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Drawing, he realized when he got closer She was sketching on her pad, oblivious to the rooot about halfway across the diner, then suddenly she went still, lifted her head, and s flickered across her face, with heat leading the way But what grabbed him by the throat and held on was the reluctant affection

She wanted hiht back But she also liked him She didn’t want to, but she did Inexplicably buoyed by that, he slid into her side of the booth, pressing his thigh to hers "Hey"

"Hey" As always, she closed her sketch book and slid it away fro to let s?"

"I don’t know They’re sort of personal"

He leaned in close "You’ve shared your body with ave hi"

Enjoying the sound of her a, he let one of his own escape "One of these days, you’re going to want to share with ain, less of a shove this ti"

He didn’t move, but he did enjoy her hands on him, one on his arered as if she couldn’t help herself "I’ot to be hungry," she said, purposelythat sentence "At least let ht? Or a double-double?"

They’d shared a double-double just last night, and it hadn’t been food And actually, she’d gotten asms Maybe even a quadruple He smiled at the memory, and she pointed at him

"Stop that," she said

"Stop what?"

"You knohat You’re thinking things"

He laughed "Okay, you caught s"

She looked around to see if anyone was paying theht that the place was nearly emptied out Only two customers were at the counter and one at a table on the far side of the diner Leaning in, Matt put his mouth to the sweet spot just beneath As you think I’?"

She actually blushed beet red, which was so adorably revealing that he laughed She shoved hih more

"You’re crazy," she said

Yes It was entirely possible that he was crazy Crazy for her

Riley walked by She earing ratty jeans, battered sneakers, a sweatshirt he recognized as A a tray of dirty glasses and dishes and a very large chip on her shoulder Matt looked at Aot her a job," she said, and when he s deal"

But it was "You’re helping her"

"Anyone would"

"That’s the thing," he said "They wouldn’t They don’t"

She stared at hiood person and some sort of decent influence"

"You are" He reached out and pushed a strand of hair back off her face, stroking it behind her ear "You don’t give yourself enough credit"

She was already shaking her head "You don’t know h It’s all there in your eyes"

Those eyes met his now, filled with a waret used to

"Your life has been very different from mine," she said

"Does it matter?"

"Depends"

"On what?"

She looked around the diner, then back at him And then she put her hand on her sketchbook and pushed it across the table toward him

Not one to squander an opportunity, Matt put his hand over hers on the book "Yeah?"

She paused and then pulled her hand free "Yeah"

He held her gaze, smiled at her, then opened the book and found hi talent leaping off the page Each draas a rendering of the Pacific Northwest in sole Rock, Four Lakes, Sierra Meadows, and Widow’s Peak, she’d done the them in colored pencil, so perfectly that he could almost smell the pines and feel the breeze "A"

"Thanks" Her cheeks were a little pink with the praise, s before

He flipped back to Sierra Meadows "This is close to where I found you that night, when you were… not lost"

That earned hiht you shared your tent"

"Which has been in heavy rotation in my fantasies ever since"

"You have soer Hot Buns?"

"No, I have a pale blue panty fetish"