Only You by Bonnie Pega Page A

tone told him not to push his luck any further.
    Max didn’t often do as he was told. He slid a finger under her chin and tilted her head. “Such a stubborn chin,” he murmured just before brushing his lips across hers. “But stubbornness intrigues me.” He brushed another kiss across her nose. “Good night, Cait.”
    “Caitlin,” she corrected him automatically.
    “I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon. Maybe we can decide where to go to dinner on Friday.” He flashed a quick grin, pressed a brief kiss on her lips, and left, not giving her a chance to say anything.
    Caitlin closed the door, then leaned back against it. Those kisses hadn’t even lasted long enough for the fear to start, so how come they had lasted long enough for her lips to still be tingling from his touch? Every time he touched her, her body seemed to turn traitor. Her breasts swelled and ached with loneliness. Her hands seemed to move toward him as if attracted by magnets. Why? What was there about this one man that sent her hormone production into overdrive?
    Caitlin continued to ponder that question as she lay in bed a couple of hours later staring at the ceiling. She felt like a child playing with matches. She knew she was going to be hurt and she was afraid, but she kept right on, fascinated by the warm, bright flame.
    The next morning Caitlin decided not to go by the greenhouse right away. Instead, she went by the office supply company that Max had recommended. An hour later she left, her car loaded with almost everything Max had told her to get. She had even placed an order for letterhead stationery. After all, she’d been in business for some time now, and she felt her correspondence should look professional.
    Out of curiosity she had priced a couple of the new electronic typewriters but decided that she got along just fine with her twelve-year-old electric. Actually she had an uneasy truce with it. True, the Z and the Q stuck a little, but she didn’t use those letters very often anyway. She didn’t want to press her luck with a fancy, expensive machine, only to find out it hated her.
    By a quarter to one, Caitlin had watered theentire greenhouse and spent two hours on the telephone. She was putting together an order of two hundred assorted potted herbs to be picked up the next day, when the sound of shoes scrunching across the gravel brought up her head. It was Max. Her heart pounded a little faster, but she decided it was because he’d startled her. She hid a smile when she noticed what he wore. If those clothes were his idea of casual, he needed lessons.
    He wore dress slacks and another pristine white shirt with a maroon tie. In concession to the heat, he’d left off the jacket, but he still wore those expensive leather shoes. Maybe it was just as well he didn’t show up in jeans. She had a feeling that his long legs and narrow hips outlined in tight denim would thoroughly arouse her libido.
    “Hi,” Caitlin said, feeling somewhat shy. “I’ll be ready in a few minutes. I need to finish getting this order together.”
    “Can I help?” Max asked as his eyes swept over her. Jeans again. He stifled a sigh. He knew dresses wouldn’t exactly be appropriate for working in a greenhouse, but he had a sudden longing to see her bare legs again. Of course, the way the snug denim hugged her firm bottom wasn’t bad, and he really couldn’t complain about the way the pink T-shirt clung to her breasts.
    “If you want. Right now I’m picking twenty-five pots of sweet basil—that’s what’s on this end of the table here—and putting them into these boxes. You could turn to that table right behind you and pick twenty-five pots of garlic chives—that’s the grassy-looking stuff—and put them into this box right here.”
    As Caitlin talked, she finished packing the basiland moved on to English lavender. She savored the spicy scent as she began loading them.
    “Now what?” Max asked when he was done with his task.
    “Now I’m going