"Oh God, I'm losing it." She was starting to turn around when the front door swung open and she was suddenly staring at a tanned, sculpted bare chest. A light dusting of dark hair led to low-slung red board shorts, tied with a white crisscrossed string. Interestingly, she noted muscled calves and one flip-flop-clad foot and one bare foot. Her heart kicked into hyperspeed.
Where was a brown paper bag to breathe into when you needed one?
Arabella tilted her head back and found herself gazing into the intense blue eyes of Grady Heart. Oh, my . . . His once-boyish good looks had matured, and he was now a devilishly handsome man. Dark stubble shaded a strong jaw softened by full lips that at one time had explored every inch of her willing body. At the steamy thought, Arabella felt her cheeks warm, and the fight-or-flight feeling returned full force.
She dropped her purse and several items escaped, rolling here and there. With an audible intake of breath, she retreated a couple of quick steps and somehow managed to get her foot tangled in the bag's long leather strap. With a little yelp, she stumbled. Arms flailing, she nearly went down, but Grady grabbed her upper arms, righting her backward tumble.
The palms of her hands landed against warm skin, and her nose pressed against hard muscle. The spicy scent of his cologne and a hint of coconut lotion filled her head and she had a wild urge to see if he tasted as delicious as he smelled, but then again, she knew from experience that he did. Erotic memories pushed good sense out the window and she stood there, transfixed.
What had happened very quickly seemed to occur in dreamlike slow motion.
The rise and fall of his chest left little room between his skin and her mouth, and when her lips made featherlight contact with his chest, she felt the reaction all the way to her curled toes.
Hot damn.
CHAPTER FIVE
STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART
Grady inhaled her light floral scent with vanilla undertones and tried to wrap his brain around the fact that he was holding Arabella York in his arms. She was the last person he'd expected to see when he opened the front door. Shock had rendered him speechless, and so he simply stood there, holding on to her.
///
He'd wondered what it would feel like to randomly run into her one day, but he'd thought he might see her from across the street, pass her on a crowded sidewalk, or run into her on a flight. He'd never expected to see her on his front doorstep.
Holy shit.
God, he wanted to thread his fingers through her cinnamon-colored hair and pull her even closer. But more than anything else, he longed to tilt Arabella's face up and kiss her sweet mouth until she melted against him. Memories bombarded his brain . . . her laughter, her smile, and a deep love for her that he'd tried to erase but could never forget. Ah . . . and the hot passion they'd shared, incomparable to any other. He knew every inch of her lithe dancer's body, tiny but perfectly proportioned. She was uninhibited in bed, giving and taking. . . .
He tried to stop the visions from tumbling through his brain, but the floodgate was wide open and unrelenting.
No! What the hell was he thinking?
She'd left him. Turned her back on him. Shattered his damned heart without a backward glance. But none of that angst seemed to matter now, and he wanted to savor the feeling for just a moment longer before all hell broke loose.
Grady's body reacted and he longed to lift her in his arms, carry her to his bedroom, and make love to her for hours . . . or days. He felt the warmth of her breath on his chest, and when her lips grazed his skin, he nearly moaned. . . . Oh shit, he did moan.
With a sharp intake of breath, Arabella pushed at his chest. Reality hit him like an icy cold splash of water in his face.
Grady dropped his hands from her arms and took a quick step backward, nearly falling over her giant purse. He remembered how she'd always carried a bag as big as a suitcase. Did she still carry a stash of mints? A bottle of water? A paperback novel?
Grappling for words, Grady risked a look at the face that haunted his dreams and had wrecked his life. "What are you doing here?" he finally managed in a husky tone full of unwanted emotion. He watched her lick her bottom lip, setting off another burst of heat in his blood. Pissed at his reaction, Grady tried for a glare to offset his earlier moan. But when Arabella swallowed hard and her eyes filled with uncertainty that almost resembled fear, a wave of protectiveness washed over him and he nearly pulled her back into his arms . . . but then she cleared her throat and looked up at him with determination.
"I'm here to do the-" she began, but Grady immediately shook his head and put his hands in the air.