The Tycoon's Cupid Surprise (a Valentine's novella) (Holiday Babies) Read Online Free PDF Page B

caught her eye. She swept down to pick it up, turn it over, and then back again.
    “It’s perfect. Not a chip anywhere.”
    “You collect shells?”
    “When I was a kid.”
    She scanned the shadowy stretch of beach. This shell didn’t get up here by itself. Someone must have dropped it.
    She put the shell to her ear and grinned. “Yep. There’s the ocean rushing around.”
    He chuckled. “That’s the sounds around you resonating in the cavity.”
    “ Mr. Brain McBrain,” she teased, lowering the shell. “Is there anything you don’t know?”
    He only grinned. “It’d be the same if you held a cup to your ear. Airflow, ambient noise, resembles the sound of ocean movements. The human ear also picks up the sounds your body makes.” His hand found hers, lifting and cupping the shell against her ear again. “Can you hear muscles working? Blood flowing?” His voice and head lowered. “Can you hear your own heart beating?”
    She gazed into his eyes. Most definitely.
    H e brought the shell, and her hand, to the side of his own face. As the bristles on his cheek lightly grazed her knuckles, Brooke swallowed and asked, “What do you hear?”
    “A voice.”
    “What’s it saying?”
    His gaze dropped to her lips. “It’s telling me not to wait.”

Chapter 9
     
    When Xander’s lips brushed hers, lights switched on all over Brooke’s body. Every day, she’d felt a little more drawn. The awareness surging between them now practically crackled.
    A s his mouth grazed again, with more intent this time, each of her senses heightened at the same time inhibition dropped away. Leaning in, she imagined them coming closer still, those big hands trailing her skin, and a kiss so deep that fireworks went off in her head.
    Xander drew away and smiled into her eyes. “I’ve wanted to do that for a while,” he said.
    “I’m glad you did it now.”
    “Because we’re alone?”
    “Because I wasn’t sure…”
    A line formed between his brows . “I’m not like Jake.”
    Brooke released a breath. “You’re not like anyone .”
    H e brought her hand to his lips and dropped a kiss on the first fingertip before she realized and pulled her hand away.
    Her cheeks were hot. “You don’t want to do that.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “My nails. I bite them to the quick.” I bite them till they bleed. He still looked confused. “You wouldn’t understand.”
    “ Yeah, I do. I get it. You’d like to break a habit. I wish I didn’t fall asleep in front of the television and wake up with a back an eighty-year old wouldn’t want.” He leaned closer and confessed. “I’m also addicted to Candy Crush.”
    She laughed. “You are not.”
    “ It doesn’t matter to me that you like a nibble. I don’t care about your nails. Brooke, I care about you.”
    When he lifted her hand this time, and one by one kissed each fingertip, emotion pushed up Brooke’s throat and she surrendered it all.
    Maybe guardian angels in Italian suits really did exist. 
    He place d her palm on his chest, and then brought her close to kiss her again, deeply this time. A flame curled through her veins, warming her through to the core. She adored the taste of him, his raspy chin, the scent of his skin and his hair.
    As she craned higher on the tiptoes of her knee-high boots, Xander’s hand on the small of her back pressed her deliciously close. When his lips gradually left hers, his hands trailed higher until he was gently kneading her shoulders through her jacket while his lips trailed across her brow.
    “You don’t want to go back to the shop alone tonight,” he murmured. “Come home with me, just to hold each other, if that’s all you want.”
    When his fingers filed up the back of her head, through her hair, she sighed. “You want to do more than cuddle.”
    “I can go slow, if slow gets us where we need to go.”
    “ Now we’ve come this far,” she grinned, “I vote for full-steam ahead.” Her palm fanned over his