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A minute passed between us, both of us just…standing there, held by the force of the energy that swirled and lapped.
Neither of us said anything.
Both refusing to step back.
Maybe we both were just fucking lonely, and it felt good to stand in someone else’s space. Someone who might understand in some twisted form.
But it went deeper than that, and I wasn’t fool enough not to realize it made her dangerous.
Dangerous to my resolve.
Dangerous to my sanity.
Dangerous to everything I was committed to.
My spirit thrashed as I thought back to my kids who were currently inside excited for this woman to join us, and a thread of unease twined through my senses. Logic making a resurgence.
I couldn’t stand the idea of them getting used to having her around only for her to leave one day.
Or maybe I couldn’t bear it for myself.
“You really don’t have to come,” I told her, stepping away before I gave into what I really wanted and carried her into the guest house, shut the door behind us, and peeled her from that towel.
Savannah waved the letter between us, her voice choppy though she tried to play it off like she wasn’t affected. “According to this, I do.”
“My daughter is a master at getting her way.”
“And that’s what she really wants? For me to come?” Then her gaze narrowed. “Or did you put her up to this?”
My chuckle was rough. “I told you I was working on my overbearing ways. That was all my daughter.”
Savannah cleared her throat, and she turned and pressed the letter to the wall and checked a box before she handed it and the marker back to me. I glanced down at her response.
? Absolutely.
“What time?” she asked through the turbulence that still coated her voice.
I should call it off. Tell her to forget it. Instead, I was saying, “Six.”
“What can I bring?”
And just like last night, I pushed a little farther, past that boundary I knew I should keep in place, and I told her, “Just bring you.”
TWENTY-ONE
SAVANNAH
I’d veered off course.
So astronomically off course that I was having a hard time righting myself. Hell, I was having a hard time getting my panties on with the way my legs were still shaking from Ezra being so close.
Blood pounding from the warning that had grunted from his mouth.
“Watch yourself, Little Trespasser, or you’re going to find out.”
Shivers streaked down my spine.
I was pretty sure the way his honey eyes had turned molten when he’d looked at me was going to hunt me down in my dreams.
The way he’d stared, making me feel like the towel I’d been wrapped in wasn’t covering an inch.
The way he’d gobbled up the sight of me standing in the doorway dripping wet.
And then I’d done it. I’d looked. Sure he’d been hard and pressing at his jeans.
Need throbbed at my center. I might have been experiencing a boatload of reservations, but my body was certain of one thing—I really, really wanted to find out.
Crap. What had I been thinking, spitting out those inane words, pushing into the energy that wrapped us in chains?
Palpable temptation.
But that was the thing about temptation. Sometimes it was too powerful to resist.
I should have pretended I hadn’t heard the clamor at the door, the thousand tiny fists that had banged at the glass. For a split second, I’d been terrified that something had been wrong, so I’d gone running from the bedroom and into the living room, only to grind to a stop when I saw the three eager, smiling faces standing at the door.
Ezra’s children.
I’d almost turned right around and escaped back into the safety of the bedroom. But God, they were too adorable out there, bouncing on their toes as they’d peeked inside like they were getting ready to meet their new best friend.
And now I’d been wrangled into dinner.
It wasn’t like I wasn’t hungry. The café had been extra busy today, and I’d been flat out for all eight hours of my shift. With the little sleep that I’d gotten, I was exhausted…and I’d worked up a mean appetite. I’d planned on heading to the grocery store so I could stock my fridge before that plan had been obliterated by the cute invitation.
One only a monster could refuse.
So here I was, pulling on a cute sundress and a white jean jacket to keep out the cool.
My knees continued to knock as I stepped out the back door of the guest house.
The fall day had almost completely faded away, and it’d tossed pinks and oranges and the deepest blues across the horizon.
I remained on the tiny back porch for a second, trying to get my bearings, to clear my mind and body of the reckless desire that Ezra had hypnotized me with.
This was not a big thing. I was simply meeting my neighbors.
