"I was going to get to them." Her voice was thin. They were both bent
over, all but spooned together. The flash of sheer animal lust that
streaked through the familiar yearning for him staggered her.
"Get to them now." He murmured it, willing her to move. If she didn't,
and very quickly, he might not be able to hold himself back from putting
his hands on her. And putting them on her in places they had no business
being.
"All right." She shifted away, moving sideways while her heart knocked
at her ribs in short rabbit punches. "I appreciate it. Thanks." She bit
her lip hard because she was going to babble. Determined to be normal,
she turned and smiled a little. "It's probably the carburetor again.
I've got some tools."
Saying nothing, Ethan grabbed the cord with one hand and yanked it hard,
twice. The engine caught with a dyspeptic roar. "It ought to do," he
said mildly when he saw her mouth thin in frustration.
"Yeah, it ought to." Struggling not to be annoyed, she strode quickly to
her vegetable patch.
And bent over, Ethan thought as he began to cut the first swath. Bent
over in those thin cotton shorts in a way that forced him to take
several long, careful breaths.
She didn't have a clue, he decided, what it had done to his usually
well-disciplined hormones to have her trim little butt snugged back
against him. What it did to the usually moderate temperature of his
blood to have all that long, bare leg brushing against his.
She might be a mother--a fact that he reminded himself of often to keep
dark and dangerous thoughts at bay--but as far as he was concerned, she
was nearly as innocent and unaware as she'd been at fourteen.
When he'd first begun to have those dark and dangerous thoughts about
her.
He'd stopped himself from acting on them. For God's sake, she'd just
been a kid. And a man with his past had no right to touch anyone so
unspoiled. Instead, he'd been her friend and had found contentment in
that. He'd thought he could continue to be her friend, and only her
friend. But just lately those thoughts had been striking him more often
and with more force. They were becoming very tricky to control.
They both had enough complications in their lives, he reminded himself.
He was just going to mow her lawn, maybe help her pull some weeds. If
there was time he'd offer to take them into town for some ice cream
cones. Aubrey was partial to strawberry.
Then he had to go down to the boatyard and get to work. And since it was
his turn to cook, he had to figure out that little nuisance.
But mother or not, he thought, as Grace leaned over to tug out a
stubborn dandelion, she had a pair of amazing legs.
grace knew she shouldn't have let herself be persuaded to go into town,
even for a quick ice cream cone. It meant adjusting her day's schedule,
changing into something less disreputable than her gardening clothes,
and spending more time in Ethan's company when she was feeling a bit too
aware of her needs.
But Aubrey loved these small trips and treats, so it was impossible to
say no.