Knowing You Read Online Free PDF

bad trade-off. “My toes not only curled; I think my bones melted.”
    Something dangerously wicked and enticing flashed in his dark eyes and Stevie felt that tug again. The ache settling low inside her pulsed with a need she hadn’t expected—and wasn’t quite sure what to do about. This was just so out-of-the-blue. What was a girl supposed to say to one of her best friends when she was suddenly imagining him naked?
    â€œSo then,” he said, his voice a deep rumble of sound that echoed the thunder and seemed to roll along her spine. “I guess you owe me five dollars.”
    She nodded dumbly. Five dollars. The bet he’d made. The challenge he’d thrown at her, knowing she wouldn’t be able to resist the dare. It had seemed like a silly thing. A risk easily taken and disarmed. But he’dtricked her. Tricked her into discovering a whole new side to him. And now everything was different. Before, when she looked at Paul, she’d always seen her friend. Someone to count on. Someone who was as much a part of her ordinary life as the Leaf and Bean.
    Oh, she wasn’t blind. She’d certainly noticed how handsome he was. How tall. How sure of himself. How good he looked in his usual jeans—and she’d for sure noticed
other
women noticing him. But she’d never felt that flash of liquid heat. The tingle of awareness a woman feels when a man is driving her crazy. The spiraling sense of desire as it rushed through her body demanding to be assuaged.
    Now, though, she looked into those dark brown eyes of his and saw carefully banked passion. And she wondered why she’d never seen it before.
    A part of her worried—about what they’d just done and what it might mean to their friendship—another, stronger part of her wanted to feel it all again. And to hell with the consequences.
    Instantly her heartbeat stampeded into life. No more thinking. She wasn’t going to question anything. God knew there’d be plenty of time for that tomorrow and the days to follow. For now, “I’ll see that five and raise you five more.” She heard herself saying it and still couldn’t believe it.
    â€œYeah?” he asked, running his fingertips along her forearm. “What’s the bet this time?”
    Stevie trembled at his touch, felt the slow slide of his fingers against her skin, and was pretty sure she was on fire. She closed her eyes briefly, then opened them again to meet his steady gaze. Thunder crashed overhead,rain slashed at the windows, and she heard the television, too, as a background buzzing in her head.
    But none of it mattered. All she could see was Paul. All she felt was the surprisingly strong reaction to him that was still simmering inside her. And she knew that no matter what happened tomorrow, she had to have tonight. “The bet is … can you do that again?”
    His eyes darkened even further until they looked almost black in the dim lamplight. A muscle in his jaw twitched and that incredible mouth of his tightened into a hard, thin line that defined the restraint holding him in place.
    â€œWe do that again and it won’t be enough,” he warned thickly.
    â€œI know.” Right now there wasn’t much she was sure of, but Stevie knew without a doubt that if he kissed her again, neither of them would be able to stop. And life as they knew it would be changed forever.
    Slowly, very slowly, Stevie leaned into Paul, and one heartbreaking inch at a time, she brought her mouth closer to his. When tension bubbled in the air between them, she touched her mouth to his and surrendered to the magic.
    *   *   *
    Angela Candellano went through the house she’d lived in for more than thirty years, turning off lights and moving inexorably toward her bed. At the moment, visions of that soft mattress were all that kept her moving.
    â€œI’m getting too old for this, huh, Anthony?” She tipped