High Noon

fingers undid her shirt, unhooked her bra. The glorious sensation that rolled through her and escaped on a purring moan.
    She went wet and needy, arching to his hands and his mouth, quivering, quivering when he tugged at the button of her waistband.
    Here, standing right here, she wanted to be taken without thought, without care, without boundaries. Desperate, she reached for him. And the shock of pain in her shoulder had her crying out.
    He jerked back as if she’d punched him. “Christ. Christ.”
    “It’s all right. I moved wrong, that’s all. Don’t—”
    But he held up a hand, turned away. He paced up, he paced down. Stopped and took a long, long gulp of his warming beer.
    “You’re hurt. You’re still hurt. Jesus.” And, setting the beer down again, he scrubbed his hands over his face.
    “It’s not that bad. Really.”
    “You’re still hurt. And I’m not going to bang you against the post like…Okay, okay, another minute here.”
    He paced up and down again. “You pissed me off. No real excuse but I’m taking it.”
    “No excuses necessary as it was obviously mutual.”
    “Regardless. Anyway, that should answer the question, which I’m still trying to exactly remember as all the blood’s drained out of my head. The second had to do with…” He’d turned to face her again, and just stared.
    She stood, leaning back against the post, shirt open, hair tumbled, cheeks flushed.
    “Wow. Seriously. Hold on,” he said when she glanced down, then began to button up. “Would you not do that for just another minute. Maybe two? Since I’m not allowed to touch, it seems only fair I be able to look. You’ve got this really terrific body. It’s all just…just exactly right. And the way you’re standing there, and this light, and…Okay, yeah, you better close up shop there. That’s about all I can handle.”
    “You’re a strange man, Duncan.”
    “I’ve heard that. I want you, and it’s keeping me up at night. I don’t mind that so much, even though I like to sleep. But some things rate insomnia. You’re one of them.”
    “Thank you. I think.”
    “But to get back to the rest. I think the point’s just been made that I don’t need to use Essie to get to you. And you know what? You should think more of her than that. More of me, too, and more of yourself.”
    “You’re right. You’re absolutely right, and I’m absolutely wrong. I hate that. My excuse, since we’re using them, is I love her so much.”
    “I get that. You’re lucky to have her.”
    Phoebe raked a hand through her hair. He meant that, exactly that, she realized. He saw her mother, and saw the value of the woman she was.
    “I know it. People, a lot of people, look at the situation and think she’s some sort of burden. You don’t. And I’m sorry for the way I handled this.”
    “I would be, too, except I got my hands on your breasts.” She laughed. “Want that beer now?”
    “Better not, I’m driving. Duncan, please don’t take this the wrong way. I see the bars—you tended bar. And I could see if you bought a cab company, or a car service or some such thing. Maybe you have, I don’t know, and that’s part of it. I don’t know how you do this sort of thing. And I don’t know what you could possibly know about running a retail craft boutique.”
    “We’ll find out, plus I wouldn’t actually be running it. I’ve got somebody in mind for that. And you’re thinking, hell, he can afford to lose a couple hundred thousand here or there.”
    “No, actually, I was thinking you’ll probably find a way to make it work. I’m thinking I was scared because I came home to find my mother happy, bubbling with it.”
    “She was happy when she started with Reuben.”
    Now Phoebe pressed her fingers to her eyes. “Obviously I didn’t connect those dots for myself before I came haring out here and laid into you.”
    “Hair trigger,” he said, without heat.
    “About some things, obviously. Now that I’ve connected those dots—or you have for me—I’m thinking if you hadn’t had this idea I can’t understand, exactly, my mother wouldn’t have a chance to try something exciting.”
    “I wouldn’t have made the offer if I didn’t believe I could sell the sheer hell out of her work.”
    “Which, if I hadn’t flown off, I’d have come around to on my own rather than driving out here to jump all over you. Which I don’t regret because you got to get your hands on my breasts.”
    He smiled slowly.