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      As a demolition expert, Brick Pendleton is used to being in complete control. So he’s shaken when his lover extinguishes their explosive affair before he’s ready to say good-bye. He’s never felt about any woman the way he feels about Lisa Ransom, but that doesn’t mean he can give her what she wants most of all: marriage and family.

      Lisa knew from the start that Brick wasn’t looking for a wife, but couldn’t stop herself from falling for him anyway. Though the last nine months have been the most passionate of her life, she can’t stay in a relationship that’s going nowhere. And since the one man she wants isn’t interested in committing, Lisa sets out to find a man who will.

      Brick can’t stand the thought of Lisa in another man’s arms, and does everything in his power to tempt her back into his. But if he’s going to hold on to the only woman he’ll ever love, he’s going to have to face up to his fears of forever.

      Previously published.

      This book is dedicated to all who feel the fear…and do it anyway.

      Author’s Note

      The technical knowledge required for blasting with explosives covers the gamut of chemistry, engineering, geology, etc. Amazingly enough, a certified blaster learns his craft primarily through on-the-job training instead of books. This could have made my research for Playing with Dynamite very difficult if I hadn’t had access to Dennis Gould, technical consultant/certified blaster extraordinaire of Piedmont Explosives. Thank you, Dennis, for your patience and generosity. I must also thank the Demolition Contractors’ Association of America for sharing information, and Alexander/Scott Inc. for providing pictures of nonelectric detonators. For clarification on another issue broached in this book, I’d like to thank the Anxiety Disorders Association of America.

      Contents

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Three

      Chapter Four

      Chapter Five

      Chapter Six

      Chapter Seven

      Chapter Eight

      Chapter Nine

      Chapter Ten

      Chapter Eleven

      Chapter Twelve

      Epilogue

      Chapter One

      “It’s time to fish or cut bait, Brick.”

      Lisa Ransom’s husky voice seeped through Brick Pendleton’s mind at some semiconscious level. Several moments had passed, yet his body still pulsed with the exquisite sensations of sexual release. Their lovemaking had seemed even more intense than usual.

      He had seduced her with persistence and care until she had turned the tables and her hands had gently inflamed him. The heady scent of her arousal had narrowed his awareness to her and only her. Her soft gasp of pleasure as he sank his hard flesh deep into hers had torn at his control, but it had been the signs of her climax both inside and out that had put him straight over the edge. When Lisa held him, she held him with her smooth thighs, her moist femininity, her trembling arms, and with the dazed satisfaction on her face. She held him with everything.

      At the moment, he could identify with the buildings he demolished every day. He felt gloriously wasted, and he’d loved every minute of it.

      He reached for the woman responsible for his current state of sensual repletion and his hand encountered her foot. He frowned, his sense of well-being abruptly altered. She had apparently sat up in bed.

      Fish or cut bait.

      “Fish?” he repeated, pulling his hand back and rubbing his face in an effort to clear his head.

      “Yes,” she said in a tense way that caused a sinking sensation in his gut. He had an uncomfortable premonition about what was coming. Reluctantly, he shook off his sexual lethargy and sat up in bed too.

      “It’s what I was trying to tell you before you—before we—” Lisa exhaled in frustration. “Before we ended up here. I’ve tried to tell you, but you always managed to distract me. Brick, I want a baby.”

      His breath lodged somewhere between his heart and throat. He stared at Lisa. Her long brown hair tumbled past her shoulders to the rose-colored sheet she clenched above her breasts. In the last six months, he’d made it his personal mission to learn every one of the five feet ten inches that comprised her luscious body, including the inches concealed by that cotton sheet. He knew she possessed the hourglass figure of his secret dreams along with a sweet, sensual generosity that had always brought him the greatest satisfaction.

      Plus, she wasn’t the least bit intimidated by his large size, and since Brick was over six-three, he was accustomed to women being intimidated by him. Lisa, however, was fascinated by his size, and it had been his ultimate pleasure to indulge her fascination.

      Touching her aroused his most primitive sexual instincts to a fever pitch. Exploring her personality…well, it sounded kind of smarmy, but the woman made him smile. He liked making her blush and laugh. And though he’d have a tough time explaining it, he liked the slightly awkward way she tried to make him welcome in her home. He worried that others would take advantage of her kind nature, so it was natural that he felt protective of her. With the exception of this baby thing she’d been hinting about for the last two months, Brick had been more than satisfied with their relationship.

      He studied her face, noting that her lips were puffy from his kisses and she wasn’t smiling. Her usually warm green eyes were clouded with a faint sadness. And she’d just told him she wanted a baby. A sick feeling settled low in his belly.

      “Baby?” He’d hoped this was a passing phase. He reached over the side of the bed for the roll of antacids in his jeans’ pocket. “You’ve got plenty of time to have a baby. You’re just twenty-nine and—”

      “Thirty.”

      Brick jerked back around to stare at her. “You didn’t tell me. When was your birthday?”

      She pulled the sheet up higher on her chest. “A week and a half ago. You were out of town for three weeks on that special job for the Andersons.”

      Discomfort simmered inside him. He’d been seeing Lisa for nine months, and for the last six they’d been intimate. He should have known when she’d had her birthday. Why hadn’t he thought to ask? “I called you when I was gone. You didn’t mention it.”

      Lisa gave a little shrug. “You didn’t ask, and you didn’t call that particular day.”

      Feeling as if he was a day late and a dollar short, Brick shook his head. “I sure as hell wish I had. Well, what did you do? Go to your parents’ and celebrate?”

      Lisa’s eyelashes swept down like shutters over her eyes. “No. Senada gave me a little party.”

      Lisa’s business partner, Senada, was one more reason for Brick to be chewing antacids. The woman was wild, and he didn’t particularly like her influence over Lisa. Despite her age, Lisa had a rare innocence about her that appealed greatly to Brick. “What kind of little party?”

      “It wasn’t that big of a deal. She and a few other friends surprised me at the office.”

      “She probably brought in an army of male strippers,” Brick muttered under his breath.

      “Only one,” Lisa countered. She must have registered his disapproval because she quickly went on. “But my birthday’s not the real issue. It just helped me confirm what’s