Part 8 (2/2)
”This is crazy,” she breathed, embraced by both man and the s.e.xual hum of their bodies. His scent was rich and s.e.xual.
”Beyond crazy,” he agreed as he looked at her through narrowed eyes inked by dark lashes. There was a curious hunger and heat in his gaze. He appeared about to kiss her.
His kiss came on an inland clap of thunder. Driving his hands into her hair, he drew her up on tiptoe for a kiss that turned as wild as the elements. He tasted of desire and promised satisfaction.
They kissed until the storm pa.s.sed. Until the Florida sun broke through the clouds and the hiss of steam drying on the brick sidewalks turned the petting zoo into a sauna.
It was Houdini's bleat that reset reality.
Slipping his hands past her wet and wildly curling hair, Mike Kraft stroked the vulnerable length of her neck, the fine line of her jaw. He was acutely aware of how smal she seemed against his big body. Lady was tiny.
Her white ”Norah's Arc” T-s.h.i.+rt clung to her teacup b.r.e.a.s.t.s, the cotton transparent and tel ing as her nipples poked against the satin cups and into his ribs. The dip at her navel was visible as wel .
Soaking wet, her jeans stretched and slipped, riding low on her hips. Narrow, fragile hips, a hand-span wide.
Ever so slowly he released her, this woman who both aggravated and aroused him. Her face glistened, and her blue eyes were wide, her expression dazed. A blush heated her cheeks, as much from embarra.s.sment as from his whisker burn.
She backed away from him, only to land ankle-deep in a puddle. Her sneakers got a second soaking as water crested the shoe laces. She looked down at her feet.
”Some storm.”
Mike glanced to Houdini. ”You've got one wet goat.”
A goat now shaking off like a dog.
Norah col ected herself. ”I need to towel him down.” She moved toward the smal barn where Hermes now stuck her head out into the suns.h.i.+ne.
Mike watched as Norah retrieved two brown towels. She tossed him one, then moved to pat down the little buck.
Houdini al owed her several swipes before he grabbed one end and started chewing on the border. Norah lightly tapped him on the nose, but he ignored her.
Within seconds it became a tug-of-war between the zookeeper and her goat. ”Give me the towel.” Norah's gentle order fel on deaf goat ears.
Houdini held fast. His ears flickered and his tail twitched.
He bared more teeth as Norah dropped to her knees. The towel went taunt and ripping rent the air.
”Need help?” Mike asked as he slung the towel around his neck. ”Maybe if you let go, Houdini would, too.”
Norah rol ed her eyes at him. The second her gaze left the goat, Houdini released the towel. Caught off guard, she tumbled backward and straight into the mud.
The imprint of her bottom remained long after Mike offered his hand and tugged Norah to her feet. She felt soggy and squishy and in need of a shower.
”Houdini won,” Mike said as the pygmy goat s.n.a.t.c.hed the mud-caked towel and took off for the barn with his prize.
”I'm a good loser where he's concerned,” she said, a smile in her voice. ”I purchased Houdini after two petting zoos had returned him to a local goat farm. He'd been cal ed incorrigible and a menace. He bores easily, and is always on the lookout for a new adventure. He's an escape artist. Here at the Arc he gets testy, but he's also quite sweet.”
Mike had yet to see the sweet side of the goat.
Norah, on the other hand, had left him curious. They'd argued for weeks, neither giving ground. Yet amid the wind and rain, they'd come together and kissed until their lips went numb. She tasted of fresh rain and wil ing woman.
The lady could kiss.
She'd twisted him tight.
He took her in. Her hair was electric and her eyelashes spiked. Goose b.u.mps rose on her arms. Her T-s.h.i.+rt and jeans stuck to her skin. Mud caked her ankles.
”You're soaked to the bone,” he told her. ”You need to change clothes.” And so did he. Yet he dragged his feet in leaving.
He had the unsettling urge to fol ow Norah Archer home, to strip her down, then work her up until they lay sated and smiling at the ceiling.
He shook his head. He didn't do spontaneous.
His life was organized to the second most days.
Yet Norah proved a distraction. She played hel with his self-control. He'd put his life on hold to build a boulder mountain for Houdini and then stood in the middle of a goat pen exploring the zookeeper's mouth.
Mike's body buzzed.
His blood hummed.
He had Norah on the brain.
Yet dedication to his job had him hitting the road, when he'd rather spend an afternoon getting to know both her and her body better.
”Work cal s,” he final y said.
”For me, too,” she reluctantly agreed. ”Thanks for the boulders.”
”The mountain should keep Houdini occupied and off my job site.”
”We can only hope so.”
CHAPTER TWO.
”Boss, you need to see this.” Mike Kraft's foreman motioned him to the sidewalk. The man pointed to the front entrance to the main building. ”Vandalism.”
Destruction on a job site wasn't new nor was it pleasant.
It did, however, prove d.a.m.n costly. Over the years, Mike had faced graffiti, broken gla.s.s, and torn up shrubbery.
What surprised him most was the vandals had struck at midday.
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