And Luke Lawson cast his usual erotic spell over her. He was, without doubt, the sexiest man she’d ever seen. No matter how many times she saw him, his in-your-face sex appeal always struck her. And, just as reliably, her heart jumped and started working overtime, pumping blood to every erogenous zone in her body—and a few zones that were borderline but just wanted to join theparty.
The wonderful sizzle of attraction danced and popped through her blood and along her nerve endings as she gazed at him. It wasn’t just the devilish glint in his green eyes, hinting at intimacies they’d never shared, but so easily could. And it wasn’t just the dimple in his chin, or the disheveled dark brown hair that reminded her of lazy Saturday mornings in bed, or the broad shoulders and muscular chest. It was, she decided, the way all the elements of his appearance wenttogether.
Justright.
His mouth broke into a welcoming smile when he saw her and the package she held out. “Don’t tell me he did itagain?”
He didn’t sound annoyed at the mail mix-up. He sounded as delighted as shefelt.
She tried to keep the grin off her own face as she handed him his package. “Yep. He did itagain.”
She wanted to say something to him, of that she was absolutely certain, but what was it? She gazed at him, feeling the powerful force of his animal magnetism drawing hercloser.
His gaze skimmed her body, which immediately upped the sizzle wattage. “You look great,” he said. “Going someplacespecial?”
Oh, that was it.Her brain clicked back into place. She was going to ask him out. She glanced down at herself with what she hoped was a this-old-thing? expression. “No, nothing special. In fact, I waswondering—”
She got no further. A damp squishy sound interrupted, followed by a loud thunk. She glanced down to see the wet end of the package split and a large paperback book fall, in what seemed like slow motion, to thefloor.
The book—a garish-looking, large-size paperback—landed face-up. The title, in black against a glossy red background, was in letters so huge she could have read it fromspace.
Sex For Total Morons: A How-ToGuide.
She couldn’t stop staring at the thing pulsing its neon message from the floor. A blush rose on her cheeks. It couldn’t be. If Luke sent away for a book like this…well, that would mean… No. It couldn’tbe.
She stared at the title, as though if she concentrated hard enough the words might rearrange themselves intoHome Woodworking for the HandymanorFinancial Planning for Beginners.But even when she blinked, the words didn’t change;Sex For Total Morons: A How-To Guideimprinted itself like an X-ray on the back of hereyelids.
What a disappointment. She didn’t know if she was more embarrassed for Luke, that he needed a how-to manual, or for herself, that she’d discovered his humiliating secret. All she knew was her face was at least as red as the bookcover.
After one of those awful moments that seem to stretch for centuries, she risked an upward glance to find Luke fiddling with the remains of the brown envelope, a duller shade of red coloring his owncheeks.
“I’m sorry,” she blurted. “It was my fault. The…the envelope got wet. I meant to warn you. I was just, um, washing something in the sink and…well my faucet leaks…” Oh, Lord. She was sounding like a total moron herself. She pressed her lips together to stop her ownbabbling.
“I don’t suppose…” He cleared his throat. “I don’t suppose you’d believe me if I told you that book’s for afriend.”
“It was addressed to you,” she reminded him, feeling worse by thesecond.
He sighed. “There isthat.”
Every second the awkwardness between them increased. Disappointment was a lead weight in her stomach. It wasn’t that she’d even planned on going to bed with him, she barely knew the man. But, well, the possibility had always crackled in the air betweenthem.
At least she’d thought so. Now she had a feeling she’d let her own fantasies turn him into God’s gift to women. Something he clearly wasn’t. Not that she minded, of course. He was still a very niceman.
It was just that knowing he needed a how-to book took all the fun out of things. It was like easing open a gorgeously wrapped box of chocolates and finding nothing but Turkish delight—blech. Going to see a movie, and arriving to a power outage. Picking up a book and…Oh, God. Don’t even gothere.
Her discovery wasn’t earth-shattering. Just really, reallydisappointing.
As each uncomfortable second passed, the urge to escape grewstronger.
“Anyway.” She forced a bright smile. “I should get going. I’ve got this, uh…” She flapped her hands around, looking for a graceful exit line, some dreadfully important engagement she had to rush off to, some… “thing.”
The glance he sent her reminded her that she’d just told him she didn’t have anything special on tonight. In fact, she’d said, she was wondering…and had been about to ask him out. Oh, damn. Her addled brain couldn’t think of any graceful way out of the awkwardness. “Well, I’d better begoing.”
“Sure. Thanks for the—” he cleared his throat again “—package.”
“Anytime,” she called over her shoulder, alreadybolting.
LUKE WATCHED HIS SEXY,and seriously flustered, upstairs neighbor run the hundred yard dash to the stairwell, and wondered just how the evening might have ended if the envelope hadn’t broken open at that most inopportunemoment.
