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I went to the wall and disengaged the alarm, then opened the door. As soon as Graham walked in, I smelled the rich aroma of Chinese food.

Score!

Not just with the food, but with Graham showing up. I’d been really bummed not seeing him this week. Now here he was, in my domain. The thought made me rejoice.

I went back to the wall and reengaged the alarm. As we started down the hall together, I turned back and checked the alarm once more.

Good, I’d set it right.

As I walked back to Graham, his eyebrow was raised. “Everything good, Joy?”

I smiled sheepishly. “Everything’s great.”

He put his arm around my shoulders, then we continued down the long hall. “Are we going to eat with the animals?” he asked. We could both hear the sound of the puppies and dogs barking as we got closer to the end of the hall.

“No, I learned my lesson after the first night. They all made sad starving-puppy and kitty faces like they’d never been fed before, which was a total lie because I’d just fed all of them. But they sat there and whined and meowed until I gave away my entire sandwich. When I told Roxie what happened the next day, she told me that human food wasn’t always good for some dogs and cats. Man, did I feel horrible. From there on out, I’ve eaten in the break room and browsed through my phone or FaceTimed with my family or Emmie or Piper.”

“In that case, lead the way.” Graham smiled. “I even brought drinks.”

We turned the corner and walked down the short hall to the break room door. There were two little tables, not that we ever used both, since we all tended to gather around just the one.

Graham started pulling paper plates and plastic utensils out of the bag, followed by cans of soda, then came the good stuff.

“What did you get?” I asked as I started to open up the white boxes.

“Two egg rolls, four crab wontons, four steamed dumplings with pork, beef with scallops and vegetables, crispy honey chicken, sesame shrimp, Mongolian beef, and finally, vegetable lo mein.”

“Oh, no!” I cried out.

His head whipped around. “What, Joy? What’s wrong?”

“You didn’t get any fried rice! How can we have Chinese food without fried rice?” I wailed.

He looked like I had shot him. Panic-stricken, he looked around the table, then back in the bag. “Wait, they gave us some steamed white rice. That’s good, right?”

My giggle soon turned into full-fledged laughter.

He looked at me, his eyes wide. “My God, woman, you mean you were joking?” He sounded appalled. He shook his head and eyed me up and down, his gaze changing to an assessing look. A look that made me shiver. Graham reached out, then grabbed my hips, his big hands sinking into my soft flesh. My shiver turned into a shudder as he pulled me in close. “You really are a smartass, aren’t you?”

I couldn’t respond. I was still laughing. The look on his face had been priceless. Yeah, there had been panic, but there also had been that part where he couldn’t believe I was such a picky little princess and wondered what in the hell he had gotten himself into.

Yep, priceless.

Then I looked into his eyes. His beautiful hazel eyes had turned mostly dark green with desire, and my laughter faded away as my breath caught in my throat and my mouth went dry. Graham pulled me closer until I found myself pressed up against his hard body. One strong arm looped around my waist while his other warm, calloused hand cupped the base of my skull.

“You know, it’s been a long, long time since I’ve panicked,” he drawled.

I gulped.

“There’s a price to pay for freaking me out.” His low voice sent shivers down my spine. He lowered his head even more. I could smell the mint of his toothpaste. I wanted a longer… deeper… taste.

“What’s the price, Graham?” My voice was barely a whisper.

“This.” His lips gently covered mine, and I jolted. It was just a whisper of a touch, but the electric charge I felt was like nothing I’d ever felt before. I pushed upward, trying to get a deeper caress.

Graham pulled back. “I’ve been wanting to do this since the first day I met you.”

“What?” He bent back down and slowly licked my bottom lip. I moaned at the decadent touch. It felt like he was teasing and teaching and tempting me all at the same time.