Here Comes Trouble Page 0,74

as a complete surprise. “Other than the screen, do you have any other stuff that needs to get done?”

“You—have got to be kidding. I couldn’t possibly ask anything else of you.”

“You aren’t asking. I’m offering. I am generally happiest when I have projects to work on.”

“I’d say you have a pretty big one at the moment.”

“Initially it’s going to be a bunch of phone calls.” He smiled. “I like to work with my hands.”

She couldn’t help it, she smiled, too. And flushed, maybe a little. “Yes, well, that’s great, but I can’t just—”

“Kirby.” He sat down his empty coffee mug and walked over to where she stood, still by the sink.

She liked how much bigger he was; it gave her this private little thrill every time he got into her personal space. She wondered if he could read that on her face, too. “What?” she replied gamely.

“You can just. You like to stay busy because it keeps you from having to think. I like to stay busy because it helps me think. I can’t sit and stare at the walls.” He stepped even closer. Then he lifted the hair from her neck and ears with the backs of his hands as he slid his fingers around to her nape.

It was all she could do not to moan a little as he brushed his fingertips over such sensitive skin.

“So, you can either go clean rooms while I bang nails into something…or we can go mess up a few rooms first. And I can work off this pent-up energy in an entirely different way.”

By banging me, she thought, and her entire body stood up and shouted yes. Emphatically so. She had every intention of smiling and saying no. She had an inn to save. Now was not the time to be frolicking naked with carefree abandon. So, it came as a surprise to them both, if the look in his eyes was anything to go by, when she put her hands up on his shoulders and slid them around to the back of his neck and said, “I’ve found that dusting and scrubbing is a highly overrated method of distraction.”

“I find I couldn’t agree more.” He leaned in and kissed her, quite soundly, then made her squeal by lifting her up into his arms.

“Brett—”

He managed to nudge open the door to the narrow back stairway. “This feels rather indecent somehow, doesn’t it?” He looked down into her face, and his eyes were fully sparkling, his smile wide, and he’d never looked more handsome to her.

“Wicked, yes,” she said. “Having your way with the backstairs help.”

“Hold on.” He slid her legs around, but when they both wouldn’t fit on the skinny risers, he made her squeal again and grab at his belt loops as he slipped her over his shoulder.

“I can walk,” she said breathlessly.

“Where’s the wicked fun in that?”

They passed the door to the first floor. He wasn’t even out of breath. She still hadn’t found hers. “Where are we going?”

“I thought we’d start at the top. My room.” He pushed through the narrow door at the top of the stairs, then bumped open his own door, which he hadn’t closed all the way, and kicked it shut behind him. He laid her out on his bed and followed her down. “Then we can work our way down,” he added. “What do you say?”

He was already pushing up her shirt and sliding down her body.

“I think…working our way down…could be a very good idea,” she said on a breathless laugh.

He unzipped her pants and slipped them down her hips, taking her panties with them.

“Inspired, even,” she managed to gasp as he kissed his way back up her inner thigh.

It was impossible to believe that a mere hour ago all hope had seemed lost…and now, not only was there a plan to save her inn, but the gorgeous, sexy man responsible for saving it was about to make love to her. Again.

He slid his tongue over her as his hands moved up under her shirt and over her rock-hard nipples. She arched her back and lost all track of any thought she might have ever had as he took her body on that sweet, sweet climb. So effortlessly, so perfectly.

Distractions, indeed.

Chapter 12

Definitely beat the hell out of banging nails. Maybe Dan had been onto something about that.

Brett moved up and kissed Kirby just beneath her belly button while her body was still twitching in the aftermath of her climax. He loved how responsive