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As nonchalantly as he could, he slowly finished doing up his jeans. It felt as though the air had become thick and heavy when he spotted her standing outside his bedroom. She was watching him.
By some miracle, he managed not to grin. Triumph burst through his chest and his ego begged him to do a fist-pump. Well, if she wanted to watch him, he’d let her. He was in good shape thanks to rock-climbing and swimming. Both of them helped him when he ran out of steam with the books.
He hoped she liked what she saw.
Turning, he made a show of picking up his clothes and folding them. Then he reached for his clean shirt and took his time slipping his arms into the sleeves and doing up the cuffs. He kept his head bowed so she couldn’t see his knowing smirk. He didn’t look to see if she was still there—watching. He knew she was. He felt it in his bones.
When he’d done the last button, he lifted his head and found her there, frozen at the top of the stairs, staring at him. Her eyes widened as their gazes clashed but she didn’t run. Not yet. For the space of several hard, painful heartbeats she didn’t look away. Then a flicker of something came over her face and she spun away toward the bathroom.
Sawyer thrust a hand through his hair, pushed the door shut and leaned against it. What was she doing to him? How in the hell was he meant to show what a decent, marriageable man he was when he was torturing him with long looks like that?
Playing with her had been a mistake but he couldn’t seem to help himself. He kept wanting to toy with her and yet somehow he ended up the one suffering. Now he was as hard as a stone and fighting the desire to grab her on her way out of the bathroom and throw her on the bed.
Notthe way to win her over.
The bathroom door opened and he held his breath, waiting for her footsteps. He heard her pause outside the bedroom. Every muscle in his body stiffened. Another creak and then footsteps on the stairs. He relaxed and smirked at himself. Hiding from his date? What an idiot he was.
Chapter Five
Hands in her lap, Maddie tried to appear as though she hadn’t just been caught sneaking cookies out of the cookie jar. Her entire body felt warm and prickly. She heard his bedroom door open and footsteps on the stairs. Taking a quick gulp of the wine, she shoved her hands back onto her lap and concentrated on breathing.
Breathing. Who’d have thought something so natural would become so hard at the sight of Sawyer practically naked. Every inch of him was hard, sculpted. A slash of a scar skimmed his ribs from where he’d been swimming too close to the rocks once and that ink she’d been so curious about did indeed creep into his chest in tribal patterns. And the V heading down into his jeans...
Oh God.
He came into the kitchen and she couldn’t look at him. How stupid must she have looked, standing there gaping at him? He probably thought she was that desperate that she had to get her kicks where she could.
Maybe mentioning marriage to someone gave them gawping privileges?
Darn. She didn’t think so.
The fact was, she liked what she saw very, very much. Not only did he excite her in ways she’d forgotten, he also sparked her desire in a way no man ever had. She suppressed a sigh and circled the wine glass with her finger while Sawyer served up dinner.
The meal was beautifully prepared. Simple but done with an elegance she’d never have expected from him. Maddie found herself watching him closely as he poured the sauce over her steak.
He’d changed. He cooked and he seemed kind of serious. What else didn’t know about him? He’d always had that sort of brooding thing going on but he’d never failed to do something fun and outrageous to counteract that.
Yes, he was sexy and she wanted him more than she wanted chocolate at that time of the month, but that didn’t mean she wanted to dive into a relationship with him. Did he really deserve a second chance after what he did to her?
She picked up the steak knife and gave him a smile.
“Is the steak okay?”
Maddie lifted her gaze from the meal and nodded quickly. “Yes, yes it’s beautiful.”
“You haven’t touched it yet.”
“Sorry, I was just...uh... thinking about the house.”
Disappointment flared in his eyes. “Of course.”
“I’d like to come by and look at the inside if you don’t mind.”
He forked in some steak and nodded.
“It will help me figure out what needs to be done.”
“That’s fine. I’m not busy.”
