Method Acting: An opposites attract, found family romance (Center Stage Book 2) by Adele Buck (web based ebook reader txt) 📕

“Yeah, more would be…nice,” she murmured, her lips curving in a provocative half-smile.

He took her face in his hands and lowered his head, gently brushing his lips across hers. A jolt of desire ran through him, and he almost groaned. Her hands lifted, spread across his chest. For a moment, he thought she had changed her mind, would push him away.

Her fingers tightened, gripped his shirt and pulled him closer. This time, he did moan as their lips touched, then pressed together firmly. His fingers brushed the soft, slightly bristly texture of the short hair behind her ear, but some sane part of him told him that gripping the back of her head would cause her to flee.

Instead, he slid his hands away from her face, replacing them gently at the small of her back, pressing but not insisting. Her lips parted, mouth welcoming his, as her hips swayed toward him.

Every nerve ending in Alicia buzzed. Colin held her as gently as if she were an egg, and the lightest touches trailed electrical charges crackling through her skin. His tongue swept softly into her mouth, and she met it with her own. He tasted of whiskey and…him. His body was large and solid. She liked that he smelled faintly of soap and starch, no cologne invading her nose and overpowering her senses.

She felt safe, treasured.

It was terrifying. And exhilarating.

The heels that she wore put her just a couple of inches below his height, and Alicia leaned into him, her breasts pressing against the solid mass of his chest. Registering his sharp intake of breath, she smiled against his mouth and felt him chuckle in response. She slid her hands behind his neck as he pressed kisses up one cheekbone to her ear.

“Miss Johnson, you are a very wicked woman,” he whispered. His lips and breath tickled her ear, and a shiver started at the base of her spine, working its way up to her neck.

“Yes?” She let the question hang in the warm night air.

He leaned back, his eyes scanning her face.

“Yes.” His touch ran delicious shivers up her back, then along her arms. Disengaging her hands from behind his neck, he tucked her fingers into the corner of his arm again and unlatched the garden gate, walking her to her front door.

“Key?” he asked.

Well this is going somewhere fast. She produced it from her pocket almost as if he were Prospero and she were his spirit servant, Ariel. He took the key from her fingers, inserted it into the lock, and opened the door.

“I would like to see you again, Alicia,” he said, his eyes large and solemn in the dimness.

“I’d like that too,” she said, not caring about the absurd, breathy way her voice came out.

“Good. Goodnight.” Brushing her lips once more with his own, he turned and walked to the sidewalk, leaving Alicia half appreciative of his restraint, half frustrated with desire.

Chapter 5

Colin’s alarm woke him before dawn as usual, but instead of sitting up immediately as he normally did, he lay on his back for a few long moments, staring at the ceiling. Downstairs, he could hear his coffeemaker spring into life, burrs whirring to automatically grind beans. A fresh pot would be ready and waiting for him by the time he made his way into the kitchen.

Ticking over his schedule in his head, he sat up, putting his feet on the cool hardwood and stretching his arms overhead, his back arching. Standing, he flicked the bedcovers back. It was the day for his cleaning service, so no need to smooth the duvet and tug the sheet straight. Padding into the bathroom, he turned on the shower and considered his reflection while he waited for the water to heat.

He didn’t look like he had spent half the night thinking about a woman instead of sleeping. So at least there was that. His eyes were remarkably clear; he didn’t look a fraction as fatigued as he felt.

Maybe it was the fact that the thought of her: her toughness, her intelligence, the way she kissed—all of it created an tingling in his nerves that overcame whatever fatigue he should feel from the sleep he lost.

Stepping into the shower, Colin lifted his face to the spray and then dipped his head down, letting the hot water flow through his hair and run down his chin. The memory of kissing her, of the way her hips had swayed toward him when he gently caressed the small of her back with his hands. He groaned as arousal stiffened his cock, heat suffusing him as he gripped and stroked himself to climax. He tried to tell himself that a quick wank would get her out of his head, but images of her elusive smile, the curve of her breasts, and that coy drift of fringe across her eyes lingered after he finished.

Enough. He reached for the shampoo and scrubbed his fingers across his scalp. There’s a time and a place for this, he told himself as he toweled off. Focus, he thought ferociously at his own reflection as he shaved.

Fetching the Post from his doorstep in his bathrobe while the sun began to make its appearance for the day, he admitted the truth to himself: the woman had gotten under his skin. He took the paper to the kitchen and poured a cup of coffee, perching on a stool at the high counter to drink it and peruse the headlines. Nothing of particular note for him. The usual partisan political grandstanding, a few local pieces of moderate interest. Turning to the Style section, he saw an article about Romeo and Juliet. He was incensed to see no mention of her performance. What sort of idiot was this so-called journalist, anyway?

He sighed. Yeah. He was in deep.

Sunlight in her face made Alicia screw her eyes shut and throw a forearm across her face to shield herself from the brightness. She