All Fired Up (Stardust) Read Online Free

just great. Boy, was he ever proud of himself. This was why he didn’t mess with virgins.
    “Roxy’s minding the shop while Jil’s away. Did you hear Jil got married?… Yeah, and Evangeline Allen, too. That was something, wasn’t it?… Husband’s name is Harper Rourke…” Sam’s voice droned on and on, making small talk, filling the air of the shop – air that pulsed with undercurrents of electrical tension.
    Slo listened no closer than politeness required, answered the questions with as few words as possible. He was far more aware of the one who was not speaking – the blue-eyed baby doll who stood backed against the old-fashioned counter. Her gaze kept darting to his, then away, as though the mere sight of him scorched her. She was quivering and sizzling like a lit fuse.
    What a waste, all that energy squandered on stress.
    There was dynamite in that baby doll. Someone someday was going to have one hell of a hot time lighting it. Some lucky guy was going to get himself an armful of fiery delight.
    Too bad that guy couldn’t be him.
    Enough, Larkin! You’ve come, you’ve seen, you’ve conquered. Now quit playing Big Bad Wolf. Leave Little Red Riding Hood alone and go bother Grandma.
    “Well, um, I guess I’d better be gettin’ back to the house.” Slo turned toward the exit.
    Sam stopped him. “So soon? You just got here, man.”
    “Yeah, sorry. I wasn’t planning on staying. Gran’s got dinner waiting.” Smashed green tomatoes, with cantaloupe pulp for dessert – Slo could hardly wait. “I just thought I’d drop by for a minute to say hi and, um, meet your cousin.” He gave Roxanne an apologetic nod. “Newcomers are kind of an attraction in this town, in case you hadn’t noticed yet.”
    But then you’d be an attraction anywhere, wouldn’t you, baby?
    Slo knew he hadn’t spoken the thought aloud – but to see Roxanne, you might almost have guessed he had. Flushed and flustered, she turned her back on him, snatched up a rag, and began frantically dusting the counter, working her way down its length, wiping and polishing with a vengeance.
    Damn, but it was cute how easily she blushed. There was something irresistible about this kid, something naive and seductive in the same breath. Sweet heat. A dangerous temptation. He was starting to imagine other things he could do to make her blush. Sultry, steamy, intimate things…
    With effort, Slo shoved the lewd images out of his head. Roxanne had just reached the counter’s end, which sat opposite the door to the studio, and would probably be bolting through that open door any moment now. And he had better take himself and his evil mind out the other door before he disgraced himself. This little girl was getting to him – and she was too damn young. Too shy, too sensitive, too—
    He stiffened and stared as his gaze fell through the doorway behind her and landed on a large canvas propped against two easels in the center of the studio. An incredible painting of an incredible figure.
    Help me, Lord…
    She was gut-gripping glorious, that’s what she was!
    His pulse pounded, his stomach did a back flip, his jeans suddenly shrank. Out the corner of his eye, he saw Roxanne snap upright and drop her dust cloth, but he had more immediate concerns. Blood was morphing into molten lava. Something volcanic was about to erupt. Him. He could swear he smelled smoke. Mumbling a hasty, haphazard goodbye, he turned and beat a rocky retreat out the street door and down the sidewalk.
    A flurry of wild stamping sounded from the shop behind him, but he didn’t dare turn around to investigate. Maybe Sam had taken up flamenco dancing. Why not? It seemed like something Sam might do.
    -------
    Sam was dancing, in fact. But more along the lines of an energetic soft-shoe, or perhaps some Irish clogging. Sam was doing it to extinguish the genuine fire that erupted seconds before Slo made his escape. Roxanne’s dust cloth had burst into flames the instant it hit the