Sweat snaked cold down the center of her back, and her breath began to hitch. she clamped down on the rising fear and swung around again, certain she would catch a flash of movement behind her. There was nothing but twining branches and dripping moss.
Damn it, she thought and rubbed a hand over her speeding heart. Someone was there. Crouched behind a tree, snugged into a shadow. Watching her. just kids, she assured herself. just a couple of sneaky kids playing tricks.
she walked backward, her eyes darting side to side. she heard it again, just a faint, stealthy sound. she tried to call out again, make some pithy comment on rude children, but the terror that had leaped into her throat snapped it closed. Moving on instinct, she turned and increased her pace.
When the sound came closer, she abandoned all pride and broke into a run.
And the one who watched her snickered helplessly into his hands, then blew a kiss at her retreating back.
Her breath heaving, Yirby pounded through the trees, sneakers slapping the path in a wild tattoo. she gulped in a sob as she saw the light change, brighten, then flash as she burst out of the trees. she looked back over her shoulder, prepared to see some monster leaping out behind her.
And screamed when she ran into a solid wall of chest and arms banded tight around her.
"What's wrong? What happened?" Brian nearly picked her up in his arms, but she clamped hers around him and burrowed. "Are you hurt? Let me see."
"No, no, I'm not hurt. A minute. I need a minute."
"Okay. All right." He gentled his hold and stroked her hair. He'd been yanking at weeds on the outer edge of the garden when he'd heard the sounds of her panicked race through the forest. He'd just taken the first steps forward to investigate when she shot out of the trees and dead into him.
Now her heart was thudding against his, and his own was nearly matching its rhythm. she'd scared the life out of him-that wild-animal look in her eyes when she jerked her head around as if expecting to be attacked from behind.
"I got spooked," she managed and clung like a burr. "It was just kids. I'm sure it was just kids. It felt like I was being stalked, hunted. It was just kids. It spooked me."
"It's all right now. Catch your breath." she was so small, he thought. Delicate back, tiny waist, silky hair. Hardly aware of it, he gathered her closer. It was odd that she should fit against him so well and at the same time seem fragile enough for him to pick up and tuck safely in his pocket.
Christ, she smelled good. He lowered his cheek to the top of her head for a moment, indulged in the scent and texture of her hair as he slowly stroked the tension out of her neck.
"I don't know why I panicked that way. I never panic." And because the sensation was subsiding, she became gradually aware that he was holding her. Very close. That his hands were moving over her. Very smoothly. His lips were in her hair. Very softly.
Her slowing heart rate kicked up again, but this time it had nothing to do with panic.
"Brian." she murmured it, ran her hands up his back as she lifted her head.
"You're all right now. You're okay." And before he knew what he was doing, his mouth was on hers.
It was like a fist in the gut, a breath-stealing blow that sent his brain reeling and buckled his knees. Then her lips were parting under his, so warm and smooth, with sexy little purrs slipping between them and into his mouth.
He went deeper, nipping her tongue, then soothing it while his hands slid down over snug denim to mold her bottom and angle heat against heat.
she stopped thinking the instant his mouth took over hers. The novelty of that experience was a separate, giddy thrill. Always she'd been able to separate her intellect, to somehow step outside herself in a way, to direct and control the event. But now she was swirled into it, lapped by sensation after sensation.
His mouth was hot and hungry, his body hard, his hands big and demanding. For the first time in her life, she truly felt delicate, as though she could be snapped in two at his whim.
For reasons she couldn't understand, the sensation was unbearably arousing. Murmuring his name against his busy mouth, she hooked her hands over the back of his shoulders. Her head tipped back limply. For the first time with a man she teetered oil the brink of absolute and unquestioning surrender.
It was the change, the sudden pliancy, the helpless little moan, that ed him back. He'd dragged her up to her toes, his fingers were digging into her flesh, and the single image that had lodged in his mind was that of taking her on the ground.
In his mother's garden, for Christ's sake. In the daylight. In the shadow of his own home. Disgusted with both of them, Brian jerked her out to arm's length.
"That's what you wanted, wasn't it?" he said furiously. "You went to a lot of trouble to prove I'm as weak as the next guy."