Harlequin - Jennifer Greene by Hot Touch (read full novel txt) 📕

He remembered that soft, wide mouth. Actually, he remembered every detail of her features. It wasn’t that he wanted to remember her, but she was one of those rare women who no guy could possibly forget.

God knew why. She was no angel. That was for damn sure.

Even if her eyes and posture didn’t indicate excess attitude, she was wearing a red top again today—a Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

red that screamed next to all that thick red hair. She must have bought the jeans in the boys section, because they bagged at the knees and drooped on her nonexistent butt. Then there were the boots—which were beyond-belief girl shoes and not real boots at all—three striped colors and a high heel. She’d kill herself if she walked far in them.

He caught all of her in a glance. One glance—that no amount of dizziness seemed to blur.

Obviously, finding him in the bathroom doorway had stalled her in midsprint. She’d apparently been heading for the living room, where she’d found him last time. Even if she’d guessed the location of the bathroom, she wouldn’t necessarily expect to find anyone standing there, naked as a jaybird.

Her gaze met his, then dropped below his waist, then shot right back up to his eyes faster than lightning.

“Aw, damn. Aw, shoot. Aw, beans,” Bear said behind him. “Phoebe, Fox, I’m sorry. Fox, I should have told you I was bringing Phoebe—I never heard the shower, just assumed you were in the living room—”

Fox took his own sweet time, wrapping the towel around his waist. Hell, she’d already seen the main event, and there was no way to hide all the bites and gouges and scars with one lone towel anyway.

Besides which, if he tried moving too fast he’d likely end up falling on his nose. “I’ll be darned. Did I forget calling for a physical therapist?”

“Now, Fox, you know I brought her. And I told you before, she’s not like the other physical therapists you tried. She’s more a masseuse.”

“Oh, yeah, now I remember that masseuse thing.” Fox met her eyes square. “It’s okay then, you can go home. That’s the one part on my body that I know is still working just fine.”

She sighed, but instead of looking insulted—as he’d hoped—she seemed to look amused. “Sex’d probably be the best thing for you, but you’re out of luck, I’ve had no training in that. For the record, I do have a PT license from Duke. And as far as body work, I’m licensed in Deep Tissue, Swedish, Shiatsu, Rolfing, Reflexology, PNF, and NautThai—”

“PNF?”

“Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation—”

“Forget it. Let’s go back to why you’ve had no training in sex—”

“You’re sure feeling peppier today,” she announced, which lifted his spirits like nothing else had in ages.

The thing was—if he could fool her, he could fool his brothers. Down the pike, he might even be able to fool himself. In the meantime, she’d itched his curiosity. “Why in hell would you throw out a degree from Duke in physical therapy to do massage work?”

“So I can get my hands on naked men. Why else?”

He saw his brother making frantic hand-motion signs behind her back—Ben was acting increasingly weird. But Fergus couldn’t take his eyes off her.

It wasn’t that she appealed to him exactly. She couldn’t, when no woman was yanking his chain these Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

days—and the kind of woman who always appealed to him had boobs and a butt. She had neither, but damn. She was just so…zesty. Who’d have guessed she’d laugh when he tried to insult her?

Obviously, he had to try harder to annoy her.

“I’d think you could get your hands on a lot of naked men without having to bother guys who aren’t interested.”

“You’re so right. Getting men naked is amazingly easy. On the other hand, easy guys never turned me on. I like a challenge.”

“A challenge to you is barreling into a guy’s house who never asked you?”

She should have bristled for that one at least. Defended herself. Fought back. Instead she just said, “Not usually. But I’m making an exception because you’re so darn adorable that I’d probably break all the rules to get my hands on you. What can I say? You really ring my chimes, cutie.”

That was such an outright fib that she darn near rendered him speechless. His eyes narrowed. Nobody, but nobody, rendered him speechless. “You’re so full of bologna, I can’t believe it.”

“What makes you think I’m full of bologna?”

“Because you’re not remotely promiscuous.” God knew how such a personal comment flew out of his mouth, except it somehow bugged him, her talking about all those naked men. In spite of that luscious mouth and her wearing those absurdly sexy high boots, she just didn’t come across to him as easy—not any kind of easy. Beneath that whole frisky act, there was just something vulnerable about her.

Once the comment came out of his mouth, though, he had no chance to take it back. Her hands immediately formed small fists and arched on her hips. “How do you know I’m not promiscuous?”

“All right, all right, of course I don’tknow it. I don’t know you from Adam. But twenty bucks on the table says you’ve been celibate for the last year.”There. It was gone faster than a flash, but for that quarter of a millisecond he caught something in her eyes. Never mind the big talk and the long, gorgeous hair and all that sensuality reeking from her. Shehad been celibate.

“For all you know,” she said, “I’m happily married and have been having sex three times a day with my darling.”

“Yeah? So, are you married?”

She rolled her eyes with exasperation. “No, I’m not married—but for all you know I sleep with ten men a week—not that it matters either way. How on earth did we wander so far from the point? And the point, Fox, is whether you would or wouldn’t like another head rub. You’ve