Holding The Cards Read Online Free PDF Page B

of tense power across the shoulders and down his back, the way the jeans rode lower with his arms above his head and stomach muscles contracted tight. That's the way they'd be if his arms were tied at the wrists to a suspension bar, pulled just high enough to keep him on the balls of his feet, so his buttock muscles would be firm and clenched.
    Whoa, where had that thought come from? A silly grin twisted her lips. It was a tasty image, though. She shifted her focus to the one who had broken her fall. Marcus had pushed himself up on his elbows, and his lip was cut where her elbow had landed. "Are you all right?" she reached out to it, at the same time he offered a solicitous hand to that same offending elbow and said, "Are you okay?"
    He managed a crooked grin. "We must be, if we're both more concerned about each other."
    "No," she said, smiling back. "You're male, and so you can't admit you're in terrible pain, and I'm female and so naturally would always ask about the well-being of others before my own."
    "Another woman with an overabundance of therapy," he observed, turning his hand into a position to offer a courteous handshake, despite her current lack of clothing. "I'm Marcus."
    "Lauren," she shook his hand and then cocked a brow at Josh. "And I think we met in the tree."
    "Which explains why you flung yourself out of it," Marcus noted dryly. "Perfectly understandable."
    Josh shot him a deprecating look, then turned his attention back to Lauren. She noted with some amusement his determination to keep his gaze fixed on her face. "Are you sure you're all right?"
    "I think so." Lauren found her knees a bit unsteady as she rolled to them. She put her hand to the forest floor to push herself up. A pair of male hands supported her at either elbow, and she gazed down at her half-naked torso, stained with dirt and leaves.
    "Well, this has been an adventurous day," she murmured to no one in particular, though she thought she heard Marcus chuckle. She was going to adjust that towel, as soon as she could discreetly turn away from the two men.
    She put her weight down on her right foot and gasped, grabbing at Josh's arm to keep her balance.
    Sprain. Probably not a bad one, but just one more delightful thing to add to the day's charm.
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    Marcus squatted and ran his hand along the back of her calf, down to the injured member. "Already swelling," he confirmed.
    She had been sucked into some parallel dimension, where every tawdry cliché from a cheap romance novel was going to be played out. If everything went true to form, one of the men, probably the one she found most irritating yet mysteriously irresistible, would swing her easily up into his arms.
    "Okay, then," Josh nodded, hooked her arms around his neck, bent and scooped her up. "We'll take you back upstairs and get that wrapped." He lifted a brow at her snort of laughter. "What?"
    "Nothing," Lauren shook her head. "Nothing at all."

Chapter 4
    At least this parallel dimension had its perks. Being carried up a hill in a strong man's arms was decidedly pleasant, though unsettling, since her right bare breast was pressed into his unshirted chest, and she felt every shift of his fingers along her spine and thigh.
    "You could have at least let me adjust my towel," she said.
    He glanced down at her, and with her arm occupied in holding on, there was nothing she could do but endure the heated perusal.
    "Why would I want to do that?" he grinned.
    Her eyes narrowed.
    "He's always been this way, Lauren," Marcus commented. "God knows I've tried to beat it out of him."
    Josh snorted. "Like a little prissy fairy like you could beat up anyone."
    "If you're going to act like a homophobic Neanderthal," Marcus remarked, moving ahead to open the side door of Lisette's house, "I'm not going to play with you anymore. Do you need some help?"
    Josh's grip on Lauren tightened and Marcus clucked. "You see," he