Playing with the Prop: (Rugby erotic romance)(Strathstow Sharks) by Mina Carter Page A

didn’t have time to stop them before the damage was done.”
    She searched his face, trying to read between the lines, if there was any subtext there, but all her instincts told her that he was telling the truth. Damn. Just when she wanted… really wanted…to stay mad at him. For at least a little longer.
    The slight pause must have clued him in that she was weakening. He closed in, bending his head to brush his lips over hers. “Please, sweetheart. You have to believe me…I would never do anything to jeopardize us. Why would I, when all I’ve been able to think about for months is you?”
    She sighed against his lips, her slight nod the tiniest of movements. He groaned and wrapped her up in his arms to kiss her senseless. His lips molded to hers, tongue sweeping out to seek entrance. She didn’t deny him, her softer moan mixing with his when he slid into her mouth and stroked his tongue along hers.
    He hadn’t gossiped about them. Hadn’t cheapened their night together. She knew that now. She hadn’t wanted to think that he had, but the evidence of her own ears had been stacked against him. But now, with his lips on hers, his body touching hers, she knew, deep down, that he was telling the truth. Relief and something else rolled through her body. Made her limbs weak and ensured she leaned on him for strength. A strength he seemed happy to share, holding her close so that he could deepen the kiss.
    Remembering where they were, she broke away with a gasp. “Stop, we have to stop. I have another patient soon.” His guilty look made her pause. “What? Harry…what did you do?”
    His hands spread out over the back of her hips, and he pulled her closer, a sexy grin playing over his lips. “I may…have persuaded Kev to take on your treatment list today.”
    Her eyes widened, then widened some more as his fingers found the sliver of skin between her top and the waistband of her pants.
    “What…all of them?”
    “Yeah…all of them. We have the room to ourselves,” he breathed against her lips, and her heart rate ratcheted up a couple of notches. “Did I tell you one of my fantasies was to have sex on a therapist's couch?”
    She pulled away to look at him. Trying for sensible and serious was ruined by the quirk at the corner of her lips. “Really now?”
    He nodded, his expression solemn but with a wicked glint in his eyes. “Yeah. I think it’s the towels. Or perhaps the sexy therapist who always puts her hands on my legs. Why do you think I got cramps so often?”
    She blinked, and then laughed. The small sound of amusement rolled around the quiet room. “You mean you faked it to get in here with me?”
    He shrugged, lifting a hand to stroke his thumb over her cheek, down her jaw, and finally over her lips. She parted them instinctively, loving his touch.
    “Maybe. But I’m not faking now. I love you, Ashley. Forgive me?”
    Time froze. Her gaze locked with his as everything else fell away. Her heart leapt, her soul resonating, as she heard the words, the same ones that rang in her own heart. Was it too soon to say them? Was she getting carried away in the moment? Whatever. She didn’t care.
    “I love you too.” Her slow smile was met by one of his, and she slid her arms up around his neck.
    The kiss was soft, sweet, and sexy. Emotion made physical and expressed in each gentle brush of their lips and tongues until her heart felt as though it were over-flowing. He loved her. She loved him. Everything was perfect…
    Breaking away, she looked at him. “But…work—”
    “Shhh.” He cut her off with a finger against her lips, his voice low. “I already checked with John. As long as it doesn’t interfere with us working together, then it’s all good. If it does, he’ll just switch me to Kev instead.”
    Relief washed through her, and she nodded. “That won’t be necessary, we got this.”
    Reaching up, she brushed a kiss to his lips. “Now how about you tell me about this towel fetish you