Ooops, She Did It Again
I am a
klutz. Certifiably clumsy, with the
casts and scars to prove it. I’ve fallen
down flights of stairs (numerous times).
I’ve flipped over the handlebars of a bike into a brick wall-face
first. I’ve broken my foot walking out
my front door. I’m regularly sporting a
bruise or two thanks to desks and tables and walls, all that jump out at the
most inopportune moment.
So it was
VERY easy for me to create a heroine who is a klutz. Eden Gillespie, in A SEAL’s Surrender, has a
reputation for clumsiness. But while
she’s somewhat resigned to her reputation, she’s also just a little thrilled
with the fact that she’s most often rescued from her latest mishap by her very
own hero, Cade Sullivan. SEAL, sexy town
golden guy and all-round sweetheart, she’s wanted Cade for her own for, well,
almost ever.
Here’s a peek at the first rescue Cade performs in A SEAL’s
Surrender, resulting in Eden finally getting up the nerve to ask him out for a
thank you drink...
Eden waited until her friend and the cat were safely inside the
car, treats and water dispensed, before she lowered herself to the next branch.
There. She smiled her
relief. Almost down.
It was the smile that did it, she figured.
Because she went from an easy descent to suddenly trapped in the
space of a heartbeat. Like an anchor,
something held tight, so she couldn’t move.
Breathless, Eden twisted to see what was wrong.
And hissed when she saw that the strap of her high heel was caught
on a branch. Eden tugged. The shoe stuck. She tried to slip it off, but the branch was
too rough, scratching painfully against the soft flesh of her instep.
A minute later she added cussing to the mix.
“Haven’t we been here before?” a husky voice asked.
Oh hell. Eden froze. She hadn’t even heard a car. Please, oh please, let him be talking to
someone else.
“That is Eden up there, right?” the voice asked.
Double hell.
She shook her head, hoping the move would shift the curtain of
hair from blocking her view.
Her heart, already pounding like a freight train, sped up. What little was left of her breath escaped
her lungs in a rush.
She twisted her torso, angling herself sideways to make sure the
face matched the voice.
Gorgeous green eyes, a tanned complexion over sculpted cheekbones
and a strong jawline. Wide, full lips
stretched in a smile that bordered on laughter.
And the sexiest man-dimple she’d ever seen.
Her eyes widened and she gave a long, lusty sigh.
Didn’t it just figure? At
least she’d tucked her skirt in so she wasn’t flashing him. Sure, she might have a few dozen fantasies
about sharing her undies with this particular man. But this position wasn’t featured in a single
one.
So she did what she always did when caught in an uncomfortable
situation.
She smiled and made the best of it.
“Hi Cade.”
***
“Do you do these things just to keep me in practice?” Cade asked,
grinning at his favorite perpetual-victim, her silky brown hair a dark curtain
over a face he knew would be sliding into a sheepish smile.
Eden Gillespie always looked sheepish when she had to be
rescued. Something, if he’d ever
considered it, he’d have figured she’d outgrow.
He eyed her legs, smooth and bare all the way to the top of her hot pink
panties thanks to the way her dress was hanging. Her arms were wrapped around the tree limb and
one foot dangled while the other was caught in a snarl of branches and
leaves. Clearly he’d have figured
wrong.
“Consider it my welcome home,” she muttered, blowing a puff of air
so her hair cleared enough that he could see the resigned amusement in her big
brown eyes.
That was one of the things that he’d always admired about
Eden. She could laugh at herself. So many of the girls he’d grown up with, and
the women he’d dated for that matter, took themselves and life way too
seriously. They were so worried about
controlling the impression they made, they didn’t let themselves just live.
Without thinking, his eyes shifted back to Eden’s legs. Long and sleek, they wrapped around that big,
hard branch. He frowned at the scrapes
and faint reddening of her tender flesh, for the first time ever, tempted to
kiss away a boo-boo. All the way up to
her panties. Practical cotton, he noted,
his mouth going dry, but in a fun sassy color.
Since she was face down on the branch, the curve of her butt was perfectly
highlighted in that pink fabric. His
fingers itched to touch, to see if her curves were as firm as they looked.
Whoa. Not cool, he lectured
himself. Lusting after the sweet girl
next door was walking an awfully close line to planning to settle down. Nothing wrong with it in the big picture, but
in his personal rulebook? Totally out of
the question.
So here’s my question
to you... Are you accident prone or naturally graceful?
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