Blue moon - By Lori Handeland Page 0,26

deduced he'd brought me the totem.

"Come on up," I offered. "I've got one cola left. We can share."

"Share? You read my mind."

"Relax, Slick, I'm talking soda here."

"Spoilsport."

I went back into the apartment smiling, but I forced myself to stop. It wouldn't do either one of us any good if I encouraged him. He'd end up disappointed; I'd end up hurt.

He was handsome, sexy, intelligent. I was average, socially inept, and... average. I'd made it through school; he was nearly a doctor. The professor and the cop - it sounded like a bad romance novel.

Those differences aside, I wasn't even going to address the white/red issue, which didn't bother me but might bother him - or at least his family. There were very few pure Ojibwe left. If he was even one of them, I doubted his parents would appreciate him diluting the gene pool.

I snorted and leaned down to snag the last soda from the refrigerator. We hadn't even progressed to first names and I had us diluting the gene pool. I'd better put on some brakes before I went headlong off the cliff.

Shutting the door, I turned, and an involuntary yelp escaped me. Cadotte stood in my living room.

"How - " I glanced at the window, which was still open. The breeze ruffled the curtains. "I mean, what - ?"

He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. Muscles flexed beneath smooth cinnamon skin. "You told me to come up."

"Ever think of using the door?"

"Why, when the window is so much closer?"

"How did you get up here?"

"Rock face. It wasn't hard." He shoved away from the wall. "For anyone who's done any climbing.

You keep this locked, right?" He ran a fingertip along the glass.

"Of course."

He'd climbed up the side of the building like Spider-man? I found that hard to believe, yet here he was.

Distracted, I handed him the can and stepped onto the porch. I leaned out over the railing, measured the distance to the ground - too much - then moved over to the wall and peered closely. The apartment building was made of stone. There were footholds of a sort, but you couldn't talk me into climbing the thing.

Of course my rock-climbing experience was limited to county fairs and a single day at the academy during training. There aren't a heck of a lot of mountains to climb in Wisconsin. Hell, there aren't any.

What we like to call hills are a joke if you've ever been to Colorado, Montana, or even Tennessee.

Cadotte followed me outside. Suddenly the night was no longer cool and the balcony no longer big enough. He stood between me and the door. The only way out was down.

Though tall, he was lithe. Not muscle-bound, but muscular. Could I take him if I had to? I wasn't sure.

The not knowing made my breath come harder and faster.

I inched closer to the door, into his personal space. If he was polite, he'd move away. He stayed right where he was. So did I.

"I told you to call me." I offered my hand, palm up. "I'd have picked up the totem. You didn't need to come out of your way."

He stared at my hand but made no move to put the totem into it. Where had the thing gone, anyway? My gaze lowered to his pockets. The totem was too small to make much of a bulge. I didn't see it. But there were other, more interesting bulges in the vicinity. I stiffened and yanked my eyes up to his.

He was smiling. Damn. He'd noticed. He seemed to notice everything.

He moved closer. I stepped back and cursed myself for the weakness. But I couldn't help it. His skin gave off an intense heat. I could smell him despite the pines and the flowers and the fresh plastic aroma of my chairs. That wild scent I'd noticed last night - not unappealing, but rather arousing.

I hit the railing. I couldn't go any farther. Thankfully Cadotte stopped, still too close, but at least he wasn't touching me. I wasn't sure what I'd do if he put those long-fingered, clever hands on me.

"If I'd let you come to get the totem, then I'd never have seen your place. I doubt you'd have invited me here."

I frowned as a thought I should have had earlier, if I hadn't been thinking about sex, shot through my brain. "How did you know where I live?"

"It's not hard to find out in a town like