The High Price of Secrets(40)

                “Hello yourself.”

                The effect of his smile curled all the way to her toes.

                “I finished my work early this morning and came down to return your salad bowl. I’ve left it at the front door,” he said and gestured to the veranda. “Since I was at a loose end, I thought I’d surprise you with the lawns.”

                Oh, he’d surprised her, all right.

                “You look…hot,” she said, feeling a fair amount of that heat radiating all over her body.

                “I wouldn’t mind a drink of water.”

                “I’ll get you some.”

                She shot away, more as a measure of self-preservation than anything else. In the kitchen she sloshed cold tap water into a jug, sliced a lemon and threw the pieces into the water together with some ice from the freezer and a sprig of mint from the plant at the back door, then put the jug and two glasses on a tray. Several deep steadying breaths later, she carried the tray out onto the veranda.

                “Here,” she said, pouring a glass of water for Finn and handing it to him.

                “Thanks.”

                He took the glass and downed it in a couple of long easy swallows. Tamsyn was mesmerized by the muscles working in his throat and forced herself to look away.

                “Another?” God, was that her voice? That weird strangled sound?

                “You read my mind,” Finn answered, handing her his glass.

                Thank goodness he wasn’t reading hers, she thought quietly. She swiftly poured him another glass of water and handed it to him, this time determined not to watch as he drank it. But where did that leave her to look? At the breadth of his bare shoulders? The small dark brown nipples that lay flat on his chest? Or maybe she should watch the trail of a bead of sweat as it trickled over those too-perfect abs and down past the waistband of his jeans.

                She’d be needing to tip a glass of water over herself if she continued like this. Instead, she picked up her glass and drank.

                “How did your first day go?” Finn asked, leaning one hip against the veranda railing.

                “It was good, thanks. The women were a little wary of me to begin with, the men hopeless wannabe Romeos, which was sweet. Overall I think I held my own. Next week will probably be easier. At least, I hope so.”

                “They didn’t scare you off?”

                “It’d take more than that to put me off. When I commit to something, I like to go all the way.”

                The words hung in the air between them, her unintended double entendre assuming the proportions of a six-foot-high neon sign. Tamsyn wished the wooden floor could just open up and swallow her whole.

                “I’m pleased to hear it,” Finn said, putting his glass on the wide veranda railing and fixing her with his gaze.

                A flutter started in her chest and she knew they weren’t talking about the community work anymore. The fine hairs on her forearms rose in a prickle of awareness and heat flooded the lower regions of her body. Her fingers curled tight around her glass. Any minute now there’d be steam rising, she thought. If she reacted like this to just a look, how would she feel when he touched her—really touched her?

                She couldn’t wait to find out.