Surrogate and Wife Read Online Free PDF Page B

or the place. What we’re talking about is very serious.”
    â€œIf you say so.”
    â€œI do say so.” She desperately wanted to jump to her feet and pace. But doing so would probably mean being touched by him again. Since she wasn’t willing to risk that, she scooted to the far corner of the sofa, then crossed her legs to keep herself from tapping her foot. “If we’re going to do this, we need to be as businesslike about this as possible. We need rules. Boundaries.”
    Shirts that buttoned all the way up, she thought, wisely keeping it to herself.
    â€œGee, you’re just suckin’ all the fun right out of this.”
    If his amused expression was an indication, she hadn’t sucked any of the fun out of it for him.
    â€œI’m serious.”
    â€œI know you are. That’s what makes it so damn cute.”
    â€œCute?” She wasn’t cute. No one called her cute. She was a judge, for goodness’ sake. Judges weren’t cute. She was pretty sure that edict had been written into the Texas Constitution.
    â€œNow, don’t get all huffy on me,” he said in his most placating tone.
    â€œI am not getting huffy.”
    â€œSure you are.”
    â€œNo, I’m—” She sucked in a deep breath. “This is exactly why we need boundaries.”
    â€œThis?” he asked archly.
    â€œThis.” She waved her hand back and forth between them. “If any kind of arrangement between us is going to work, we can’t have this kind of flirtatious banter.”
    He raised an eyebrow, studying her with obvious humor. “Flirtatious banter? So you think I’m flirting with you?”
    Despite his teasing manner, there was a spark of intensity deep in his gaze that unsettled her even more than his flirting.
    Boundaries, she reminded herself. Get back to setting boundaries.
    â€œI think you’ll flirt with any woman within earshot.” He didn’t seem insulted by the observation. Or perhaps he just didn’t see it as an insult. “But I don’t want you to flirt with me. It would lend too much intimacy to the marriage.”
    â€œâ€˜Too much intimacy to the marriage.’ Now there’s a phrase you don’t hear very often.”
    â€œAnd while we’re on the subject…” She felt her throat beginning to tighten, and paused just long enough to clear it. Discreetly, she hoped. “I’m sure you’ll agree there should be absolutely no…intimacy between us.”
    His lips twitched as if he was barely containing his laughter. “No intimacy? You mean like no flirting? You already covered that.”
    â€œNo, I mean no intimacy.” She felt her cheeks begin to burn. Damn it, why should this discussion embarrass her? She was a grown woman, for goodness sake. “No physical intimacy.”
    She’d forced herself to say the words without hesitating or stuttering. But she couldn’t force her mind not to stumble over the images automatically produced. The two of them together, lying naked in a tangle of sheets.
    Her reaction surprised her. She didn’t want Jake Morgan. She couldn’t want him. Not in their present situation. Not ever.
    The only thing that surprised her more than her reaction was the flash of corresponding heat she saw in his gaze.
    In an instant it was gone. Replaced by a teasing twinkle in his eye and a cocksure grin on his lips.
    â€œSo you think I won’t be able to resist you? Youthink once we’re living together, we’ll both cave to temptation unless we set up all these rules beforehand?”
    â€œCertainly not. It just seemed wise to— Wait a minute, what do you mean once we’re living together?”
    â€œWell, there’s no point in us getting married if people aren’t going to see us living together, right? I was thinking your place, ’cause I assume it’s bigger, but if you want to bunk down here, be my