Captivating A Cowboy. Jill Limber

must be the pain medication.

      “You’re doing fine.” His breath feathered the hair behind her ear.

      She shivered.

      “Cold?” He reached around her from behind to slide her right arm into the sleeve. The back of his hand grazed her bare breast.

      He cleared his throat. “You’ll be covered up in just a minute.”

      She was anything but cold. He brought the shirt behind her back and gently eased the fabric over her stiff elbow.

      “Okay, turn around.” Hands on her shoulders again, he turned her toward him.

      She looked up into his face as he did up her buttons and had the oddest sensation of being a desirable woman and a cared-for child all in the same moment.

      He eased her into the sling and strapped her up, then stepped back. “There. All set.” He was back to his matter-of-fact tone again.

      She kicked off her shoes. Julie wanted to hear the husky desire in his voice she’d heard before.

      A little devil in her made her say, “Help me with my jeans?” Besides, she thought, how was she going to get the snug denim off without help?

      She could see beads of sweat on his upper lip just before he leaned over and fumbled under her nightshirt for the fastener on her pants. His position gave her a great view of his hair, thick, dark and slightly wavy.

      He eased the zipper down, hooked his thumbs into the waistband and slid the denim over her hips. She could feel the trail of heat down her body left by the touch of his hands.

      He backed up and heaved a sigh as she stepped out of her pants.

      “Anything else?” He rubbed the heel of his hand over his chest as if he was in pain.

      Julie looked down at her bare toes, hiding a smile. Just one more thing before she let him off the hook. “Ah, my, ah…panties.”

      She glanced up at him and swore she saw his eyes cross for an instant. It was all she could do not to smirk.

      “Sure.” His voice was gruff. He reached up and hooked his work-roughened fingers over the elastic and slid the satin down her legs.

      Satisfied he had been punished enough for being so controlling, she kicked the panties over with her jeans. “Thanks.”

      He skirted around her as if she was on fire and pulled the covers down on the bed. “Get in. I’ll go get you a glass of water.”

      He pulled her prescription of pain pills out of his shirt pocket and smacked the bottle down on the bedside table before he left the room.

      Awkwardly Julie scooted under the covers. She lay back against the pillows and thought about what she’d just done. It was petty to harass Tony like that, but people who thought they knew best annoyed her. Plus, she was so angry at herself for fouling up all her summer plans she’d taken out her anger on him.

      She supposed she needed to apologize, but she didn’t know how to do that without embarrassing both of them.

      One more thing she would have to deal with in the morning, she thought as her eyes slid closed.

      Tony came back with a glass of water and found Julie had fallen asleep. He pulled the covers up to her shoulders, turned out the overhead light and switched on a small lamp on the dresser across the room.

      He wasn’t going to wake her up to give her a pill to make her sleep.

      He didn’t want her awake.

      Getting her undressed had been harder than most of the missions he’d been on for the Navy.

      He picked up the scattered ledgers and righted the chair. Then he draped her jeans and shirt over the chair, along with the blue bra and matching panties. Her clothes were still warm and smelled like her. With a groan he settled into an overstuffed chair and watched her sleep. She looked so young and innocent lying there.

      Hah, he thought. About as innocent as Eve when she teamed up with the serpent in the Garden of Eden.

      And he wanted a bite of the apple.

      The woman knew just what caliber ammunition she carried. She thought it was safe to mess with his head because she’d been injured.

      She was right.

      There was time, and Tony was a patient man. She needed him because she wouldn’t be able to work on this place for weeks. By the time he had the house in shape and Julie had mended, he planned to show her what happened when you played with fire.

      Tony dozed off with a smile on his face.