Old Enough To Know Better. Vicki Lewis Thompson

area sure is growing. Is that where you went to school?”

      “Not exactly. Whoops, the light’s about to change. We’ll have to hurry to make it.” She tugged at his hand.

      He resisted. “Maybe I don’t care.”

      “Oh.” She gave him a wary glance. “All right. We can wait until the light changes.”

      He decided the time had come for some gentle persuasion. Taking her other hand, he pulled her closer. “Kasey, why are you hiding from me?”

      She laughed. “Hiding? Why would you say that?”

      “Because every time I try to learn something about you, you find a way to avoid answering.” He released his grip on her hands and cupped her shoulders. What silky skin she had. “I want to get to know you.” He wondered if he was imagining the quick look of panic in her eyes.

      Then it was gone, and she smiled. “In what way?”

      In every way. “You know—the kinds of things you liked to do as a kid, the type of music you like, whether you have a favorite team or hate sports altogether.”

      “I like baseball, and my favorite team is the Diamondbacks.”

      “Me, too.” But out of all the things he’d asked, she’d picked the least personal one to answer. Most everyone in Phoenix liked the home team. Nevertheless, although he really knew nothing more than he had before, he found himself caressing her shoulders and wanting to kiss her. Theoretically, he shouldn’t get involved in a kiss with a woman who held her cards so close to her chest.

      But what a chest it was, and he longed to know how it felt locked against his. “Okay, that’s a start.” He drew her closer. “How about music?”

      “I like everything.”

      “Everything?” He couldn’t take his gaze from her mouth. So tempting. “Even rap?”

      “Some rap is okay.”

      He loved the way her lips rounded as she said the o in okay. “Can you sing?” It was a goofy question, but he was so focused on her mouth it seemed semilogical.

      “Not very well.” She looked up at him. “Can you?”

      “Not very well.” Then temptation overtook him. Forgetting why he didn’t want to do this yet, he leaned down and kissed her.

      And what a mistake that was, because she kissed him back. She might not want to tell him anything about herself, but she was perfectly willing to kiss him as if the end of the world had arrived. Her lips parted, her tongue became involved, and when he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, she settled against him with a soft moan of delight.

      As kisses went, this one topped the charts. He tasted hunger as strong as his own, which filled his mind with all sorts of ideas he wasn’t supposed to be having. In fact, much more of this kiss and they were liable to get themselves arrested. He pulled back with difficulty and looked into her eyes to double-check that he hadn’t misread her level of involvement. Yep—eyes glazed, chest heaving, body quivering. Just like his.

      “I…had a feeling about this,” he said.

      “N-not me.”

      “Boy, I did. Sometimes there’s just…something between two people.” Now there was a profound statement. Sheesh. He rubbed his hands up and down her arms, as if trying to restore the circulation, which was ridiculous. Judging from her reaction, her circulation was currently excellent. Speaking for himself, he could feel the blood whipping through his veins and arteries at warp speed.

      “Something explosive.” She still sounded out of breath.

      “Right. But I believe in getting to know each other first.”

      She cleared her throat. “Okay.”

      “Unfortunately, going to my little brother’s event won’t give us much chance for that. The noise level will be horrific. And I can’t leave too early or he’ll think I didn’t like it.”

      “Then we need to go and stay as long as necessary.”

      “I’m afraid so. But after that…” He didn’t dare put what he was thinking into words. He hoped she was thinking exactly the same thing.

      “After that, we’ll…we’ll see what happens.”

      So she wanted to hedge a little. He didn’t buy her act. He’d been there during the fireworks and he knew she was flammable. “I think we both can guess what will happen, given half a chance.”

      “I thought you wanted to get to know me first.”

      “I do.” He gave her a quick, hard kiss. “And I will.”