For a moment Libby stood unmoving, a tumble of confusion and emotions assailing her. It had been a long time since she’d felt any stirrings of sexual desire, but twice in a single evening Tony had managed to remind her that she was a normal woman with a normal woman’s wants and needs.
“Okay, so you’re human,” she muttered, rousing herself from the lethargy that had momentarily gripped her. That didn’t mean she was anxious to follow through on the sparks of desire that had arced between Tony and herself. After all, she hardly knew the man and wasn’t even sure she liked him.
She quickly grabbed a few items from her closet and bathroom and shoved them into a suitcase. As she dressed, she kept her mind carefully schooled with numbness. She was unable to comprehend the forces that were driving her from her home, and unwilling to dwell on the force that crackled the air between herself and the man in the next room.
With a final look around the bedroom, she grabbed her suitcase and walked out.
Tony was pacing the living room floor, his movements as agile and lithe as a leopard’s. He’d pulled his shirt back on, effectively hiding the smooth skin that had earlier tormented her. He turned as she entered the room and his mouth curved into a tight smile. “Ready?”
She nodded, clutching her suitcase tightly in her hand, wondering what they were going to do, where they were going to go. Was she a fool to trust this man? What did she know of him really? What other choice did she have?
“Let’s get out of here before we encounter any more unwelcome guests.” He opened the apartment door, looking out to make sure nobody suspicious lurked in the darkened hallway. Libby started to leave the apartment, then turned back with a cry of dismay. “Twilight. What am I going to do about Twilight?” She looked at Tony helplessly. “I can’t just leave him here all alone.”
Tony sighed with resignation and touched the scratches on his chest. “I guess we’ll have to bring him along,” he said unhappily.
With a grateful look, she handed him her suitcase, then called to the cat, who had taken refuge beneath the sofa earlier. The cat came willingly to Libby, who scooped him up in her arms and followed Tony out the apartment door.
“I feel like I picked up a mystery novel to read and skipped the first four chapters,” she exclaimed as they rode the elevator down to the first floor.
“I sure wish you’d go back and read those chapters so we’d know exactly what we’re dealing with,” Tony returned wryly.
They didn’t speak again until they were in his car. “Where are we going?” she asked, buckling her seat belt.
“My place. You’ll be safe there.”
Libby stroked the cat in her lap. Yes, she supposed she would be okay at his place. At least the people who were after her wouldn’t know where she was. But safe? She remembered that moment in her bedroom when Tony’s eyes had flamed with the fire of something much different than anger. Her body had responded with a warmth of its own, as if wanting to match his heat.
Safe?She wondered just how safe she really would be.
