Bare It All by Lori Foster Page B

some
interest in me now—”
    “A lot of interest, actually.”
    “I’m not like most women.” And she was glad other women were
different, because she wouldn’t wish her ordeals on anyone. “I can’t just—”
    “Be quiet, Alice.”
    The order got her back up, and pretty much guaranteed she
couldn’t go quiet. “I don’t take orders from anyone!” Here she was, doing her
best to be clear and up front with him, and he—
    “Think of it as a request,” he snarled.
    He dared to sound angry! That annoyed her enough that she
forgot her disjointed explanations on her possible hang-ups. “Maybe I would if
you couched it that way.”
    “ Please be still a moment, Alice.
Let me think.”
    She pressed her lips together, but it wasn’t easy to stay
silent, especially when more than a full minute passed.
    Finally he said, “If we’re laying it all out there, then fine,
I want you. You know that. Every damned time I’m near you I get hard, so it’d be
impossible for you to miss.”
    She was just irked enough to say, “Braggart.” The accusation
came out before she could censor herself.
    “I wasn’t...” He scowled at her, but the scowl lifted into a
crooked smile. “It is noticeable, and you know
it.”
    More subdued—and on the verge of grinning herself—Alice nodded.
“Yes.” Most definitely, very noticeable.
    “It’s insane.” This time when he reached for her hand, she
accepted the gesture. His hand was big and warm, holding hers securely. “There’s
something unique, something very special about you.”
    She would have called it odd.
    “But I’m not a kid who can’t control himself. And now, knowing
you were kidnapped...” His hand tightened. “The last thing I ever want to do is
pressure you, or make you uneasy.”
    There went her grin. Ice expanded inside her, cramping her
stomach. “Please don’t pity me, Reese.” She could take just about anything but
that.
    He made a rude sound. “Trust me, Alice, pity for a woman
doesn’t get me jacked.” He released her to steer around a corner, onto a
quieter, more suburban street. “I see you and I react. Can’t help it. I also
can’t ignore what you told me.”
    “It doesn’t matter.”
    “That you were kidnapped? The hell it doesn’t. I need to know
what happened, if that’s the reason you’re reserved now. If it’s something
else—”
    “I wasn’t raped.” She startled him with that blurted
statement.
    He swallowed hard, nodded. “I’m glad.”
    “But it was ugly, and awful and...” How much should she tell
him? As a cop, he could find out some details on his own, so maybe she could
just expand on that. She lifted a hand toward him and realized she was shaking.
She tucked it back toward her lap. “It was a while before I managed to get
away.”
    “Days?” He worked his jaw. “Weeks?”
    She shook her head, unable to admit the truth. “The important
thing is that I did get freed, and now...I don’t
know. If I’m hesitant, it’s because I haven’t felt like a woman for a very long
time, and I haven’t been that aware of men except to avoid them.” She studied
his strong profile and whispered, “Until you.”
    “And my dog.”
    Humor wormed its way in past her bleak memories. “Yes, and your
dog.”
    “Thank God for Cash.”
    That sentiment nearly brought tears to her eyes. “I’m sure he
feels the same way about you.” After all, Reese had rescued Cash from sure
death. But she didn’t want him to rescue her from her self-imposed isolation and
uncertainty.
    She would rescue herself.
    Putting her shoulders back, she faced him. “I might need a
little time to adjust, but I want to give you whatever you want from me.”
    He accepted that with a nod. “I want everything.”
    Her mouth opened twice before she managed to squeak out, “Oh.
Okay, then.”
    “While we get things back in order, I’m going to stay with
you.” He pulled up to a stop sign. “I want to have sex, Alice, that’s a given,
but I also