Alice chuckled and gave him a slight shove. “Step aside, handsome,” she said. “I’ve got to get these biscuits in the oven or they won’t be ready in time for supper.”

Mitch caught Shay by the hand as he passed her, pulling her out of her chair and into the living room, where he promptly drew her close and kissed her. It was a thorough kiss that left Shay unsteady on her feet and just a bit flushed in the face.

Holding her close, Mitch whispered against the bridge of her nose, “If your grandmother wasn’t in the next room, lady…”

Shay trembled with the delicious feeling of wanting him. In a low, teasing voice, she retorted, “You shameless rascal, how can you say such a thing when you’ve been flirting with another woman under my very nose?”

Mitch grinned. “What can I say? I took one look at Alice and I was smitten.”

“Smitten?”

He pulled her toward the couch, sat down, positioned her on his lap. His hand moved beneath her skirt to stroke her thigh. “Smitten,” he confirmed.

Shay’s breath had quickened and her blood felt warm enough to melt her veins. She slapped away his hand and it returned, unerringly, to create sweet havoc on the flesh of her upper leg.

“So,” he said, as though he weren’t driving her wild with the brazen motion of his fingers. “Have you decided whether or not to take the house Todd showed you?”

Shay could barely breathe. “I’m…waiting for…estimates.”

“I see.”

Again, Shay removed his hand; again it returned. “Rat,” she muttered.

Alice was humming in the kitchen, happy in her work, probably pleased with herself for giving the young lovers some time alone. Mitch continued to caress Shay, slowly, rhythmically, skillfully.

She buried her mouth in the warmth of his neck to muffle the soft moan his attentions forced her to utter.

“You look a bit flushed, dear,” Alice commented, minutes later, over a dinner of chicken, green beans and biscuits, her gentle eyes revealing worry. “I hope you aren’t coming down with something.”

“She’s perfectly healthy,” Mitch replied with an air of authority.

Beneath the surface of the table, Shay’s foot moved and her heel made solid contact with Mitch’s shin. He didn’t even flinch.

After dinner, he and Shay did the dishes together while Alice rested on Hank’s bed. She’d closed the door behind her, but Shay still felt compelled to keep her voice down.

“If you ever do a thing like that again, Mitch Prescott…”

He wrapped the dishtowel around Shay’s waist, turned slightly and pulled her against him. “You can be sure that I’ll do it again,” he muttered. “And you’ll react just the same way.”

Shay knew that he was right and flushed, furious that he had such power over her and yet glad of it, too. Her body was still reverberating with the force of her response to those stolen moments of pleasure. “You are vain and arrogant!” she whispered.

He put one hand inside her blouse to cup her breast, his thumb moving her bra out of place and then caressing her nipple. “I’m going to forget that copy of my manuscript when I leave here tonight,” he said, his lips barely touching Shay’s. “You, of course, will throw up your hands in dismay and tell your grandmother that you’ve got to return it to me immediately.”