Holding The Cards by Joey W. Hill Page B

capable of developing the cynical skepticism she had certainly earned the right to have. She should be pulling out the armor that this moment of withdrawal seemed to call for.
    She looked up into Josh's eyes and was startled to see a vulnerability that did not match the bitterness of his words. That fragility reminded her of a child, waiting with his hands down for the next blow, believing somehow in the miracle that the next touch from a clenched fist would be a caress.
    He dropped to one knee in front of her, covering her twisting fingers with one callused palm. "You weren't wrong," he said. "I'm sorry. Forgive me."
    She suspected they both had been slogging through a dumpsite of emotions for so long they were Page 38

    Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    unbalanced to find they had stepped into a fragrant garden. They should probably just turn and retreat, not drag the stench and offal clinging to them into it. However, like all lost souls, they were desperate for the sunshine and earth that could be found in fertile ground.
    How could she not forgive him? His warm skin over her knuckles was making her itch to touch. And he made it worse, the way his gaze lingered, hungered, but he made no further attempt to touch her. She understood the primitive nature of what lay behind his eyes.
    "Hold still," she said softly, wanting to test it. "Put your hands at your sides."
    Josh studied her, blinked once, that sensual mouth twitching at one corner. He took his hands from hers, lowering them to his sides as he knelt before her.
    Lauren reached out and slid her knuckles along the curve of his neck, trailed her fingertips in the hair that lay on his shoulder. A breath shuddered out of her at the adrenaline that surged through her veins. Her palm flattened against his pectoral, just over his heart. She raised her gaze from avid appreciation of the line of his ribcage and flat abdomen, to the stillness of his face, the lion rising in his eyes. It was masculine power that could overwhelm her, but for now was held in check. She leaned forward, breathing along his jawline. She placed a gentle kiss, just a soft brush of lips, against the corner of his mouth. "Forgiven," she murmured.
    She sat back, taking her touch away, and looked at him. A rueful expression twisted his firm mouth and he made to rise.
    "No." She took his hand.
    "You're killing me," he muttered, and she nodded, simple unrepentant acknowledgement of her power over him.
    "Marcus said it was my card. Do you trust me?"
    "How could I not? You're like…" he lost the train of thought as he stared into her steady blue eyes, and she loved him for it. "It's your card," he murmured. "I'll do whatever you want me to do." And the bleakness was back in his face.
    "Josh, what did she do to you?" she said softly.
    A sigh escaped his lips, just a breath, and she saw his eyes close. He bent forward on his one knee, laid his cheek alongside her calf, and brushed a kiss just above her ankle. Then, his back curving, he went lower, to the insole, his lips parting so he nipped some of her skin in the moist caress. He stayed there, without kissing her further, his jaw pressed against her leg.
    Lauren lowered her hand and stroked his hair, somehow understanding that he would not rise until she bade him do so. Her eyes moved along the bare ridge of his spine, the way his hair beneath her fingers fell along his shoulders and forward, curtaining his profile from her.
    "Lauren." It was a whisper. "I can't tell you —"
    "Hush."

    Page 39

    Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

    * * * * *
Josh wasn't sure if she said it in reaction to his statement or as an answer to it. But he quieted, compelled by a strange yearning to let her hold the reins. It created a nervous anticipation in him that intensified how much he wanted her. If she had thrown open the gates to him, he might have leaped upon her, filled his hands and