Playing with Dynamite

She might as well have shot him.

Speechless, Brick stared at her for a full minute.

“Did you hear what I said?” Lisa asked. “I asked you if—”

“I heard you,” he finally managed, thinking he could use a double Jack Daniels straight up right now. Where had that breeze gone? he wondered as he tugged on his collar. “I’ll have to think about it and get back to you. I don’t usually evaluate my friends with an eye as to how good they’d be at fathering children.”

“I guess not,” she conceded, and spritzed her neck with a spray bottle of water.

His gaze homed in on the droplets dotting her chest. He wanted to lick every bit of water from her skin, spritz her, and do it again until his thirst was at least temporarily quenched. Instead he licked his lips and turned to the pool where a couple of kids played splashing games. “It sounds as if you’ve got this all planned out.”

“Some of it.” Lisa pulled a sheet of paper from her tote bag. “I got this in the mail the other day.”

Brick leaned forward to read it. “Meet your mate, not just a date. A dating service?” he said, unable to hide his horror. “Have you gone crazy? You’ll have every nut in Tennessee calling you day and night.”

She set her chin stubbornly. “It’s just one of my options. Senada’s also—”

“Senada!”

When Lisa’s chin rose another notch, Brick bit his tongue, laced his fingers together and cracked all his knuckles at once.

“She knows a lot of men.”

“That’s putting it mildly,” he muttered.

“She knows a lot more about men than I do and—”

“You always knew enough for me,” he pointed out in a dark velvet voice. “And what you didn’t know, I sure as hell liked teaching you.”

Lisa’s heart seemed to pause, then flutter wildly. She’d kept the conversation centered on her search for a husband as a means of protection because she felt more than bare beneath Brick’s gaze. She felt naked.

Every time his eyes lingered, she felt as if he’d touched her. Could he tell she was having a hard time breathing normally? Could he sense the way her nipples tingled? Did he know about the insidious moist warmth that built within her because her body simply couldn’t forget what he’d been to her? He was looking at her as if she were the only woman in the world, and despite all her resolutions her mouth was cotton-dry from his intoxicating effect on her.

Lisa swallowed hard. “You don’t understand. Senada’s had a lot more experience—”

“I know,” he said dryly.

“No.” She sighed. “Let me put it this way. Senada was the kind of girl who had five offers to go to her high school prom.”

“And?” Brick was waiting for the rest of the story. Something told him it would be important.

“And I got no offers,” Lisa admitted reluctantly. “I was in the National Honor Society, I took piano lessons, went to church like a good girl. I was great with books, but when it came to guys, I was…”

“Shy,” Brick supplied for her, feeling a twist of compassion. He recalled a few girls from his own high school days that had seemed awkward and shy with the boys. They’d often been the last ones picked for dates because their uneasiness had transferred itself to the boys.

She gave a small dip of her head. “That would be putting it very generously.”

“You’re not in high school anymore, Lisa.”

“I know,” she said softly. “I’m all grown up with a woman’s body and mind—and a woman’s needs.” She gave a rueful smile. “But I’ve still got the heart of a child, and Senada tells me I’ve got plenty to offer the right man. I just need to find him.”

Brick felt as if she’d just sliced him in two. He narrowed his eyes at the sharp pain. There was too much he hadn’t told Lisa. In his quest to remain uncommitted, he’d managed to be blind as a bat about her vulnerabilities. She was a gentle woman, beautiful both inside and out, and if he’d had his act together, maybe she wouldn’t be wondering if she would find the right man. If he’d had his head on straight, she’d be in his arms and he wouldn’t feel like someone had ripped out his guts.

Brick took the first step in a new direction. He tugged off her glasses, hooked his thumb under her chin and looked directly in her eyes. “You are so beautiful,” he said, hearing the roughness in his own voice, “there aren’t words enough to tell you. No matter what happens, don’t ever forget that.” He squeezed her chin slightly when she would have looked away. “Ever.”

A long moment passed, with the sound of kids doing cannonballs off the diving board in the background. In some corner of his mind, he heard a mother scolding her child. At the moment none of it meant squat to Brick if Lisa didn’t believe him.

She bit her lip, and her eyelids fluttered down. “I don’t think I could forget it.” Then as if she couldn’t bear the intensity emanating from him anymore, she lifted her chin away and quickly slid out of the other side of the lounge chair. “I think I need to cool off.”

Brick nodded and stood. His mind full and his heart heavy, he watched her ease into the water. The ironic realization sank deep into his gut that he had spent his professional life tearing down things, destroying them. He was an expert at it. Hell, he couldn’t enter a building without looking for the weak spots and figuring out how to bring it down.

He watched Lisa, and the sting of longing inside him grew. If he really wanted Lisa, then for the first time in his life he was going to have to put something back together and make it stronger than before.

“So, was the latest one any good?” Senada asked as she propped herself on Lisa’s desk and crossed her legs.

Lisa quickly moved her papers out of the way of her flamboyant partner. Senada Calhoun, who had inherited her long black hair, year-round tan, and large brown eyes from her Puerto Rican mother, had also inherited her Texan father’s ability to flirt. Thus she attracted men with the same ease that most normal humans brushed their teeth. Answering to the nickname Sin, Senada laughed and had a good time, but she didn’t take any of the lust-struck men seriously.

She had, however, begun to take a very personal interest in Lisa’s quest to find a husband. Lisa grimaced at the memory of her latest date. “He was interesting,” she said evasively.

Senada arched one dark eyebrow. “Interesting is a polite way of saying he was a loser.”

Lisa straightened the papers. “I wouldn’t really say he was a loser, but I don’t think we would be a good match. He was attractive, but he might like women a little too much. A year ago he joined this new alternative lifestyle group where a man’s spiritual value is measured by how many wives he has.”

“You’re too kind. The sleaze was already married,” Senada concluded without surprise.

“No. He’s hoping to marry six different women within the next year, though.” Lisa shook her head, remembering the dismay she’d felt when he’d told her the benefits of multiple marriage partners. “I’m working at being flexible, but I draw the line at polygamy.”

“What about the one on Thursday night?”

“He was nice. Five inches shorter than I am.” Lisa looked away from the amusement flickering in Senada’s eyes. “I realize appearances really shouldn’t matter, but…”

Senada giggled. “You don’t have to make excuses to me, la chica. Have you heard from Rock lately?”

Lisa smothered a laugh. “Brick. His name is Brick.” Since she’d broken up with Brick, Senada continually confused his name. Lisa was beginning to think it was deliberate.

Senada shrugged. “Brick. Rock. They’re both the same—hardheaded.”

“He stopped by to see me on Sunday.” Lisa caught the chiding expression on Senada’s face and rushed to explain. “He said he wants to be friends.” She still wasn’t sure how she felt about that.

“Uh-huh,” Senada said, her voice dripping disbelief. “You agreed, and all the while your little heart was going pitter-patter because you still—”

“I do not,” Lisa interrupted, desperate not to hear the rest of that statement spoken aloud. “And my heart is supposed to be beating all the time. I’d be dead if it didn’t.”

Senada sighed. “You really seem to like that not-quite-civilized, ruler-of-his-own-destiny type.” She narrowed her eyes and paused, then her lips tilted in a slow smile. “I think I may have the perfect man for you.”

The perfect man was out of town for the next few weeks, so Lisa accepted a few other recommendations Senada made. Between the spring wedding receptions, rehearsal dinners, graduation parties and dates with a purpose, though, Lisa felt burned out enough to accept an invitation from Brick to attend a fair in Beulah County.

She told herself it was to prove that they were indeed friends. The “lover” part of their relationship was passed, finished, completely done, never to be repeated. If she felt a twinge of regret at the thought, she ignored it. She also told herself she wasn’t the least bit curious about Brick’s family.