Fucking fabulous.
A feline yowled, followed by the crash of trash cans off to her right.
Seconds ticked by with no fangs, stabbing, or ungodly screams, namely her own. And when her attack no longer seemed imminent, she risked a peek. First one eye, then the other.
The man looming above her had his brows raised in mild amusement.
What the hell? How was he still standing? At five-foot-nine, she wasn’t exactly delicate. Didn’t the law of physics state that an object in motion stayed in motion unless interrupted by an immovable object? Clearly, this guy was Newton’s nightmare.
“Are you all right?” he asked in a deep, raspy, sex-on-black-satin-sheets voice.
A sudden tingling started in her toes and spread upward in a wave of glorious betrayal. It felt a lot like the beginning of an orgasm, and Nadia waited a few heartbeats to see how it ended.
The stranger cleared his throat and compressed his lips.
“Miss?”
She scrambled upright, dusting off her slacks and trying not to think about what might be sticking to her hair.
God, don’t let it be gum!
Suppressing a shudder, she sighed.
“Yeah, I’m good.” She shot a glance behind her. “Or I would be, if I weren’t lost.”
“Lost?”
She gasped at her stupidity, barely stopping a face palm. Idiot! Why not wear a neon sign that said, “Take advantage of me, I’m new here?”
“Perhaps I may assist you,” he offered.
His voice sent another shiver through her that had nothing to do with fear.
Jesus, her hormones were drunk!
“Assistance would’ve been great twenty seconds ago,” she muttered.
He hadn’t even offered a hand to help her up. However, given that she’d run into him, she’d let bygones be bygones if he could provide her with directions to the damned coffee shop.
Headlights from a passing car swept over him.
She sucked in a breath. Sweet mother of abs. He was stunning!
Black hair, a little longer than the current fashion dictated. Aquiline nose. High cheekbones. And a mouth that likely had its own fan club. When he smiled, it was all gleaming white teeth and weaponized charm.
And those shoulders…
Big, broad, Olympic-gymnast deltoids that made her want to cancel her Netflix subscription and pay to watch him.
Her brain short-circuited.
She may have drooled.
He snorted, and for one horrified moment, Nadia feared she’d uttered the last part aloud. Judging by his twitching lips, she had.
She closed her eyes.
How did one ask if they’d just said something inappropriate?
