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Chapter One

GEORGIA TRULANE WALKED into the kitchen wearing a purple bikini, hoping and praying for a reaction from the man she’d known practically forever Seated at the kitchen table, Eric Moore, her brother’s best friend, now her boss since she’d taken over the care of his adopted nephew until he found another live-in nanny, studied his laptop as if it held the keys to the world’s greatest mysteries Unless the ansere listed between ite, the screen was not of earth-shattering importance It certainly did notan itsy-bitsy string bikini

“Nate is asleep,” she said

Look up Please, look up

Eric nodded, his gaze fixed to the screen Why couldn’t he look at her with that unwavering intensity? He’d snuck glances There had beenhis nephew’s lunch and caught hi, as if he wanted to memorize the curve of her neck or the way her jeans fit But he quickly turned away

“Did you pick up everything he needs for his first day of school tomorrow? I don’t want to send him unprepared”

His deep voice war, yet at the same time utterly sexy

“I got all the iteo”

“He needs another one of those stuffed frogs He can’t go without his favorite stuffed animal”

If she hadn’t been standing in his kitchen practically naked, waiting for him to notice her, she would have found his concern for the three-year-old’s first day of preschool sweet,for sentiments reminiscent of sunshine and puppies, or the whisper of sweet nothings against her skin She craved physical contact—his hands on her, exploring, each touchher feel more alive

And dalanced up from his laptop

“Nate will be home by nap time,” she said “He’ll be there for only a few hours You know that, right?”

“He’ll want to take his frog,” he said, his fingersacross the keyboard “He’ll probably lose it And he sleeps with that thing every night He needs that frog”

She ht be practically naked, but his emphasis on the word need thrust her headfirst into heartwarht to provide Nate with the stability that had beenfrom Eric’s childhood thanks to his divorced parents’ fickle dating habits She adic loss first

But tonight, for one night, she didn’t want to think about all of his honorable qualities She wanted to see if ht she wasn’t lookingabout while serving her country half a world aanted her too

“You’re now the proud owner of two stuffed frogs,” she said “So if that’s everything for tonight, I’ for a swim”

Finally, finally, he looked up She watched as his blue eyes widened and his jaw clenched He was an i and felling trees Not that he did the grunt work anymore These days he wore tailored suits and spent more time in an office than with a chainsaw in hand But even seated at his kitchen table poring over a co, solidall of that energy focused on her? It sent a thrill down her body Georgia clung to the feeling, savoring it

His gaze dropped to her breasts, briefly, before returning to her face He’d rolled up the sleeves of his white button-down dress shirt, revealing the corded muscles of his forearms Fro, his hands for fists

Yearning to touch? To pull at her bikini strings? Or was that wishful thinking on her part? Was she so crazed with desire for the six-foot-two ers through that she was i his reaction? Maybe he was horrified that his friend’s little sister looked as if she belonged poolside at a Vegas hotel Or maybe he was so shocked he didn’t knohat to enerally saw her in jeans and a T-shirt while she chased after Nate, or for the years before she’d becoues

“It’s late,” he said, his tone neutral

“Eric, it’s eight o’clock and it is still August The sun hasn’t disappeared behind the ht for a swim”

Eric frowned “The pond water is cold”

He lived on two hundred acres on the outskirts of Independence Falls, a son’s Willamette Valley, surrounded by mountains The water was always cold And she loved it that way It made her feel alive