Lori Foster - Hot In Here

“That,” she said, “is lust.”

Harris nodded in complete and total agreement. “I’ll say.”

She offered him a hand, and when he took it, she helped haul him to his feet. Looking down into her earnest face, Harris scrambled for something to say, some way to get back into that full-body contact. But before a single idea could form, Clair touched his chin, his jaw, gently, softly.

Harris went mute with anticipation.

She stepped up against him, cuddling into him, wrapping her arms around him. After a long, meaningful stare into his eyes that scorched him clean through to his bones, she went on tiptoe and kissed him again. This kiss was as different as night and day from the first. It was purposeful, sweet, and it consumed him.

Like a slow burn, she involved his entire body, her small hands touching up and down his bare back, over his shoulders, as if in awe of his muscles and strength. Her feet moved between his, which aligned her soft belly with his groin. She pressed, proving she was aware of his erection.

Her breasts brushed against him, teasing, taunting, until he felt her stiffened nipples and growled.

She made small sounds of pleasure and hunger too, her tongue now shy, loving.

Loving?

With a pat to his rear, Clair pulled away. He watched as she slowly licked her lips. “And that,” she whispered, “is antsy.”

Breathless, hot, more than a little ready, Harris reached for her. “I don’t think I quite understand yet. You better do a little more explaining.”

CHAPTER THREE

CLAIR’S QUICK BACK STEP kept her out of reach. “If that explanation didn’t suffice, then nothing will. You’re hopeless.” She turned away.

Did women always have to be so confusing?

Neither of them jogged this time. Hell, just walking was tough for Harris. He had a major Jones and she just didn’t seem all that affected. Except for the wobbly way she walked. And the way she breathed too deeply.

He couldn’t just let it go, so after half a dozen steps, he cleared his throat and ventured into murky water. “So...that was just a lesson, huh?”

“Think what you will.”

She sounded all prickly again. Clair never got prickly with him. He wasn’t used to it and didn’t have a clue how to deal with her in this mood. “How about you just explain it?”

One shoulder lifted in a halfhearted shrug. “Men get horny and want to get laid. Women get antsy and want to touch and be touched, to cuddle and be affectionate.” She cast him a quick look. “And then make love.”

He raised his hand. “I’ll take either one.”

“I wasn’t offering.”

“Yeah, you were.” When she turned to face him, Harris chastised her with a look. “I’m a little slow on the uptake sometimes, but I’m not a complete dolt. You’re coming on to me.”

She didn’t reply to that one way or the other.

He needed verification, damn it. “I’m willing, Clair.”

The incredulous look she gave him didn’t bode well. “Willing? Oh great, bring out the band. Harris is willing.” Her laugh reeked with sarcasm. “How did I get so lucky?”

Figuring her out wasn’t going to be easy. “Bad word choice? Should I have said happy to oblige? Anxious? Maybe desperate?”

Her eyes narrowed behind the lenses of her glasses. “Are you?”

“After those killer kisses, what do you think?”

She reached around him to pat his ass again—right over the pocket that held the photo and his key. The woman sure had a thing for his rear.

“I think you’re desperate to find your stupid mystery woman and I’d just be a way to pass the time.” She crossed her arms over her chest, going all stiff and angry.

Uh-oh.

He took too long trying to figure out what to say, because she demanded, “Isn’t that right?”

Harris held out his hands. “C’mon, Clair. I can’t just forget about her. But hell, I don’t even know her.”

“You told me you didn’t know me that well either.”

They were a good mile from home, which ensured no matter what he said she couldn’t just stalk off in a temper. That gave Harris small comfort, though, when he didn’t know what the hell to say. “Up until a few minutes ago, I didn’t know you were interested in...that.”

“That?” she asked meanly, curling her lip, being deliberately derisive.

“Sex. Me.”

“The two combined?”

“Exactly.” He wrapped his fingers around her upper arm, slowing her furious stomp to a more sedate pace. When she didn’t object, he decided to just hang on to her. Touching her was nice. At least now it was. Before she’d kissed him, he hadn’t really noticed how it felt to touch her. Realizing that, he said, “I need a few minutes to adjust, that’s all. Neither of us has thought that much about sleeping together.”

“Speak for yourself.”

Was that a confession? His interest sharpened to an ache. “You’ve thought about me?”

“You’re not an ogre, Harris. Most of the time, you’re not too moronic. I’m not with anyone else. Do the math.”

Harris chewed over those critical and questionable compliments, and didn’t like the conclusion he came to. “So like your ex-boyfriend, I’d be filler until something better came along?”

She laughed. “Harris, honey, do try to remember your own credos, okay?”

Honey?

“You don’t want to be anything more than filler. You don’t want a woman getting ideas of forever after. You’re totally against marriage.” She waited two heartbeats, then prodded him. “Right?”

“Uh, yeah.” But somehow that didn’t seem to be the point right now. “So you thought about, what? A quick fling?” He could start with that, maybe work up to more....

“You weren’t listening to my instructions a minute ago, were you?” Typically Clair, she turned to walk backward so she could see his face. “I thought I was more than clear that men want it quick. I want it slow and easy. I want to—”

He swallowed hard.

“—take my time.” She continued pacing backward. “But there’s that mystery lady occupying you right now.” Her sigh was absurdly long. “So we can just go on being sexless buds. No problem.”

No problem? What about his boner? That was a definite problem. And his curiosity, which was so keen he suddenly felt obsessed with knowing Clair intimately. And there was a strange excitement he’d never felt with any other woman, too. Maybe it was the way she insulted him so energetically. “I may never meet that woman, Clair. I mean, I know Alec and Dane are good, but that doesn’t guarantee they’ll find her.”

“And if they did?”

How should he answer that? The mystery alone made him want to approach the woman, to talk to her, to find out how she knew him and why she hadn’t ever told him how she felt. There was her sex appeal, and the notes, her sincerity and admiration...

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Clair reached out and clasped his hand, lacing her fingers with his. “Come on. No more lagging. Time to run.”

“I don’t think I can.” He’d never run with a hard-on before. It didn’t seem all that comfortable.

“You can,” Clair assured him, “or you’ll be heading home alone, because I’m not walking. I’m tired and I want to get to bed.”

“So you can fantasize,” Harris accused. Possibly about him. The way her hand tightened shored up that belief.

“Maybe.”

He did not need to hear this. She dragged him along, never once releasing her hold on him, and in a few minutes, they were jogging again. At the pace she set, it didn’t take them long before they were on their own street. This close to the burned building, the lingering scent of smoke still hung in the air. It reminded Harris of his reaction when he’d feared Clair might be involved in the fire. His reaction had been extreme, and that was before she’d been flirting with him.