“What are you afraid of then?” he asked, but didn’t wait around for her answer. He nudged her elbow higher as he took the cap off of the antibiotic ointment. When he squeezed some onto his finger, he waited. But she didn’t answer him.
“I’m waiting, Sage,” he warned, lightly dabbing the ointment onto the scrape.
She hissed and flinched away.
“Am I hurting you?” he asked, noticing the heightened color in her cheeks. And her irises were larger.
“No. But…” she stepped back again. “I can’t do it.”
He looked at her curiously. “Can’t do what?”
She stared up at him, those big, green eyes fringed by the long lashes…and he was lost. Lost in those green depths, in the trembling of her lips and that lush mouth.
“Sage?” he prompted, feeling the need to just lean down and kiss her. To feel those soft lips against his, to taste her and finally find out what it would feel like to have her soft curves pressed against his body.
“I’m fine,” she whispered and rushed out of the bathroom.
When Arik stepped out of the bathroom as well, he found her standing in the hallway, one hand pressed against the wall as she breathed deeply, her eyes closed.
Interesting, he thought.
But he wasn’t going to act on that silent signal unless she gave him a more obvious sign that she was interested. He wasn’t the kind of man who would pressure a woman.
“Here,” he said, handing her the tube of antibiotic cream. “Be sure to put this on several times a day. I don’t like the look of that scrape.” He stepped around her, heading back into the main room. “I’ll go rescue your vacuum cleaner, then I’ll get out of your hair.”
“Arik?” she called out, stopping his momentum.
He turned, then watched as her hands fluttered slightly. Relenting, he turned to fully face her. “What’s up, honey?” he prompted, seeing the indecision in her eyes.
She shrugged with one shoulder and he could tell that she was about to ask him something important, but she wanted it to come off as casual.
“I was just…wondering…if maybe you…I don’t know,” she sighed, her shoulders sagging slightly. She stared down at her pink boots for a moment, then took a deep breath and continued. “Would you like to stay for dinner? I mean…I could order a pizza. I know I’m not a very good cook. I’m trying. And I know that you eat everything just because you’re really nice. So, I won’t cook. If you’d like to stay, I’d order pizza and…well, we could just…watch a movie?”
“I could eat pizza,” he replied. “Depends on the movie.”
She seemed…relieved, he thought. Relieved about what? First a trembling response to his nearness, and now an almost desperate plea for him to stay? Part of that was sexual, it had to be. The other part…it wasn’t sexual. She was hiding something. Something important.
Something that scared her.
Damn it, she was hiding something!
“What kind of movie do you prefer?”
He chuckled. “How about a mystery?” he offered, just to see her reaction.
She did more of that lip biting thing and he almost groaned as yet another stab of lust hit him.
“What if I looked for a comedy? Or an action movie? Isn’t there another one of those car chase movies out now?”
He suspected that she was talking about the “Fast and Furious” series, but he doubted she was truly interested in those films. Which reinforced his suspicion that something was going on. Something that she didn’t want to tell him about, but that terrified the bejeezus out of her.
“Yeah. We could watch one of those if you’d like.”
He moved a bit closer and watched her blush again. Damn, he’d definitely been missing something here. But still, she was scared. Better to figure out the mystery now, then work on the other issue later.
“How about if we find a comedy to watch?” he offered.
She smiled slightly, then nodded. “That could be fun.”
He nodded and backed away while she moved into the family room, glancing over her shoulder. To make sure he followed? Or to make sure he wasn’t too close? Both?
“Why don’t you relax and I’ll order the pizza?” she offered. “What toppings do you like?”
“I’m an extra cheese and sausage kinda guy. But I like just about everything,” he replied. He watched as she sat at her computer and started typing. A moment later, she stopped and peered out the windows. The sky had darkened over the past twenty minutes and she nervously went to the windows to pull the blinds. What the hell was going on?
“How about if I go rescue your vacuum cleaner, then lock up my car?” He moved towards the front door and called out. “I’ll be right back.”
Arik picked up the vacuum cleaner and set it inside the door. Looking around, he waited, listening. He wasn’t exactly sure what he was listening for, but he paused, his instincts whispering a vague warning.
Why was Sage so nervous? When she’d first moved here, she’d been fearless! She’d been so outrageously adventurous, daring, and crazy in love with the freedom the open skies and wide open spaces that Wyoming offered. Arik had watched her, noticed her lifting her beautiful face up to the sunshine and smiling. Just…smiling! It had been stunning!
She was still beautiful, but there was something going on. He could feel it in his bones. After years in the military and then on the police force, Arik had learned to trust his instincts. It had saved his life too many times.
And right now, his instincts were screaming that something was very, very wrong.
He just had to figure out what that was. Because he knew that Sage wouldn’t tell him. At least, not until she learned to trust him.
Arik walked around the perimeter of her
