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belly. He called me pretty, though .
    Caleb’s face fell, and he started to pull his hand away. Michaela held on and tried to get control of herself. “No, no I’m not laughing at you,” she said. “I’m sorry. I was thinking I needed to apologize to you.” She bit her lower lip before rushing on. “I saw you and I think I lost all my good manners too. You’re so—” While “hot” was definitely the word that came to mind, that was too forward. “So impressive. I thought I made you uncomfortable staring at you.”
    By now they were turned to face one another. One corner of his mouth lifted in a smile, but his heart wasn’t in it. “Michaela, I’m a huge guy with one leg, plus everybody in town wants to come tell me how sorry they are that I’m one-legged and how proud they are to know me— even though I’m the same dumbass country boy who used to make them all shake their heads when I was running wild in high school. They act like I’m not.” His shoulders lifted and fell. “I’m kinda used to getting stared at.”
    Oh no, she had made him uncomfortable, but maybe not the way she thought. He really didn’t get it. A surge of bravery made her lift her free hand and rest it on his cheek. His eyes widened as he looked down at her. “That’s not what I meant,” she said. “I’m a physical therapist, Caleb. I’ve seen every type of body you can think of, some with missing parts, some with new parts, big, small, old, young— it’s all just part of who that individual person is. I wasn’t staring at you because you’re missing a leg. I was staring at you because you’re one of the most gorgeous men I’ve ever seen, and well— in my line of work there are rules about that sort of thing.”
    He was quiet just long enough for her to start to panic that she’d said the wrong thing. Finally he said, “I suppose it’s probably against those rules for me to kiss you?” He dragged the pad of his thumb over her lower lip and that simple touch was enough to start a fire in her body.
    “I— well—” She couldn’t think for the way his eyes moved over her face, lingering on her mouth, or the way his thumb brushed over her cheekbone. She licked her lips nervously, hyper-conscious of his eyes on her mouth. “If I was your regular physical therapist, yeah...”
    Caleb leaned a little closer, his mouth twitching as if he were enjoying her nervousness. “But not if you were my substitute?”
    “I wouldn’t be able to work with you again...” He was so close she could almost taste him, sweeter than chess pie and even more dangerous to her well-being.
    The hand that had been resting on her face he now moved to curl around the base of her skull, drawing her closer. “We’ll just have to tell Marty he can’t take Mondays off anymore.”
    “I’ll have to tell—” And then he cut her off with his lips pressed to hers. His kiss was so sweet she wanted to cry, and so hot she thought she’d burn to ash sitting right there in the bed of his pickup truck. She squeezed his hand and leaned closer to him, parting her lips to welcome him inside. He teased her at first, flicking the tip of his tongue at the edges of her lips, each lick sending the flames higher before he finally stroked his tongue against hers, sliding into her mouth easy and slow.
    Michaela moaned softly and he answered with a soft murmur against her lips. He let go of her hand to slide both his hands into her hair, sending tingles from her scalp down her spine. She reached blindly for him, her hands landing somewhere on his sides. His body was warm and firm beneath her fingers, and she couldn’t resist running her hands up and down his sides.
    “Hey.” He stopped kissing her, which was awful. “That tickles.”
    “Sorry,” she murmured before he claimed her mouth again, settling her hands on his waist. They kissed, broke for breath, and kissed again like they’d never stop. Each kiss made her more and more aware of her nipples