Stuck On You (28 page)

“The last time we talked, it ended badly.”

“Now we know which subjects to stay away from.”

“Yeah, anything to do with either of our private lives.”

“I think it was your ex-husband and my desire to protect you from him that got us crossways with each other.”

Cara glanced sideways at him. He was looking at her. Their eyes met. The strangest emotions coursed through her. Somehow, it didn’t sound so bad when he said it like that. Who didn’t want a knight in shining armor? She was afraid for Joe, but he sounded so confident that he could protect her, and himself, she almost believed it. Recognizing the danger in that, she tore her eyes away from his.

“We’re making progress. You didn’t rip into me that time.” A grin came through in his voice.

“It doesn’t do any good to try talking sense into you.” She wanted to sound serious, but her heart was no longer in it. She forced her mind back to the task at hand, considering the likelihood that she’d ever be able to
zip
off this ledge. What was the worst that could happen? The cable could break, and she’d plummet thirty feet to the ground. End all of her problems. More likely, it would be a gradual descent, with the jump from the platform the only really exciting part. She could do this.

“We’ve got unfinished business, you know. We might as well take care of it while we’re sitting here.”

“What’s that?”

“I almost had you talked into dinner that night we met.”

“You weren’t even close.”

“I think you were as intrigued with the idea as I was.” He grinned. “I also think we stood a good chance of ending the evening with a kiss.”

“That’s a stretch. You’re making the same mistake you made that night. Going from confident to arrogant in about two seconds flat. There was no chance in hell you were going to get a kiss.” Cara smiled at his wounded look.

“Will my chances ever improve?” His eyes met hers again.

She’d forgotten what a good-looking guy he was. The same mesmerizing pull she’d experienced the night she met him overcame her better judgment now. For a moment she wondered what it would feel like, his lips on hers, his arms holding her close, while they lost themselves in each other.

Cara drew herself up short. Was she completely crazy? She was barely free from one dangerous man. Why would she get involved with another? There was an attraction between them she couldn’t deny, but nothing could ever come of it.

“Maybe.” The word slipped out, almost on its own.

Copyright

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Excerpt from
Can’t Help Falling in Love
copyright © 2013 by Cheryl Harper.

Excerpt from “Love Me Tender” copyright © 2013 by Cheryl Harper. Originally appeared in
Kiss Me: An Avon Books Valentine’s Day Anthology,
published in 2013 by Avon Impulse, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

Excerpt from
All or Nothing
copyright © 2013 by Dixie Brown.

STUCK ON YOU
. Copyright © 2013 by Cheryl Harper. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

EPub Edition MAY 2013 ISBN: 9780062276360

Print Edition ISBN: 9780062276377

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