“I left her with you this morning an angry, bitter teen and came home to…well, Sammy.”
He was awfully close now, and she should probably step back. Turn and walk away.
“I’m glad I could help. I like spending time with her. Even…angry, bitter teen time. She’s just…great.”
He nodded. “Horrible kitchen experiments and all.”
“It reallywasterrible.”
He chuckled, the sound kind of rumbling through her out on his driveway. Standing just a shade too close and wanting to lean into that.
She cleared her throat. “Thanks for dinner. I’m sure I’ll see you some day this week.” She would have taken a step back, but his next words stopped her in her tracks.
“I liked coming home and seeing you in my house.”
OhGod, that wasn’t fair. Especially the way he said it. All low and…intimate.
He reached out, his hand—big and warm and calloused—touched her cheek. “You do something to me, Lia Blair. I haven’t quite figured out what.”
Maybe that was why she didn’t know how to stop this. Because he did something to her too, and she was just as in the dark about what it was. What she was supposed to do about it.
Then he lowered his mouth to hers, pausing a breath away from actually touching, like he was waiting for her to tell him not to.
She should absolutely do that. Just explain it wasn’t a good idea. But her heart was an echoing drumbeat in her ears, her body some other entity her rational thoughts didn’t have control of. Because she mounted no objections, and leaned into the warmth radiating off of him.
And then his mouth was on hers. The kiss was gentle, but not exactlychaste. The only word she could come up with was…some kind of exploration. She couldfeela subtle wave of warmth sweep through her muscles, one by one, until she’d completely relaxed into him.
She thought she might have been able to stay right here forever, the slow, thudding beat of her heart a perfect soundtrack to the best kiss of her life, byfar.
But he eased his mouth away, those direct blue eyes right on hers when she managed to blink hers open. She was pretty sureher skin wasvibrating. Had anyone ever kissed her like that? Made her feel like some imperative part of…everything.
His thumb grazed along her jaw, his other fingers resting gently against her neck. “Have you decided about dinner on Saturday?”
This was…probably not the best line to be walking. She had secrets she could probably never share with him. He was apolice officer. Could he possibly understand all the twisted parts of her past even if shecouldtell him?
Which she couldn’t.
But she did not tell him no. She did not pull away from the warmth that seemed to radiate from his body or the directness in those blue eyes. She simply said, “Yes.”
His mouth curved, that hand still on her face, his thumb moving up and down her jawline. A soft caress she couldn’t possibly step away from. No one touched her, certainly not like she was special, desirable, interesting.
“Is that a yes you’ve been thinking about it, or a yes you’ll go?”
Here was her out. Her chance to back off.
She didn’t take it. “Both.”
“I’m dropping Sammy off at the Thompsons’ at five. I’ll…pick you up at six?”
Lia nodded. She didn’t trust her voice. She didn’t trustherself.
“Then it’s a date.”
A date. Lia swallowed and then nodded. “Night, Gard.” She had to force herself to turn and walk for her car. The air around her suddenly cold so she shivered. She slid into the car, let out a slow breath, then steeled herself for one last look.
He was standing on his porch again, hands deep in his pockets, watching her go. He lifted his hand in a wave, so Lia did the same, wondering what thehellshe thought she was doing.
Apparently she was dating Corporal Gard Fairhurst, and even knowing that it could only lead to some terrible mistake, shecouldn’t stop the grin from spreading across her face as she drove home.
