FOUR

Her arm fell to her side and the card fluttered to the ground. “What?”

Jon crouched before her and picked up the card tucking it into his back pocket. She glanced down at the crown of his head and forced her lungs to work. No way Bella, do not go there. Her toes had other plans though, and curled inside the warmth of her boots.

He stood up and the sleeve of his coat brushed her gloved hand leaving her mouth dry. She tipped her head up and met his heavy lidded eyes. Her entire body flushed hot as his tongue swiped his bottom lip.

She cleared her throat and heard herself say. “So, what’s the play?” No, wait! She tried to talk to her inner censor, but it was suspiciously in the off position.

He grinned. “The Nativity, what else?”

She glanced at the big diesel truck that was slowly loading both of their cars up along the flatbed, then back at Jon and the sleek black truck that was parked and waiting. Deciding with the off censor switch she smiled up at him. “Why the hell not?”

Jon grinned. He had a feeling he’d catch hell from Dot, but there was no way he was going to leave her stranded with Jeff. You could dump her in a cab. Shut up. Jon rounded the truck and opened the door for her. She reached for the Oh-my-God handle, but was still a few inches away from reaching it. “In you go,” he said and lifted her easily.

Bella cursed the dead censor as Jon’s hands burned on her hips. She swung her legs in and flipped her coat over her thighs even though part of her wanted to hold her legs wide open and pray some of the cold weather would put a little more sense back into her stupid self.

She waited as he walked over to Jeff and talked with him for a few minutes. She took the minute to get herself and her hormones under control. She wasn’t the type to whimper over a famous person. In fact, she was pretty sure that should have made him much easier to resist. She knew about fame, in her limited scope as a published author, and man was she a pain in the ass to deal with. But to have two of them in a—Jesus, Bella shut it off. He was just being a nice man. He didn’t want to see her stranded with a stranger.

She pushed back her rat’s nest of curls and contemplated pushing the lot of it under her hat. She flipped down the visor and started tucking, but rethought that pretty quickly. She looked like a white girl playing Rastafarian.

Jon opened the door and a mass of gold curls, liberally sprinkled with ice and rain explode from her hat. He wondered if it would be coarse or soft when it was scattered across his chest. He flipped his coat over his very curious cock. He hadn’t been a saint since his divorce, but he didn’t usually have to tell his dick to behave either. “A lot of hair there, darlin’,” he said, forcing a little lightness into his voice he didn’t feel

Bella pulled down her hat again pushing the stretchy band up until she could see him. His face was even more angular and stunning in the dim light of the dark leather of the truck cab. Flicking her cursed curls around her ears and behind her shoulders, she gave him a toothy smile. “Good thing it’s only kids I’m going to see.”

“A goodly amount of single dads will be there,” he said and tucked the camera bag next to her.

“I’ve already got one of those,” she said absently.

He laughed, “You certainly do.”

Bella blushed as red as her coat. “Holy Jeeze. I wish I could control my mouth today.”

Jon wrapped his fingers around the steering wheel and hoped that wasn’t true. He liked her smart mouth. He put the truck into drive and headed to the school.

Ten minutes later they finally found a spot at the edge of the school parking lot. “Careful, it’s a sheet of ice,” Jon called out as he stepped out. It was slow going, but the managed to make it across more than half of the lot before Bella’s startled, “Eep!” had him turning around. Her legs were wide open as she tried to stop the skid.

Jon slid his way back to her, not quite able to keep the laughter out of his voice. “You okay?”

Her gloved hand clutched at his arm and just like that, they went down like a house of cards. Flapping red wool shuffled into grey as they landed in a heap. Bella’s thigh slid between his as she straddled his hip. “Oh shit,” she gasped and tried to push up, her fingers sliding against his surprisingly muscular chest until he was far too close.

Jon knew she was trying to save a little dignity, but it was too late for that, especially when her warm self was snugged up along his side. He held her still and was delighted to see that it was curves beneath that jacket. A warm, cinnamon spicy female with soft full breasts crushed into his chest. And like a game of Twister they finally stopped, tangled completely. “I’ve been trying to keep my hands off you for the last twenty minutes, you just had to say so.” Bella went silent, then burst into laughter. Their eyes met and her rich, mahogany brown were so close that he couldn’t help himself. He leaned in.