closer to him, an itch that begged to be scratched.

  And if he was this good at kissing, then…mercy.

  Without warning, Linc lifted her off the floor and set her on top of the counter. His lips never leaving hers, he sidled into the open vee between her legs, putting himself in the optimal itch-scratching position. The first hint of pressure against her aching clit ripped the breath from her lungs and she felt him smile against her lips. She could taste what that smile meant—male satisfaction, victory—and savored it by pulling him even closer to her. He was hard to her soft, eager to her willing, and heaven help her, if he so much as crooked his finger at this moment, she’d follow his lead anywhere.

  He rocked against her once more, left off her mouth and nibbled and breathed into her ear, causing a wave of gooseflesh to wash over her. “Damn, you taste good,” Linc whispered, his voice deep and sexy.

  Georgia turned and licked a path over his neck, as well, and she had the pleasure of feeling his arms quake around her. The very idea that she could make this big, strong man quiver from a simple touch was intoxicating. “You taste like I was right.”

  Linc chuckled and drew back to look at her. “What do you mean?”

  “You taste like a good kisser.”

  “Yeah, well, keep kissing me and I’ll taste like I’m hot in the sack, too.”

  That’s what she was afraid of, Georgia thought, resting her forehead against his. Kissing Linc was one thing—sleeping with him was another altogether. Though she wanted to. Heaven help her how she wanted to. She wanted to feel those hands slipping over her naked skin, his hot mouth attached to her breast, sucking her, eating her. She wanted to feel him lodged deeply between her thighs, filling her up, taking her until every ounce of energy was rung from her body.

  She just…wanted.

  He was wrong, she decided. She didn’t have to “taste” him anymore to prove her hot-in-the-sack theory.

  She knew it.

  Luckily, Stitch decided he needed to go out before she could do anything stupid—like drag Linc upstairs—and telegraphed this message by hauling one of his diapers into the kitchen.

  Linc looked down at the dog and chuckled. “Why doesn’t he just bark at the door?”

  Georgia felt a small smile move over her lips. “Too passé.” She sighed. “I’d better take him out,” she said, glad for the excuse.

  When she returned, Linc was on the phone. “Cecil Meeks,” he mouthed to her. “I’m glad to hear it, Cecil,” Linc was saying. “I think it would be a good PR move for both of us. Right,” he said. “Right. Okay, I’ll line up Cade and we’ll meet you there at ten. Sure. No, that’s no problem. The sooner we get the ads out the better off we are. All right,” he said. “We’ll see you there.” He disconnected, looked at Georgia and winced regrettably. “Small change of plans. I need to do a quick detour today and have some pictures made with Cecil for the new ad campaign he wants to implement.”

  Georgia grinned, pleased that he’d thought her advice had merit. “You didn’t waste any time contacting him, did you?”

  Linc inclined his head. “I called him last night on my way home. You were right. He jumped on the idea. Said getting our support would be the boost that he needed. Evidently, Sunny Templeton is giving him a run for his money.” He clipped his phone back into the holder at his waist. “You don’t mind, do you?”

  Actually, this would work to her advantage. “Not if you don’t mind letting me take care of something today, as well.”

  “What is it?” he asked, looking endearingly grim. “We don’t have to go to a wedding, do we?”

  “No,” she said, poking her tongue into her cheek. “I just need to pick up something for one of my brides.” Point of fact, picking up this something was going to be embarrassing enough to start with, but taking care of that errand now, in light of what had just happened between them…Eek.

  Linc nodded. “Fine. I don’t suppose I can argue.”

  “Oh, you can,” Georgia assured him, laughing. She grabbed her purse and held open the back door for him. “It’s just a matter of whether you will or not.”

  “Smart-ass.”

  “What did your brother think
about the advertising idea?”

  Linc double-checked to make sure her door was locked. “I haven’t exactly told him yet.”

  Georgia felt her eyes widen. “But didn’t you just tell Cecil the two of you would meet him somewhere at ten?”

  He opened the passenger door for her. “I did.”

  “Then how are you going to get Cade there? What if he’s busy?”

  “Then he’ll just have to stop what he’s doing.”

  Georgia climbed into the cab and fastened her seat belt as Linc rounded the hood. He slid behind the wheel. “Will he do that?”

  “He won’t like it, but he will.”

  Georgia shrugged, but didn’t say anything else. What was the point? Who was she to try and point out that Linc’s high-handedness might not be appreciated? Then again, Cade Stone was probably used to it. It would be fun to watch, in any case.

  Linc backed up and aimed his SUV down her driveway. “So where’s your errand? In Germantown?”

  “Actually it’s in Memphis,” Georgia said. “If we’d known about your plans with Cecil I could have just met you this morning.”

  He grinned and shot her a look that made her palms tingle. “Then you would have missed out on tasting me to make sure I was a good kisser.”

  Georgia felt her cheeks pinken and she rolled her eyes. Like she was going to forget? Ha. Rather than respond, she directed the conversation back to practical matters—like organizing their day. “I’m assuming that you’re meeting Cecil in Memphis, right?”

  Linc nodded. “That’s right.”

  She blew out a breath. “I know that I’m supposed to be following your lead, but why don’t we head on over to that part of town and get our errands out of the way before we come back to Germantown and start looking for Carter again?”

  Linc smiled at her, those mossy green eyes twinkling with wicked humor. “You just can’t help it, can you?”