I was a blubbering fool.
This man set me totally off balance. He was so different from the men I was used to back in San Francisco.
Rougher.
Unpolished and raw.
More dangerously beautiful than any man had the right to be.
Maybe it was because he reminded me a tiny bit of Aaron. The asshole back in high school who’d had a hand in the breaking of my heart.
But this was more.
Different.
Everything about Rex Gunner was unique.
Blinding in his darkness.
Warm in his coldness.
“I just—” I gestured back to my house across the street. “I was making my gramma’s cherry pie and was missing almond extract when I saw a light on over here. I thought I would take a chance.”
All moments matter. We just rarely know how important they are until the chance to act on them has already passed.
Was this one of those moments that mattered?
And why did I feel like I had to take this chance?
4
Rex
Lust sieged my body as I stared at her standing in the moonlight like some kind of vision.
Like some kind of wicked enchantress with the face of an angel.
Baking my fucking favorite pie, nonetheless.
Her scent was all around me. Cherries and sugar.
My mouth watered, and I clenched my fists in an effort to keep myself from reaching out and taking a taste for myself.
Maybe I was still back in bed and this was just a new element of the nightmares that haunted me night after night.
If this were a dream, I’d be inviting her in and sinking into that tight body. Fucking her hard and wild. Just the way I liked it. That would be right before she grew fangs and ripped me apart. Hell, with the way she was looking at me, it was clear she was already poised to tear me to shreds.
“Some chances aren’t worth taking,” I said, voice rough with warning. She needed to know she was crossing into territory where she wasn’t welcome. Banging on my door in the middle of the night was completely off-limits. How could this girl possibly think this was okay?
I set my forearm high on the jamb, knowing every inch of me was bristling with the challenge.
All except for my dick. Apparently, that was the only part of me that didn’t seem pissed off at the intrusion.
Her strong chin lifted in her own challenge. “No? Haven’t you ever heard you never know if you don’t try?”
“And how many doors have gotten slammed in your face because of that philosophy?”
“More than I could count. And why do I get the feeling you’re about to add another to that number?”
