Читать книгу His Small-Town Sweetheart - Amanda Berry, Karina Bliss - Страница 10

Chapter Four

Nicole took one look at the mischievous look in Sam’s eyes and knew she was in trouble. So when he bent over to scoop up some mud, she shoved him off balance.

“Hey!” He fell to the side and into the mud. She took the opportunity to turn to make her getaway.

If the mud hadn’t sucked down her boots, she might have made it, too.

As she tried to pull free of the mud, Sam said, “Not so fast, Nikki.”

His hand wrapped around her calf and yanked her backward. She lost her balance and fell backward on top of him. The air rushed out of her lungs, but at least he was more solid than the mud beneath his back.

“I hope your plan was for me to squish you more into the mud and get more on you,” Nicole said. She started to struggle to get up, but his hands on her hips stopped her.

“If you squirm any more, we are going to have more than just a mud problem,” he said through his teeth.

Heat rushed to her cheeks. She glanced over her shoulder. Sam half leaned out of the mud, but he was definitely more covered in it than she was. A spark of heat in his eyes made her aware of the intimacy of their position. The warmth of him against her backside surged through her. If it hadn’t stunk like crazy and the flies weren’t trying to bite every piece of mud from her body, she might have been tempted to...

She looked away. He was probably worried about an elbow to his crotch, and here she was getting all hot and bothered while covered in mud and...stuff. She took a deep breath and instantly regretted it. It was the other stuff that made her wrinkle her nose.

Needing to keep things easy, she glanced back again and flashed him a grin. “Afraid I’ll get more mud on you?”

“I don’t think that’s possible.” He pushed her up by her hips until she could regain her footing. “And here I thought you’d play fair.”

She turned to watch him peel himself out of the mud. “There’s nothing fair about your height or weight advantage. You just fall easy.”

He raised his eyebrow at her as he stood up. “Maybe unbalanced in a pigpen, I fall easy.”

She shook off what mud she could. This wasn’t exactly facial or soothing mud bath material. “It’s starting to itch.”

“That’s because it’s drying. We should go over to the hose.” He started to lead the way out of the pen.

“You aren’t serious about the hose?” When he didn’t respond, she added, “Seriously? When there is a perfectly good hot shower in the house?”

He stopped and faced her. “We’re not allowed to track mud through the house.”

“Isn’t it your house?” She crossed her arms. “If I’d known about the lack of warm water facilities, I would have fallen in the mud at my own house.”

“You’re welcome to walk home.” He gestured for her to go ahead.

There was a lot of land between the two houses, and going the road way wouldn’t be any better. Screw that. “Oh, no. You drove me here, and you’ll be driving me back.”

“I suppose you could ride in the truck bed, but only after I’ve had a chance to shower and change.”

She weighed her options. Cold and dripping wet followed by a nice warm shower or being eaten alive by flies and itching from the drying mud for some unknown amount of time? She could feel Sam watching her as she made her decision. “What will I change into?”

His eyes flared hot for a second before his cool demeanor slipped back into place. Probably just her imagination running wild. To Sam she’d always just been that annoying tomboy from next door, who happened to be his best friend.

“I’m sure I can find you a T-shirt and sweats,” he said.

“Somehow I don’t think we are the same size like we were way back when,” she grumbled. She’d always liked wearing her boyfriend’s shirts, but she needed to remember Sam was just a friend, even if wearing his clothes seemed intimate. “I suppose I’ll let you hose me down, but on one condition.” She held up her finger.

“What’s that?” The corner of his mouth twitched.

She narrowed her eyes and shook her finger at him. “As long as you don’t like it.”

A laugh burst from his lips. Her heart skipped a beat at the sound as she smiled up at him. It didn’t last long, but it soothed her to know that he still could laugh.

His mouth settled into a small smile that made her catch her breath. “I’ll try. But you better not have any fun hosing me down, either. This isn’t the water balloon fight of ’95.”

Shaking off the sudden feelings of giddiness bubbling under the surface, she said, “Okay, hug on it.”

He held out his hands. “No—”

As if that would stop her. She stepped into his arms and squeezed him around the waist. The mud on them made weird smacking noises. She laughed as she released him. “See, that wasn’t so bad.”

“Says you.” He continued toward the back of the house where the hose was. Hose water was hose water, and she’d never had a warm soak from a hose. The water out here was either from the well or the cistern. Either way, it would be frigid underground water, regardless of the warm weather.

“Don’t you have a pond that we can jump into?” She stopped a few feet away from him as he went to turn the hose on.

“Not unless you want to get eaten by mosquitoes.” He turned the handle, and the rush of water could be heard flooding through the line. He picked up the other end of the hose as the water cascaded to the ground. “Besides, it’s a runoff from the hog pens. You’d get cleaner from rolling in the pens.”

The spray created a rainbow. Of course, a rainbow would normally be a happy thing, but not when it was created by water from the Arctic.

“Wait.” She held up her hands to ward off the oncoming blast of cold water. “What if I just take off my clothes?”

“I don’t think—”

His words stopped the second she started unbuttoning her shirt. “It’s not like we’d be naked. I have on a bra and underwear, and I’m sure you are wearing some sort of underwear. The mud would mostly be our heads, which would be just fine walking through your house. Not that our heads walk, but—”

“Nicole.” Her name was gruff, almost strangled, on his lips.

“I’m just trying to make it easier on us.” She stopped unbuttoning her shirt and glanced up at him, uncertain of what she was going to see.

His eyes were glued to her hands as they hovered over the last button. She watched in fascination as he swallowed. Her skin prickled, and it had nothing to do with the heat or the drying mud. She had thought to avoid the chill of the hose water, but at the intensity of his gaze, she would almost have welcomed the cold.

Try as she might, she couldn’t deny the attraction in his eyes or the desire burning beneath her skin. Even covered in...stuff. Oh, she was in trouble. And she didn’t know how deep she wanted to dig herself. She could laugh this off and pretend she didn’t see or feel what was happening between them. Deny this intense longing to just go with her gut for the first time in a long time.

Her gut was saying go for it. What was the worst that could happen? It wasn’t as if she’d fall for the boy next door. What was sex between old friends? Would he be up for a roll in the hay with no obligations? Or was he looking for more at this point in his life?

It didn’t matter. If Sam had wanted to act on this attraction, he would have. The men she’d been with had always taken the initiative. If a man wanted to kiss you, he’d kiss you. Right? She needed to get it through her head that this wasn’t happening between them. They were just friends. Not even real friends. Friends from childhood.

“I think this is the quietest I’ve been in a long time.” She tried to laugh, but it came out stilted.

He lifted his gaze to hers, and she took an involuntary step back. The intensity of his eyes struck some primal need deep inside her. Whoa, who would have known that Sam Ward was the type of guy who could melt her into a puddle with just a look? If she felt this way from a look, what would happen if he actually touched her? Goose bumps rose on her exposed skin. That was a very dangerous idea. As much as she longed to finish taking off her shirt and let whatever happens happen, she wasn’t sure she could handle the intensity of Sam. Maybe being partially naked in front of him wasn’t a great idea, even if the alternative was freezing cold water.

She pulled her shirt together. The mud squished between her fingers.

“You know, the hose probably won’t be that bad.” Lord knew her flesh needed cooling down. She flinched but braced herself for the cold. “Go ahead. Spray me.”

* * *

Eighty-five. Eighty-six. Eighty-seven. If Sam kept counting, he could fight this urge to walk over and finish stripping Nicole naked. He started counting the second he caught sight of Nicole’s hot-pink bra under the dull flannel shirt. Its little bow seemed to beckon him with its innocent temptation. It’d been almost easy to think of her as one of the guys with her body completely covered. Almost. It had been a hell of a lot easier before seeing that flash of femininity.

As he’d counted in his head, she’d innocently revealed a bit more of her skin. She hadn’t even been aware of what she was doing to him. The low simmer of desire that pulsed through his veins every time she was close was now a full boil. He was barely managing to keep it from boiling over.

“Are you going to do it?” She squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself. She’d covered herself, but the image was burned into his retinas. Satin pale skin that looked soft yet stretched over muscles that were clearly toned. His fingertips twitched with the need to feel if it really was as soft and lush as it looked.

Ninety-four. He looked up into the sky. Maybe a plane would fall on him. Just a few more numbers and surely he’d be able to focus again. Ninety-five.

Her voice had that what-are-you-doing tone to it when she said, “Sam.”

He sighed. Was it possible for Nicole to stay quiet for longer than a minute? At least give him long enough to calm the throbbing inside. Ninety-six.

“Am I going to have to hose myself down?”

When he looked at her, she had exactly the stance he imagined she’d have. One hand on her hip and one hand holding her shirt together. The only thing missing was a tapping foot. She still looked tempting as hell.

This was ridiculous. He took a deep breath and raced through the numbers until he reached a hundred. A grown man should be able to be near an attractive woman without thinking of her in a sexual way. Obviously he needed to work on growing up more. He held the hose out to her, not trusting himself to keep from making a fool out of himself. Besides, the cold water would do him good. “Maybe you should hose me down first.”

She buttoned her middle button, leaving way too much skin showing for his comfort, and then grabbed the hose from him. The water formed a muddy area in the grass. She screwed up her face, and he knew she was going to argue with him. Nothing was ever easy with Nicole. “Are you sure about this? I could turn around, and you could take off your clothes, and then I can—”

“Just do it, Nicole.” He bit out the words from between his clenched teeth.

She held the hose up and smiled a little too gleefully. “If you insist.”

She pressed her thumb over the spout and created a spray. The water was cool as it hit his chest and soaked through his shirt. It didn’t do much to cool the burning desire within him, but it was better than nothing.

“Turn around and I’ll get your back,” Nicole said loudly over the sound of splattering mud and water.

He turned, and the ice-cold water soaked the back of his shirt and denims. As the water started to weigh down his jeans, he realized he hadn’t thought this through. His jeans would be near impossible to get off wet, but it wasn’t as if he could throw them in the wash covered in mud. And he wasn’t about to take them off here with Nicole watching. She’d realize how much she affected him. Cold water or not.

“Take off your shirt.”

“What?” He turned and got a face full of water.

“Oops.” Laughing, she lowered the hose and held up her hands. “I swear I didn’t mean to do that.”

Her smile had that little hint of mischief in it. He wasn’t sure if she’d meant to spray him in the face or not.

“I’m not sure I believe that,” he mumbled as he swiped the water from his face. He wasn’t in any condition to get retribution without acting on the latent desire burning in his veins.

“Take off your shirt and I’ll get your head.” She tossed the hose between her hands like a gunslinger and kept that grin on her face.

“You already got me in the face.” He started unbuttoning his shirt. “Not sure what you need me to take off my soggy, dirty shirt for. It’s not like it could get much dirtier.”

“Your hair is filled with dried mud. It’d be a lot easier to get the back of it without your collar in the way.” That was way too reasonable for Nicole.

He narrowed his eyes at her. She was up to something. He just didn’t know what yet. Even though the water was cold, the air was still hot. Getting out of his shirt seemed like a good plan to cool down his body from the heat of the day and the heat of his desire for Nicole.

He turned his back to her as he shrugged out of his shirt and tossed it over to the porch. “Hit me.”

A second passed and then another, but no blast of cold hit him. Just when he was going to turn around to ask her about it, she cleared her throat.

“Sure.” Her voice was a little higher in pitch, but before he could turn around to figure out what she was thinking, a blast of cold water hit the back of his head.

Mud started to streak down his face. “Hold up!”

The water retreated. “What?”

He looked over his shoulder at her and raised his eyebrow, dislodging some mud in the process so that it ran down his cheek.

“What, you can’t handle a little mud in your eyes?”

“No, and I don’t care for it in my mouth, either.”

Giggling, she glanced around the yard.

“Okay, new plan.” Nicole walked toward him. She pointed over to a stump from the tree he had cut down last year. “Sit down. You really are too tall, you know. You should have stopped growing at least a foot ago. It would make you so much easier to deal with.”

“You mean you could get your way easier?” He wasn’t sure where that had come from. He wasn’t normally someone who teased people. But Nicole wasn’t some people. She talked whenever he stopped and ordered him around as if she had some right to. When they’d been kids, she’d always been the boss. Whether she was the king—because queen was too feminine for the tomboy Nicole had been—or the head cowboy, Nicole had been determined to have her way. Back then, he’d been more than happy to let her lead him around. Now...he wasn’t so sure.

He kept his back to her but glanced her way.

“Exactly. If you didn’t practice lifting cows every day and grow to an impractical height, it would be a lot easier to make you do my bidding.” She closed the distance between them and squinted up at him. “If I’d known you were going to get so tall, I would have kept growing.”

He smiled over his shoulder at her. “Like you had a choice in the matter.”