again, staying that way long enough to suggest she was treading in unsafe territory. But really what fun was there in playing it safe?
It wasn’t fun she was after today, Lissa scolded herself. Today, and probably tomorrow and the next day too, her goal was to relax him enough around her to allow them to have a friendly conversation. Once he saw sex wasn’t the only thing on her mind, she would convince him she was fine with his putting work first for the time being…and then she would get him naked.
But no naked time today.
Ruefully, she dragged her gaze away from his honed torso, down the rungs of the ladder, to the safety of the grass. “I’m leaving now.”
“Sure you aren’t feeling too distracted to drive?”
She darted a look back up at him. He was smiling, in amusement, or relief she was going? Uncertain, she attempted an innocent smile. “What would I have to be distracted about?”
He looked at her a few seconds, just looked with his deep blue eyes so intense she wanted to wriggle out of her work clothes and into his arms. Without responding, Thad turned and bent down to pull at a strip of shingles near the roof’s edge. Only, he had responded, Lissa realized, by placing his lusciously tight ass in her face and giving her a whole new distraction.
Since his back was turned, she allowed a few seconds of ogling and then hurried around to the front of the house. She was almost to her car when Nash called from behind her, “Wait up, Liss.”
Ignoring him sounded like an incredibly good idea. But since he probably wanted to ask her a question about the house, she couldn’t do it. She turned back to find herself inches away from another naked, sweaty, beautifully sculpted chest.
Nash had been on the other side of the roof the last while, taking down a supply list. Obviously, no matter what a guy was doing, being surrounded by dark shingles on a sunny, humid day required going topless.
He hit her with a smile that deepened the cleft in his chin and oozed bad-boy charisma. “If there’s something going on with you and Sam, you have no chance of getting lucky elsewhere.”
Hard bodied. Cocky. Undoubtedly naughty. A week ago she would have assured him Sam was a friend and then demanded he pin her up against her car and do all kinds of wicked things. Now, all she could think was that he wasn’t Thad. “If that’s your attempt at a come-on, it sucks.”
Good humor flashed in Nash’s eyes with his laughter. “I don’t hit on the object of my friend’s lust, but if I did, I guarantee it wouldn’t suck.” He sobered to reveal, “Thad thinks there’s something going on between you and Sam and until he learns otherwise he’s not going to be putting his hands back on your merchandise, if you catch my drift.”
Thad had told his partners about their sleeping together? It didn’t seem likely given he made her swear not to mention it as a condition of Loose Screws taking on her roof job. But then, how else would Nash know about them? And was he suggesting Thad was only keeping his hands off her because of Sam?
Lissa’s body hummed with hope. “What do you know?”
“Nothing. And if you let on to Thad I suggested to the contrary, I’ll deny it. All that should matter to you is he’s a nice guy who could use a good woman in his life. A good, single woman.”
“I’m single, but I can’t make any promises about being good.” She bit her tongue over the words, cursing Shameless Liss for slipping out with her excitement. But woohoo! There was a chance for naked time with Thad today yet.
Nash’s amused smile returned. “I can see why he likes you. He is a nice guy, but he’s also got a wild streak. He would never say it to your face, but he likes his women with spunk. The kind who aren’t afraid to take charge and stake their claim.”
“I need to go.” Not around to the other side of the house to yank Thad off her roof and onto her lap either. Later, hopefully, she would get him to relent to his lust so they could get naked and be the center of each other’s attention for the rest of the day—better yet, year. First, she had to be a good girl and somehow manage to turn off her overeager hormones long enough to meet with her supplier.
“Thanks for the insight.” Nash nodded in reply, and she walked the last few feet to her car. Opening the driver’s door, she turned back. “Watch yourself around Sammy. He’s not my lover, but he is gay and has a thing for pinching hot guys on the ass.”
Tammy Anderson, Lissa’s custom furnishings supplier, opened her office door to greet her with a friendly smile. For a woman in her mid-fifties, she didn’t look a day over forty. Tammy confessed to having bodywork done, to go along with her dyed blond hair, though there wasn’t a single mark on the visible portions of her body. In a silk chartreuse scoopneck top and silver crop pants, plenty of skin and the majority of her ample breasts showed.
Tammy settled into her chair behind an L-shaped desk. Catalogs, swatches, and paperwork were organized on the long side of the desk, off to her left, and a slim silver laptop sat in front of her. “I was wondering if you were going to make it in today.”
Lissa glanced at her watch as she took a seat across the desk. “It’s one after eleven. Wasn’t our meeting at eleven?”
“Yeah. But in the six years we’ve worked together, you’ve never arrived less than ten minutes early.”
Wow. She was right. Arrival time hadn’t even crossed Lissa’s mind during the short trip into Crichton. All she could think about was Thad and how she was going to seduce him once she got back home. “My house is being re-roofed. I took the time to make sure the guys didn’t need anything before I left.”
Tammy narrowed her light blue eyes, giving Lissa a skeptical once-over. “Something’s not right here, Liss. You have construction men slaving away on your roof and we’re meeting in my office? Tell me these guys are ugly.”
“They’re ugly.”
Tammy gave a dry laugh. “I bet they are.”
“They are.” Lissa smiled impishly. “Unless you’re into sweaty muscles, tight asses, and cocky grins.” Nash’s grin was cocky anyway. Thad’s grin only turned that way when she managed to make him forget he was a nice guy.
If not for this meeting, she could have him grinning that way right now. Have her hands running all over his nude, sweaty body. Her mouth wrapped around his cock. Her tongue licking from base to tip and back again.
Her eyelids fluttered shut as she imagined the hot, silky, masculine taste of his seed and then him tasting her in return. Sliding his tongue in and out of her pussy while he taunted her clit with his fingers.
“Paging Lissa. Is Lissa Malone still in this office?” Tammy’s voice piped into her steamy thoughts, opening Lissa’s eyes.
Tammy smiled amusedly. “We need to reach a decision by noon if you want this order to go in today.”
Lissa looked down to discover cabinetry and room accessory catalogs on the desk in front of her. When had they gotten there? “Sorry. I’m distracted.”
“You’ve got hot roofers at home. Who could blame you?”
Really, who could blame her for not being able to concentrate after what Nash revealed about Thad? The news was simply too incredible for Shameless Liss to cast aside. And Shameless Liss was exactly what Thad was going to get.
In approximately ten minutes.
Tingling with excited energy, Lissa pushed back her chair and picked up an armful of catalogs. “One day isn’t going to make any difference on this project. Can I take these home to go over tonight and e-mail you the order in the morning?”
“Only if you promise to attach pictures of your roof under construction. You know, when the half-naked studs are on it, with their tight asses bent over and their beefy arms pounding away.”
“You got it.” Though it wasn’t visions of Thad’s