Page 36 (2/2)

Fascinated in spite of herself, she watched He pulled the jeans up, winced slightly, and then didn’t fasten the hers The ive hi beneath it, was damn fine

She’d been with particularly fine men before, but she’d never experienced such a visceral spark It felt different, too: close, a completely unexpected—and unwelcome—twist

He was still watching her as he absently shoved his fingers through his short, rumpled hair Scratched his chest

“At least let ar all in one Breakfast of cha a hand, stroking a stray strand of hair froh “Pretty a, huh?”

Yeah, and so was he “I’ve really got to go”

He cocked his head “I thought you said you were from here Born in LA”

She hadn’t said “born here” She’d always been careful not to out-and-out lie She’d said she belonged in LA “Why?”

“Because I definitely heard a Southern drawl in that pretty voice of yours” He smiled

She did not, because, , she’d stayed waaaaay too long if he was picking that up How o had she squashed that accent, and all that ith it, far, far into her past? Sie, jobs, hard work, sheer tenacity, and pure will? She was no longer poor little “Apple,” a kid who had to settle, thank God, but a wo in a crowded, broken-down mobile home full of stacks of bills that couldn’t be paid There’d been mistakes, too raves She turned to the door

Setting his hand on the wood above her head, he held the door closed “Hey,” he said quietly, wrapping his fingers around her ar her to face him “You okay?”

Sure Just as soon as she got out of here and away fro her a few hours of mindless oblivion made her think, made her remeot to go”

Still looking at her, he slowly nodded “I can see that Mia…” He went to touch her again, another stroke of those fingers she kne to be extremely talented, but this time she stepped back

His expression as he studied her was bemused, and a little confused As if maybe he’d never been walked away fro depths of those fatho that she hadn’t expected

Affection

Oh, no No, no, no, no This had to be squashed Now Like a bug “Listen,” she said in her cool business voice, the one ht was fun, we both got off, yadda yadda But now it’s the light of day and I have work And you have to…” Da, too, I’et on with it”

He nodded, watching her thoughtfully “And the next tiet it ever happened Is that it?”

Right Except there wouldn’t be a next time

“I live here now,” he said “On your street We’re going to run into each other What do you expect us to do, pretend we’ve never met?”

Hey, it was a long street

“My God,” he said with a low laugh “That’s exactly what you expect”

“Look—” She racked her brain for his name “Uh…”

He stared at her in disbelief “You don’t remember my name?”

When she only winced at this, he let out a low oath, stalked away, then whipped back “Kevin,” he said, no longer looking so laid-back or sleepy-eyed “My name is Kevin”

“I’ood at this”

“No, actually” Sinking his fingers into his hair, ht up, he shook his head “You’re far better than you think”

“I ”

“So did I” He opened the bedrooet by The space was narrow, and her breast brushed his ribs A shiver actually passed through her, startling her into stopping, into staring up into his eyes

He didn’t look away Of course he didn’t look away He’d probably never run, never avoided or ducked an issue in his life As opposed to her, who quit and ran far and fast whenever the going got tough

His hand brushed her hip, and as her body was inexplicably aware of each place where they’d touched, her pulse leapt

The beat stretched into a s It sounded like a gasp, loud in the silent room

Again his fingers brushed her hip, this ti to soothe, but this time the touch had the opposite effect because she wanted to rip her clothes off again This was bad, very bad—not only was there the aardness of realizing she still wanted him, but no doubt he could see that want

And yet he didn’t speak, didn’ther hips

“No,” she said to his unspoken question, to her need, to every daood”

“Oh, come on You can do better than that”

Already halfway down the hall, she looked back “Excuse me?”

He stood there propping up the doorjamb with his shoulder, bare-chested, barefooted, jeans low on his hips, his expression assuring he saw right through her “I thought maybe you’d also want to slam my character in some way to make sure that I don’t call you or try to pick up where we left off”

She struggled not to wince

“Because that’s what you’d like to do, right?” he pressed “Piss me off so there’s no chance in hell I’ll want to be with you again?”

She opened her ain

He just waited with the patience of a saint A rough and rueous saint

Or a teacher

Yeah, she remembered now He’d told her he was a teacher A teacher in a leather jacket on a motorcycle God, her hormones hadn’t had a chance

But they had one now “Good-bye, Kevin”

“Re to be saying it again”

Against her better judgment, she turned back one more time “No I won’t”

He leaned there so negligently in that deceptively lazy pose “So you felt nothing?”

She’d felt a hell of a lot of things, ht of day now and in it all she felt was a desperate need to be gone “Absolutely nothing”

“Liar,” he chided softly

Fine She’d just do exactly as he’d accused her: reed that this was just a scratching of an itch, a one-ti”

“Yes,” he agreed with thatcalm “But that was before we mutually imploded in bed”