“My momma always taught me to look on the bright side. Fancy’s all I got.”
Those talented—erm, devilish—lipsspread in a smile. “Feeling something again, aren’t you?”
She was feeling a need for a hole in her head. Be more useful than feeling intrigued by him. “Nausea, but I’m sure it’ll pass before you’re out of the parking lot.”
“Been thinking about you.” He leaned closer. “Imagine you hear that all the time though. Might even be good sometimes. Like when it’s someone other than your momma, your boss, or your parole officer.”
Dollars to dandelions, the man was sniffing around for his boar. “Or my ex-husband. Let’s not leave him out.”
“Has anyone ever told you you’re fascinating?”
His voice was too heavy on the sincerity and too light on the sarcasm. She didn’t like it.
“If you want something, go on and spit it out.” She lifted the grocery bag in her lefthand. “I got milk spoiling here.”
“You have a bag of okra and squash.” He pushed off the wall. “But I’d be happy to walk you home to see to it that your groceries get put away.”
He’d be happy to snoop around her apartment, looking for Gertrude.
As if she’d be stupid enough to put the boar in her apartment. And even if she’d had temporary insanity, Tara wouldn’t have let her. “Aw, that’s just too kind. But I wouldn’t want you getting any ideas about my intentions toward you if I let you in my apartment. I know how you boys get confused when the kissing starts. If you can call that kissing.”
His gaze went smoky as it dipped to her lips. “No, kissing wasn’t the right word for it, was it?”
She hated when he agreed with her. “Definitely not.”
“More like making love with our mouths,wasn’t it?”
Zing!There went her panties, melting themselves off. “You are just too precious for words, bless your heart.” She patted his cheek.
Huge mistake.
His skin was hot and stubbled, and getting close enough to touch meant close enough to smell. He carried a scent of pine and pool water over something earthy and male, and her primitive urges made her gaze snag on his lips.
His cocky, smirking, outrageously shapely lips.
He angled his body so she was half-trapped against the wall. “No shame in admitting you’re attracted to me.”
“My momma taught me not to lie.” And if her momma were in her grave, she’d be rolling over. As it was, she probably already had a long list of reasons she’d roll over when shegot there.
“Are you fighting this because we got off on the wrong foot? Or is it because you’re insane?”
“Don’t make me bless your heart twice.”
He wasn’t touching her, but he wasn’t leaving much room for the Holy Ghost either. “What are you afraid of, Kaci?”
Nothing she’d admit to him. She barely liked to admit any of her fears to herself. “Not a danged thing.”
He held her gaze without blinking. “Besides losing?”
“I never lose. And what are you afraid of?”
Where his eyes had been dark magnets a moment before, they were doors now. “Not a danged thing,” he parroted.
“Oh, sugar,” Kaci breathed, “you’re as much a liar as I am.”
His cheek twitched. “I don’t know if anyone’s as much a liar as you are.”
He might have a point. But the man was hiding something. “You got a secret, Captain Wheeler. And I’m fixin’ to find out what it is.”
