Who knew there was more than one?”
She fought a smile, but her color was high. “You’d be surprised.”
“Nothing surprises me.” He set the book down on the table and gave her a thorough once-over. Twice. “Not even how gorgeous you clean up.”
She gave a self-conscious half-laugh. “You got the job, John. Flattery isn’t necessary.”
Actually, it was. He didn’t have a minute to waste. “Not flattery, honesty.” And he meant that. Coming closer, he reached out for her hand. “Thanks for saying yes to dinner with me.”
She reluctantly gave her hand, her dark eyes lit with distrust and a little confusion. Smart girl.
“Consider it part of your job training,” she said. “I’m happy to tell you everything you’ll need to know about working at Casa Blanca.” She managed to tug out of his fingers.
“You think that’s why I want to have dinner with you?” He shook his head, laughing softly. “You don’t give yourself enough credit.”
She held his gaze for a beat, a thousand questions passing through her eyes.
“I don’t date much,” she finally admitted.
“Then I’m doubly honored.” He stepped closer and put his hand on her back. “You sure you won’t change your mind and let me take you on the bike?”
“In a dress?”
“Maybe too adventurous,” he agreed. “But we can take a ride tomorrow. After breakfast.”
She turned to the door, but he heard her laugh.
“What? You don’t eat breakfast?”
“You’re good, you know that? Really, really good.” She led him to a mud-splattered Toyota pickup, the back bed loaded with bags of soil and some gardening tools. “I’m afraid my truck isn’t much more elegant than your bike.”
“It works for me. Do you want me to drive?”
“No, I’ll drive.”
“Then at least”—he scooted ahead of her—“let me be a gentleman who gets the door.”
She let him open it. “The same gentleman who suggests breakfast before dinner?”
Trapping her with the door and his arm, he leaned into her from behind, inhaling deeply to get a whiff of something as sweet and floral as the explosion of purple flowers lining the driveway. “I’m optimistic.”
He felt her draw in a steadying breath before sliding behind the wheel.
He rounded the truck, hoping he still had his touch in the dating department. He’d done little more than pick up stray women for easy sex in the past few years. Now he was a man on a mission.
A mission, he conceded, that was made much easier by how good she looked and sweet she smelled. He could fake a lot of things, but he sure didn’t have to fake the chemistry they both felt.
Was that a good thing, or was it only going to make his full-scale seduction worse?
“There a problem, John?” Tessa asked as he got into the passenger seat.
Yes, damn it. There were so many problems he didn’t know where to start. Every time he had a second, third, or fourth thought, he’d simply remember why he was doing this: Shiloh and Sam. He wanted them back in his arms and in his life. If some nameless face on a Protected Persons review board said he needed a marriage certificate to reach that goal, so be it.
“Nothing we can’t solve over dinner.” He added his very best smile. “And breakfast.”
Chapter Nine
John approached the hostess stand oozing confidence and control. “Brown,” he said quietly. “Sorry we’re a few minutes late.”
Tessa lifted both eyebrows in surprise, glancing around the quaint Italian restaurant tucked into an obscure Naples neighborhood. “You made reservations?”
“I told you I’m optimistic.” He put a possessive hand on her back to guide her.
“You called while I was changing?”
“No, after I left you this morning.”
And there went those warning bells again. The same ones she’d heard the second time a stranger called him an upstanding citizen and the same ones that had deafened her when he studied her profile so intently in the car.
“First of all,” she said as she tucked into the back booth. “I wouldn’t call what you did ‘leaving.’”
He slid in next to her. “What would you call it?”
She glanced sideways. “Unexpected. But I overstepped my bounds with personal questions.”
“Not at all.” He was close enough that she could feel the heat and strength of him, the power of his thigh next to hers, the pressure of his shoulder. Instead of feeling trapped, though, she felt very—secure.
Which was flat-out nuts. “Are you really going to sit on this side of the table?”
He chuckled softly. “Am I making you uncomfortable?”
“No, but I can’t see you.”
He instantly transferred to the seat across from her with remarkable agility and speed for a man who had to be six-one and a good—no, a
She let him close his fingers around hers, shaking her head.
“What?” he asked, all innocence and sex appeal.
“Stop pretending.”
John’s expression changed instantly. All the light and laughter went out of his sky-blue eyes, and his mouth grew serious. He looked almost guilty. “I’m not pretending.”
Way in the back of Tessa’s head, she heard that warning bell again. “I meant stop pretending that this is perfectly normal.”
“Dinner dates aren’t normal?”
“This,” she said, freeing her hand from his grip to gesture from her to him and back again. “Like I said, we had a rocky start and you flounced out and—”
He gave a belly laugh. “I can honestly say I’ve never been accused of
“I mean as much as a man your size can flounce.”
He leaned forward, managing to snag her hand again—not that she actually made it that difficult—to weave his fingers through hers.
“Hey,” he whispered, the single syllable as crazy-sexy as any kiss. “Pay attention, now. Here comes the grovel.”
“Better make it good.”
He cleared his throat and tightened his grip. “I am abjectly apologetic for any unexpected, abrupt, or rude flouncing”—the word made him have to fight a smile—“that I may have done this morning.”
“And…”
“And? You want more groveling?”
“I want an explanation. Why did you leave so suddenly?”
For a moment he didn’t speak, but she could tell his mind was whirring and he had trouble swallowing. So whatever he said next would be a lie. She knew it.
“I was hiding something.”
“I knew it.” She leaned back, a smug satisfaction taking hold.
“You did?”
“I knew you were not being straight with me.”
A slow, evil smile curled his lips. “That’s sort of the problem, Tess. I was being, uh, straight.”
She frowned, not following at all. “No you weren’t. You were being evasive and secretive. Two of my least
