“Hi, Anna.” His sensuous tone curled through her body like an aphrodisiac as his familiar scent thickened her blood. Not only did that provocative aroma take her back in time, it aroused her senses and made her feel downright hot.
Edgy and distracted, her every nerve ending burned with unfettered desire. Her legs went a little rubbery and she locked her knees to keep herself upright. Once again silence hung heavy, and the tortured sound of her swallowing down the lump that had taken up residency in her throat cut through the air.
Striving for normalcy, Anna blinked her eyes tight and opened them again, convinced that she was hallucinating. Surely lack of sex had her mind conjuring up images of the guy she’d lusted after for years, because no way could her high school crush—captain of the football team and every girl’s dream—be standing before her. Years previous Daniel had gone off to the city for college, and the last place she expected to see him was here in Mason Creek, Connecticut, standing behind a masonry truck, no less. As she sorted through matters, one question remained. Why had he come back after all these years?
He gave a sexy tilt of his head, his eyes assessing her. “It’s nice to see you again.” His voice was dark and warm, his tone husky and sensual just like she’d remembered, and despite herself, she leaned into him, momentarily forgetting past hurts.
But the ever-protective Lindsay hadn’t forgotten. Not even for a minute. She cupped Anna’s arm and hauled her back. Her eyes shot daggers at Daniel when she said, “I think you should leave.”
Daniel continued to stare at Anna, but with her brain currently on overdrive, trying to process this unexpected turn of events, she could barely vocalize a response.
Deep smoldering eyes skated over her. “Do you want me to leave, Anna?” She didn’t miss the invitation or the odd ache of longing in his voice. Nor did she miss the strange way he was looking at her.
“Do you?” he asked again.
As her brains screamed yes, her body, especially the moist juncture between her legs, screamed no. No with a capital N.
“Daniel—” she croaked out, not really knowing what she was about to say.
Discretion aside and ignoring those around them, he touched her hair and that intimate gestures spread warmth through her body. “It’s been a long time.”
“Yeah, a long time,” she agreed, shocked that she could actually speak, let alone formulate a sentence.
“Too long.” Something in his voice hitched and Anna had the distinct feeling that he wasn’t at all surprised to see her, and that, unlike her, he was completely prepared for this encounter.
Was it possible that it was she who’d inspired him to come home?
She quickly dismissed that ridiculous notion as soon as it hit, and resisted the urge to slap her forehead. Good God, she’d spent years trying to get over him, and it irked her that all it took was one second in his presence to have her fantasizing about Prince Charming and happily-ever-after again. With him. Him! The guy who only thought of her as a conquest, one of a handful of high school girls he’d yet to nail. Perhaps he’d come back to try again. At that thought, Anna squared her shoulders and pulled herself together. Well he could forget it. He couldn’t get into her panties back then and he certainly wasn’t about to now.
“Of course she wants you to leave,” Lindsay interjected and jerked her thumb out toward the road.
Feeling much more in control than she had seconds before, Anna touched Lindsay on the shoulder. “It’s okay. I’ve got this.”
“You sure?”
“Yes. Just give us a minute.” With that both Lindsay and Pamina stepped aside, but not far enough that they couldn’t hear their conversation, or Lindsay couldn’t intervene if she felt Anna needed her assistance.
Anna turned to Daniel. He’d only been a boy when he’d given her a hard cold dose of reality, a boy who cared about his own needs. Thankfully she’d found out what he was all about before she’d handed her heart over to him. Because once she had, she was sure there’d have been no coming back from that. In fact, maybe she should be thanking him for opening her eyes to the real world, where Prince Charming existed only in Disney movies and romance novels.
“Why are you here, Daniel?”
He gestured with a nod toward the two women hovering nearby. “I was hired by Pamina to install marble around the Jacuzzi tub and to lay brick around the fireplace.”
Anna gave a quick shake of her head. “No, what I mean is why are you here? In Mason Creek. I thought you’d moved away for good.”
He grew quiet for a moment, as if weighing his words carefully, then stated the obvious, “I’m back.”
“I can see that.” She tapped a restless foot. “What I want to know is why?”
Warm heat passed over his eyes. “Because I—” He opened his mouth to tell her, then seemed to change his mind. He gave a casual shrug and in a low, controlled voice said, “I thought it was time.”
“Last I heard you hated Mason Creek, and everything about it. And when you went off to college, you had no intentions of ever coming back.”
He drew back looking a little hurt, like her words had triggered some dark memory. “I’m helping my brothers with their business.”
Anna nodded. She’d completely forgotten that his older brothers had started the town’s only masonry business, very much needed now, thanks to the growth in the housing market and the boom in new home construction. But hadn’t
