“A little less face eating would have been nice.”
“Yeah, but not as scary. Man, I loved those kinds of movies when I was a kid.”
“You liked being scared?”
“Sure.”
“What about nightmares?”
“I shared a room with my brother Dylan, and I figured if any monsters got in, the two of us could take them.” He grinned as he added, “I was kind of cocky back then.”
“Back then? I’ve got news for you, hotshot. You still are.”
He laughed. “Hotshot? I come from a family of eight, and we were all hotshots at one time or another.”
“Where do you fit in?”
“I’m third down from the top. There’s Theo, the oldest, then Nick, then me, then Dylan, Mike, two sisters, Jordan and Sydney, and then baby Zack. He’s still a wild man.”
She nudged his shoulder. “I’ll bet you gave your parents gray hair when you were a child. It’s lucky you grew up. But I guess I did some pretty foolish things too.”
“Is that a boast?”
When she didn’t answer, he nudged her shoulder.
“I’m sure I was just as reckless as you were,” she finally said.
They then spent the next hour trying to one-up each other with the dumb stunts they’d pulled as children. Alec won hands down.
“How come all of your stories about your childhood involve power tools?” she asked.
He laughed. “Not all, just some. How come you never mention your parents in any of your stories?”
“I know I told you my father died when I was little, and my mother was never at home. I remember saying good night to her over the phone.”
“Now, that’s just sad.”
She laughed. “No it isn’t. It’s just the way things were.”
“That’s no way for a little girl to grow up. How come you turned out so normal?”
“Who says I’m normal?”
“I do. I’ll bet that I know just about everything there is to know about you.” He was teasing her and being very arrogant. “I know what you like and what you don’t like.”
“I doubt that,” she said.
“You hate salmon; you’re allergic to strawberries, and you sneeze whenever you’re around roses.”
She retaliated. “You’re a ketchup freak. You put it on everything, even peanut butter sandwiches. You hate thin-crust pizza, and you aren’t allergic to anything.”
“My turn again? Okay. You’re very competitive; you’re a fullblown liberal trapped in a family of conservatives, and honest to God, I don’t know how that happened; you think you’re good at hiding your emotions, but you’re not, and you don’t trust men or marriage.”
He had touched a nerve, and she sounded a bit defensive when she responded. “You’re far more competitive than I am; you think you’re a liberal, but you’re really very conservative; you have strong, unbendable values, and, Alec, I do trust some men.”
“And marriage?”
“My mother was married twice, and both of her husbands were unfaithful. I don’t want to make her mistakes, and I’ve learned there’s no such thing as now and forever.”
“Unless you marry the right man.”
“That’s the trick, isn’t it? Knowing who’s right and who’s wrong. I think it’s all a guessing game.”
“No, it isn’t,” he argued. “And it’s not a science either.”
“Oh? Then how will you know who’s right for you?”
“Are you asking me to describe my perfect woman?”
“There’s no such thing as a perfect woman.”
“Sure there is,” he said.
“Oh? What does she look like?”
Their arms were touching, and neither one of them moved away. “She has dark hair.”
“Yes?”
“And blue eyes. The color of violets. Incredible blue eyes.”
He was leaning down toward her now, and she thought he might kiss her. She hoped he would.
“She’s got a great body.”
“Of course she does.”
“Are you mocking my fantasy woman?”
“No,” she said, smiling. “Go on. What else? Does she have magic powers?”
He leaned a little closer. “It’s gonna be magic when we’re together.”
Oh, God, he was going to kiss her. She held her breath.
“And long legs,” he said, his voice whisper-soft now.
His knuckles gently trailed down the side of her face. She had to force herself to stay still and not lean into the caress. Why wouldn’t he kiss her? What was taking him so long?
“Does this perfect woman have a brain, or is not having a brain what makes her perfect.”
“Of course she has a brain. She’s very intelligent, has a quick wit, and she makes me laugh. She’s got this wonderful combination of vulnerability and stubbornness. And that, Regan, is my perfect woman.”
His mouth was just inches from hers. She closed her eyes and waited.
He tweaked her nose. “Got to go.”
She blinked. “You… what?”
“Got to go.”
He had his tennis shoes on, his laces tied, and was halfway to the door before she had her wits about her.
She stood, grabbed the bowl of popcorn she’d forgotten was in her lap, and put it on the coffee table.
“You have fun teasing me, don’t you?”
He was tucking his T-shirt into his jeans. “You make it easy.” He opened the door and stepped out into the hall. “Come here, Regan.”
The way he was looking at her made her stomach flutter. She walked over to the door. “Yes?”
“Let me hear you flip the dead bolt.”
“Oh. Yes, okay.”
He pulled the door closed. “Night.”
She could have sworn she heard him laughing as he walked away.
Chapter Twenty-nine
Regan awakened Saturday morning to another foul-weather day. There’d been so much rain in the past three weeks, she thought she might start sprouting mold. Her allergies were driving her nuts too. She sneezed at least five times before she’d even gotten out of bed, and when she looked at herself in the bathroom mirror, she grimaced. Her eyes were so bloodshot she looked as if she’d tied one on the night before. Tonight there was a large, formal charity event, and she hoped she could get her allergies under control, otherwise everyone would think she’d been crying.
A hot shower helped, but not much. She still had to use eye-drops, nasal spray, and her inhaler after she got dressed. She hated being dependent on medicines to control her allergies, but at least it wasn’t an all-year thing. Spring was the worst, then fall, but she managed to function without any medication in the winter and summer.
She put her hair up in a ponytail and was ready to go.
Detective Wincott had insisted that Alec take the day off, and when she left her suite to go downstairs to her office to tear through more files, she was accompanied by one of the new security guards Aiden had hired, an ex-
