His eyes darkened and his gaze dropped to her mouth. “I like you here. Besides, what are you going to do? Call the cops?”
She glared at him. “Fine.Esse foi o beijo mais quente da minha vida e eu não queria que você parasse.Happy?”
“I didn’t understand a word of that,” he said, shaking his head.
“It’s not my fault you don’t speak Portuguese. You said tell you—you didn’t specify which language I had to use.”
He closed the distance between them and kissed her hard. Maybe he’d gotten the gist of it, but no, he stopped again. “I’m letting you go on a technicality.”
He stepped back and her legs dropped from his waist before he let her slide down his body. “How busy are you going to be this weekend?”
“Why?”
“Curiosity.”
Curiosity for why? “I’m not sure. I’m going to spend Saturday and Sunday interviewing applicants and Elba said something about going out Friday night to celebrate.”
“Where does she plan on going Friday?”
“Some country bar in Raleigh she likes to go to.”
“City Limits?” he asked.
“Sounds familiar. Why?”
“There’s a couple of bars you should avoid—wanted to make sure it wasn’t one of those.”
“Elba does not like to slum, so I’m sure it’s not one of those.”
His gaze raked down her body and she would have sworn he growled low in his throat. “I need to go to work. If you’re going to be really late tonight, call me and let me know so I can make sure you get home okay.”
She shook her head. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I’m doing it anyway. Call me, Zoe.” He stared down at her, his hazel eyes searching hers.
“All right.”
His grin showed off his dimple. “Thank you.”
He left her with a too-brief kiss and weak knees. She hadn’t been lying when she’d told him that had been the hottest kiss of her life. Granted, he hadn’t understood what she’d said but that didn’t make it any less true. Some part of her mind said his protectiveness should annoy her, that he was just anothermachismoguy with too much testosterone like her brother and her ex, but it was different. It wasn’t as if he was trying to control what she did, only that he wanted to make sure she was safe while she did it. She wasn’t ashamed to say she liked it. It didn’t feel like he was being patronizing or condescending—it felt like he cared.
It was…nice. She didn’t have an issue with being taken care of. At least, not in the sense that she was helpless or wanted someone to provide for her, but having a guy who worried and wanted to make sure she was safe…? Yeah…that was hot.
Leaning against the door, she sighed and looked at the checklist tacked to her wall. Right. Coffee and a to-do list. She might not have added Tim to her list, but she had a feeling he’d just added himself.
