Read Ain’t Misbehaving for Free Online Page B

knew.”
    “And beautiful,” she said softly. With her head resting in the curve of his shoulder, she was perfectly content. “I love it, Mitch. This is a thousand times better than going out for a drink and dinner.”
    “Pardon?”
    “Come on, Mitch. We’re both of an age. Just being with someone is the best way to get acquainted. The traditional date is a terrible way to get to know someone. It’s always the same old thing. You dress up and act stiff and talk about what school you went to and whether you like shellfish.”
    Mitch choked on a swallow of wine.
    Kay grinned. “Don’t you agree with me? The man’s always had it the hardest. Getting up the courage to ask for a date, then laying out the cash for a meal and wine, and finally having to worry about timing the first kiss. Unless you’ve been happily attached for a long time, you have to be sick of that routine. Admit it.”
    She tilted her head back and caught a peculiar expression on Mitch’s face. “It can get boring,” he agreed.
    “And how can a fire tower ever be boring?” she added contentedly.
    “Particularly when the lady plans to stay up here for the next four years rather than risk the climb down.”
    “Let’s not get sarcastic.”
    He chuckled, and Kay loved the sound. Mitch sent her protective messages, whether he knew it or not. Never mind that at times he could suddenly turn reserved, and never mind that his lightest touch sent exciting ideas tumbling through her head. He sent out definite vibrations that told her just being with her was precious to him, and not that his sole interest was in bedding her.
    “Do you have to be back at a certain time?” he asked.
    “Not till nine-thirty. Poker,” she murmured irritably.
    “Poker,” he echoed.
    “The guys come over to play poker most Friday nights. Usually, they like five at the table, particularly when one of the group remembers to buy napkins and potato chips. As in the sole feminine participant. Me.”
    “You like the game.”
    “Generally, I beat the pants off them,” she admitted.
    “And just who are…the guys?”
    He folded his arms around her ribs and she snuggled back, setting down her wine, aware of his slight stiffening but assuming it was due to his change of position.
    “Stix is one. He’s sort of a big brother—my first date way back when, but that never went far. He’s called Stix because he’s tall and skinny.”
    “I guessed that.”
    “John works for the health department.”
    “You also dated him.”
    She shrugged. “For a few months. Actually, Barker…”
    Mitch didn’t want to know. She was comfortable with men; he already knew that. She was comfortable talking about sex; he already knew that, too. And undoubtedly she ended her affairs amicably, because she would have started them with honesty and terminated them that way as well. That was fine. Commendable.
    But he had a sudden image of her, flushed with laughter, her hair disheveled and her lips parted, surrounded by a houseful of men who’d known her far too well…
    “Hey,” she murmured.
    He had tucked his long arm under her knees and swung her around into his lap. “You know, I like to play poker,” he said quietly. “In fact, as a kid, I could bluff as well as a Las Vegas hustler.”
    She stiffened at the first pressure of his lips on hers, not in rejection but in surprise. She hadn’t minded hearing about his Nancy White; it was years before. And she hadn’t hesitated to mention her poker game; the men were friends, not ex-lovers. Actually, she’d tried to tell him subtly that it wasn’t a date that took up her Friday nights.
    All the same, jealousy was in that first pressure of his mouth on hers. It wasn’t merely a kiss; it was also a claim.
    When she closed her eyes, colors seemed to splash on her closed eyelids. The vibrant red of a summer sunset, the pale yellow of the early morning sun, the silky blue of a mountain lake. Between her coat and his were folds of material