Strong And Sexy

“Sleep.” He was right behind her. Not quite touching, but she could feel his body heat. “You look like you could use it.”

She had to close her eyes and work on controlling her voice so that it didn’t shake like the rest of her was. “Thanks. Thanks for being here for me tonight, and thanks for calling your brother. I appreciate it. I’ll be fine, though. You can go.”

“You’re going to sleep here?”

“No, actually. I think I’ll go to work and sleep there. I’ve done that before,” she said, hoping to ward off his protest. “A lot. I’m very comfortable there.”

His hands slid to her hips and turned her around to face him. “How about somewhere you won’t be alone?”

“I have the animals.”

“I was thinking of the human persuasion. Preferably female.”

“I could call Reena,” she said. “But it’s nearly one in the morning. Maybe I could just go knock on Alan’s door.”

“Is he really your friend?”

“He bought me pizza on Monday.”

“Why?”

“To be nice.”

He let out a sound that wasn’t quite a laugh. “Dani, guys do not bring pizza to be nice unless they’re gay. Is he gay?”

“No.”

“Then he brought pizza to get into your pants.”

She choked out a laugh. “I don’t think he thinks like that.”

“Please,” he said with disgust. “With that sexy laugh of yours alone, he’d think like that.”

She blinked. He thought her laugh was sexy?

“Yeah,” he said to her unspoken question. “You’re sexy as hell, okay? You’re also smart, you’re beautiful, and you have this way of looking at a guy that makes him want…”

“What?” she whispered, fascinated, overwhelmed. Aroused.

“In your pants,” he said frankly.

She concentrated on breathing for a moment. “Is that a compliment?”

“It’s a fact. What about a hotel?”

She thought of her checking account, which didn’t really have room for a hotel bill. Maybe a motel. Maybe a really cheap, out-of-the-way motel-

“My place,” he said. “I’ll take the couch,” he added when she looked at him in surprise. He stood there, big and tall and not quite as easygoing as he’d like her to believe, but the offer was genuine.

And her immediate response, which was hopeful nipples and a tightening between her thighs, was just as genuine.

And wrong. So very wrong, because she was not going to go there, not going to give him a chance to do a tap dance on her heart-and her good parts-and then move on. No, thank you. Easier to pass now, to just keep passing.

“Dani?”

“I…” Desperately want to say yes. “I’m grateful for the offer, but that wouldn’t be fair to you.” Before she could betray herself, she left him standing there and moved into her bedroom, where she changed into jeans and a sweater.

When she came out, he was waiting. “Fair to me?”

“I’m not sleeping on your couch, okay?” Even if I want to. “Or in your bed.” Which I really want to. “Or anywhere with you.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want to.” God, she was such a liar. “Okay, I want to. But it’d be a really bad idea.”

Leaning back against the wall, he crossed his arms, looking bemused. “So you’ll kiss me in the closet when you don’t know me, but now that you do know me, you won’t sleep in my house?”

“How much longer am I going to have to live down the whole closet thing?”

“At least until daylight.”

She sighed. “Look, thanks. Okay? Thanks more than you know. But no to the sleepover. I’m going to my office.”

Standing there in those sophisticated, elegant clothes that had been soaked two different times over the course of the evening and were still holding up-much like the man-he held out a hand. “Fine. But I’m giving you a ride. Come on,” he said, wriggling his fingers when she hesitated. “Let me help you that much, at least.”

She slipped her hand into his, and together they went back out into the night.

The rain had let up. It was merely misting now, falling out of the sky like a silvery spiderweb. The ride was short, and silent, and as they pulled into the zoo parking lot, the place dark and more eerie than she could ever remember it being, making her shiver as the niggling of doubt hit her.

“It’s not too late to change your mind.”

Her mind hadn’t changed. She still wanted him. Waaaay too much to sleep anywhere near him. “I’m going to be fine.” She rattled her keys and forced a smile. See? Look at me, all fine.

Reaching up, he flipped on the interior light of his car and leaned in. “Smile again.”

“What?” She shook her head. “Why?”

“Because I want to see if it’s real.”

“You don’t know me well enough to know what my real smile looks like.”

“Now, see, I think I do. Give it to me.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I’ve seen it.”

“When?”

“When I kissed you.” Unhooking her seat belt, he turned her to face him. Cupping her jaw, he slid his thumb over her lips. “When I kissed you, you smiled at me. Your eyes sparkled, and your face…” Still holding her, his lips curved. “It’s so beautiful it takes my breath.”

“You need your eyes checked.”

“And even with all that, you know what makes you the most attractive?”

“My sweet disposition?”

His dimple flashed. “Your sense of humor.”

“Ah.” She nodded. “The whole ‘she has a great personality’ kind of beautiful.”

He held her gaze. “Actually, that’s the best kind.” He tugged lightly on a strand of her hair, which she knew was so out-of-control frizzy from all the rain that she looked like a Q-tip head. “I bet you were a heartbreaker in high school.” The tips of his fingers continued to play with her hair, stroking it, smoothing it back from her face, and she had the shocking urge to stretch and purr like a kitten. Maybe even roll over and expose her belly for him to rub there too.

No. Bad Body. “I wasn’t much of a heartbreaker. We moved around a lot. I was more of a…sulker.”

“Why did you walk away, Dani? From your family? And, I’m assuming, a trust fund?”

“Why do you assume I walked away from a trust fund?”

“I’ve seen your apartment.”

She had to laugh. “Right. Well, my mother wasn’t always rich. And in those days, we didn’t exactly see eye to eye. I walked away before she married her money. And yeah, I could worm my way into the good finances now, I just don’t want to. I don’t want to live the socialite life, or date the right people, or be seen in the right clothes at the right places…” She lifted a shoulder, a little embarrassed to realize that she was opening up, with nothing more than a kind look and a touch to the face. “I want my own life.”

He smiled. And if she had to guess, she’d say it was one of his real smiles. “Like your job.”

“Like my job.”

He shook his head. “I’m trying to imagine you cleaning up elephant poop.”