Page 39 of A Matter of Time

He laughed, and the sound sent hot blood straight to my groin.

“I am.”

He rubbed the bridge of his nose before giving me all his attention again. “C’mon, I’ll drive you home before you freeze to death out here.”

“That’s okay.” I shook my head. “I’m kinda hungry. I’m gonna eat, and then I’ll go home.”

“You should let me take you home.”

I shook my head again, shoving my hands into my pockets, and walked around him to head toward the diner on the next corner.

“Jory.”

I stopped walking but didn’t turn.

“Don’t be a dumbass. I’ll take you to eat.”

That made me smile in spite of myself. “Where’s the car?”

His hand went to the back of my neck, and I closed my eyes so I could concentrate on the pressure of his fingers and the feel of his warm skin on my own chilled flesh.

“You’re gonna freeze out here.”

The trembling had nothing to do with anything but him.

“Get in the car.”

He usually just barked at me and walked around the car without waiting while I got in, so I was surprised when he reached around me and opened the door, holding it ajar from the top as I climbed up into the passenger seat. I leaned across the driver’s seat to unlock his door. When he slid in behind the wheel, he immediately started the car and got the heater blowing full blast.

“So what do you wanna eat?”

“Italian?”

He smiled at me. “Okay, I know a place. You’re gonna like it.”

Just the fact that he cared whether I would or not was good enough for me.

“You got your phone on you?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I want you to have my number and my partner’s, just in case you need to call us.”

I would have liked it better if he’d wanted me to have just his number, but I pressed buttons as he told them to me and didn’t say another word.

As I sat through dinner I wondered about my reaction to Detective Kage. As a rule, straight men didn’t appeal to me at all. I wasn’t one of those guys who thought that given the right circumstances, like enough alcohol, any man could be persuaded to try a walk on the wild side. I truly believed that you were born heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, or whatever else, and there was no fighting the way you were. Sometimes realization came later in life, but everyone knew the truth in their heart. So it was weird that every second I spent with Detective Kage made me want to strip off all his clothes that much more. But no good could come of my infatuation, so it was best to cut it off before I made a fool of myself.

“Did you hear what I said?”

“Sorry.” I forced a smile. “No.”

“I asked if you liked the lasagna.”

“Yeah.” I sighed, then took a deep gulp of my water. “It was great.”

“What’s the matter with you? You’re usually a lot noisier.”

I wasn’t fun or interesting, just noisy. This was getting better and better.