That McCloud Woman (15 page)

She
turned and adjusted the top, making sure it covered her bra, then lifted her
gaze, meeting her reflection again. Could she really wear such a skimpy outfit
in front of Jack? she asked herself. Would he think she was advertising? She
pressed her fingers against her lips, stifling the hysterical giggle that
bubbled up in her throat.

Oh,
God, she hoped so!

She
spun and all but ran for the stairs, anxious to test her new outfit—as well as
the level of her nerves—on the unsuspecting Jack.

She
found him in the kitchen already at work hanging a plate rack she'd discovered
in the attic on the breakfast nook's newly stained wood wall.

At
the sight of him, her heart stopped, then kicked into a frantic beat—and her
bravado flew straight out the open window. She darted to the refrigerator and
pulled open the door to hide behind it. "What would you like for breakfast
this morning?"

His
back to her, Jack tested the shelf by pressing a wide hand against its top,
making sure it was sturdy. "Whatever. I'm not particular."

"It's
so hot, how about just some fruit and muffins?"

Jack
slipped the hammer into the loop on his tool belt.

"Sounds
good to me." He turned, wiping his hands on a rag, just as Alayna pushed
the refrigerator door shut with her hip. His eyebrows shot up as he got his
first look at her and he blurted out the first thing that popped into his head.
"You've got legs."

Her
hands full, Alayna ducked and danced across the kitchen and to the counter,
trying her best to make her shorts look longer and to hide her bare midriff.
"I've always had legs. You've just never seen them." She set the
fruit and muffins down, then stretched to her toes to pull plates from the
cabinet. "I decided you were right. It's too hot to wear so many
clothes."

Had
he said that? Yeah, he had, Jack remembered, then cursed himself for making the
suggestion. He'd never considered what the effect of a lesser-garbed Alayna
would have on his system—as if it wasn't already in overdrive! He let out a
slow breath as he watched her slip a hand behind her to give the hem of her
shorts a discreet tug … and realized she was embarrassed. And he wasn't helping
her a bit with his thoughtless comments.

And
this was the very opportunity he needed to put his new plan into action. He
would compliment her, build up her self-confidence and never have to lay a hand
on her.

For
some reason that plan had sounded a whole lot easier to implement when he'd
been alone in the barn devising it. But, of course, then Alayna hadn't been
prissing around in front of him half dressed.

He
cleared his throat and had to force his gaze away from the lacy edge of panty that
was peeking from beneath her shorts. "Well, you look … nice, Alayna. Real
nice."
Nice?
He gave himself a mental thump on the head. Was that the
best he could do?

She
glanced over her shoulder and smiled shyly. "Thanks, Jack."

"You're
welcome." He cleared his throat again. "What can I do to help?"

She
turned and handed him a plate. "Nothing." She smiled again, this one
a little easier, and a little more sure. "Just eat."

Jack
took the plate and followed her to the table, not at all certain he could get anything
past the sudden lump in his throat. "I thought I'd work on that bathroom
upstairs this morning," he said, looking everywhere but at her. "You
know. The one where the shower is leaking."

She
sank gracefully onto a chair, setting her plate carefully in front of her and
spreading a napkin across her lap. Without the baggy pants, her legs looked to
Jack to be about a mile long. And, yeah, he did lose the battle of trying not
to gape.

"That's
fine," she replied.

He
sat, too, dropping his plate onto the table in front of him. With both of them
sitting now, his view of her was limited to her breasts and up. It should've
helped.

But
it didn't.

"If
we get done early enough," he said, trying to keep his mind focused on the
work he'd planned for the day, "I thought we might tackle the
fireplace."

She
bit into a strawberry, her eyes brightening as her gaze met his across the
table. "Really?" Juice from the strawberry ran down her chin and she
caught it with the tip of her finger, and scooped it up, then popped her finger
into her mouth, sucking the juice from it. "What can I do to help?"

You can slide that sweet face of
yours over here and let me lick that strawberry juice off your chin.

The
thought formed before Jack could stop it. Thankfully, he caught himself before
voicing it out loud. He tore his gaze from hers and hitched his chair closer to
the table. He needed to take this slow, he reminded himself, and nonphysical.
No telling what would happen if he were to touch her. All that bare skin…

Grabbing
his knife, he slathered butter over his muffin, trying not to think about all
that bare skin. "I don't know," he mumbled, focusing on his bread.
"But I'll think of something."

"Hold
it steady."

Alayna
tightened her grip on the pipe but couldn't quit staring at Jack's bare back.
He sat inside the old-fashioned footed bathtub, his shoulders hunched over his
knees while he worked on the plumbing. Alayna stood outside the tub, all but
salivating.

He'd
stripped off his shirt again, and sweat beaded his skin and ran down his spine,
soaking the waist of his faded jeans a darker blue. She swallowed hard as her
gaze slipped to the band of white cotton at the small of his back where his
jeans gapped open a bit. Boxers. He wore boxers. And, in Alayna's opinion,
there was nothing sexier than a man wearing nothing but boxer shorts.

She
remembered Tom Cruise in the movie
Risky Business
when he'd slid across a waxed floor, strumming an imaginary guitar and wearing
nothing but a pair of white socks, white boxers and an unbuttoned white
tailored shirt. She sighed lustily. What she'd give to see Jack similarly
dressed.

"Hand
me that wrench."

Startled,
Alayna jumped, then quickly reached behind Jack, to retrieve the requested tool
from the floor of the tub behind him. Her breasts brushed his shoulder as she
leaned over him, and bolts of lightning arced through her body. Gulping, she
straightened, and hastily passed him the wrench. Their fingers tangled in the
exchange.

When
she would have released her grip on the wrench, his hand closed over hers,
holding hers in place. She glanced down and found him looking up at her. His
eyes burned a hole straight through to her soul. She stood there staring,
unable to move, unable to breathe while his thumb stroked across her knuckles.
Once. Twice. On the third stroke, her knees buckled and she sank to the edge of
the tub.

To
his credit, Jack had tried to keep a safe distance and so busy that he wouldn't
have a chance to think about how Alayna was dressed. But that one touch of her
fingers against his skin had burned away all his good intentions. And when
she'd sank to the edge of the tub … well, he was just plain lost.

Slowly
he pried the wrench from her paralyzed fingers and tossed it to the floor
before capturing her hand completely with his. One tug and he had her stretched
across his lap, her legs dangling over the side of the footed tub.

With
a groan, he covered her mouth with his.

Somehow,
Alayna found the strength to lift her arms and wind them around his neck.

"Strawberries,"
he murmured, nipping at her lips. "I love strawberries."

Alayna
mentally made a note to purchase more on her next visit to town.

He
sipped her lips, then traced their shape with his tongue, as if savoring the
flavor. "Damn, but I've been wanting to do that all morning," he said
with a sigh, nuzzling her nose.

Wide-eyed,
Alayna leaned back to stare. "Really?"

At
the disbelief he saw in her eyes, Jack nodded his head. "Yeah,
really."

He
shifted his gaze to her chest and, unable to resist, smoothed a hand over her
breast. He watched as her nipple budded beneath the thin knit fabric. He
swallowed hard, digging deep for a control that was quickly slipping away from
him. Compliments, he reminded himself. He needed to offer her compliments.
"Did I tell you I like your shirt?"

Alayna
shook her head, her breast aching for more of his touch. "No," she
whispered. "You didn't."

He
lifted his gaze to hers and saw the wonder in her eyes, as well as the heat.
"Well, I do." He skimmed a hand around to her back and down to her
hips, cupping a denim covered cheek in his palm. "I like your shorts,
too."

"You
do?"

He
let a finger slide beneath the ragged hem and along the elastic edge of her
panties. "Yeah, I do." He watched her eyes smolder, felt the tremble
of nerves beneath her skin. "I like a lot about you."

"What?"
she asked, seemingly mesmerized as much by his words as by his touch.

"I
like the way you smile, the way your eyes light up when you're excited about
something. And I like the way you walk, your hips sort of rolling from side to
side, your hair swishing across your shoulder blades." He let his hand
trail down the back of her thigh. "And I like the peeks I used to get
every once in a long while of this soft skin here behind your knees." He
stroked her there and her breath shuddered out of her. He stroked lower, moving
his wide palm over her calf and around her ankle until it came to rest on her
foot. "And I like your feet. They're so dainty and small, just like the
rest of you." He slipped off one sandal, then the other, and let them drop
to the floor. Cupping his palm around her arch, he drew her leg up, bending her
knee and tipping her foot toward his face. He nipped her toe with his teeth
then soothed the spot with his lips.

A
shiver chased down Alayna's spine. "Oh, my heavens," she whispered
breathlessly.

"Ticklish?"
he asked, glancing her way.

"Yes.
No." She closed her eyes in frustration. "I don't know."

He
chuckled, guiding her leg back to the edge of the tub. "But you know what
I like best?"

Her
eyes flipped open to meet his. "What?"

"Your
mouth." He dipped his head over hers and pressed a kiss to first her upper
lip, then her lower one. "And your eyes," he added softly, lifting
his head and looking deeply into them. "They are so blue. I remember
thinking the first time I saw you that a man could drown in them."

"The
afternoon in the
café,"
she remembered.

"Yeah."
He shifted, settling his back on the tub's sloped end and her more comfortably
across his lap. "I thought you were an angel. You looked so beautiful, so
innocent." His brow gathered in a frown as he rubbed the ball of his thumb
across her lower lip. "Yet, so damn sexy."

It's simple. You take him by the
hand and lead him to your bedroom.

Alayna
heard Merideth's directive as clearly as if her cousin was standing over them,
giving stage instructions.

But
Alayna's bedroom was downstairs and she and Jack were upstairs sitting in the
tub. If she suggested they go there, then she'd have to get up. Then he'd have
to get up. Then they'd have to walk down the stairs and through the house. A
lot could happen in that span of time. The spell could be broken. She could
lose her nerve.

To
hell with the bedroom, she thought, carelessly tossing aside Merideth's
suggestion. The tub would do just fine.

"Do
you know what I like about you?" she asked, trying to hide the quiver in
her voice.

"What?"

"Your
chest." She forced herself to lay her hand against it, and felt the thud
of his heart beneath her palm. "It's so broad and muscular. I can't tell
you how many times I've wished I could curl up against it like I did that night
in the cabin."

"There's
nothing stopping you from doing so now," he reminded her.

She
looked up at him and he gave her a nod of encouragement. She smiled a bit
nervously, then slowly threaded her fingers through the mat of hair there,
watching her fingers' movement.

"Some
women prefer a man without hair on his chest."

Alayna
snapped her gaze to his. "Oh, no! I like a man with hair on his
chest." To prove it, she laid her head against his chest and rubbed her
cheek across it. "It feels so much softer than I thought it would."

In
the movement, her cheek chafed his nipple and Jack flinched, sucking in a
breath.

She
quickly sat up and turned her face away, feeling the tears building. "I'm
sorry. I didn't mean to—"

Jack
placed a finger beneath her chin and forced her gaze to his. "You didn't
do anything wrong, Alayna." He let his hand drop to her breast. "A
man's nipples are sensitive like a woman's." He stroked once, and felt the
shiver that shuddered through her. "See? Your body responds in the same
way."