12 Borrowing Trouble by Becky McGraw Page B

like sugar cookies?”  Electricity zipped down her spine when his lips touched down briefly on a spot right behind her ear.  Carrie shivered and he laughed.
    “Or do you just wear the dough behind your ear to teas e me, because you know I have a weakness for sugar cookies?”  After a final flick of his hot, wet tongue, he moved away.  Cool air hit the wet imprint left by his mouth, and Carrie shivered.  Her nails curled into her palms, and she sucked in a breath when they scraped her burn.  The spatula clattered to the stove, and she sucked the fleshy pad at the side of her palm into her mouth. 
    Dylan grabbed her hand to inspect it.  “Did you burn yourself?” he asked with concern.  “We need to take you to the med shack and get Terri to bandage it.  I was headed out there when I heard the smoke alarm, but I didn’t see her out there.”
    “It’s fine,” Carrie said tugging her hand away.  He didn’t let it go.  Instead, he brought it to his mouth and kissed it slowly as he held her gaze.  Carrie licked her lips, tasting the sugar cookies she had to taste test before she put them in the oven.  “Um, I, ah…” she stammered, at a loss for words as she stared at the blatant desire in his eyes.
    “Do you ride?” he asked suddenly.
    H er dazed mind spun trying to process the words.  “Since I could walk,” Carrie replied once she wrapped her mind around what he’d asked.
    “I have a few days off for my arm to heal.  Will you go riding with me this afternoon?   You need to relax a little,” he said with a little smile.
    Carrie didn’t know how spending time with this cowboy would lend itself to relaxation.  Every time she got within three feet of him, she was wound tighter than she had been in years.  Being alone with him wouldn’t help her put distance between them.  But her mouth opened, and “Yes,” fell out before she could stop it. 
    She only had two days left here, and she couldn’t resist the opportunity to feel like a desirable woman once more.  That’s how he made her feel.  Something she hadn’t felt in three years , and wasn’t likely to feel again for a long time after she left this ranch.  Dylan made her forget her grief, forget her problems.  Carrie knew agreeing to spend time with him was just avoidance.  Her problems would still be there when she went back to her parents’ ranch.  Right now though, he would help her forget for an afternoon.
    “Come out to the barn around two, and I’ll have the horses saddled.”
    “I can help,” she offered, and her gaze fell to his shoulder.  “You’re hurt.  You shouldn’t be saddling anything.  Are you sure you’re okay to ride?”
    He laughed and his smile broadened.  “I could ride with one arm tied behind my back.”
    “I’ll ride with you, if you let me saddle the horses then,” she propositioned.
    “Deal,” he replied and his deep voice vibrated along her nerve endings.  When he leaned toward her, Carrie held her breath.  His lips touched hers, lingered for a second, then with a playful little nip to her lower lip, he stood back up and smiled.  “You taste like sugar cookies.”
    “That ’s what the lumps of coal in the trash were,” she replied with an embarrassed laugh.
    “Give me some of those beautiful biscuits, and a few of those cupcakes to take back to the bunkhouse with me.” Dylan eyed them over her shoulder.  “I’ll make some gravy to go with the biscuits for breakfast.”  His tongue made a circuit around his lips, and her eyes were dragged around with it.  Heat settled between her legs, and her lips sizzled. 
    She would give him the whole damned pan if he kissed her again.  But he didn’t.  He just stood there staring.  Waiting.  For her to do something.  Oh, yeah, ice the cupcakes and wrap up biscuits for him.  Heat shot up to her cheeks, and Carrie walked to the refrigerator to get the bowl of icing.  She iced the cupcakes while he leaned against the counter