the restaurant, she was pretty certain she wouldn’t have refused him. But letting him drive her home? God, what was she thinking?
Rather than taking his car, he’d insisted they take hers, then he’d call a cab to bring him back. At first she’d protested. He’d done enough to help her out. But when she remembered her busy day tomorrow, she had second thoughts. The meeting with Mrs. Wilson was first thing in the morning. If she had to come back beforehand to pick up her car, it’d put her way behind schedule. She just couldn’t do that to the woman. Her client was keyed up enough as it was.
Readjusting the bag of ice on her wrist, she stared out the window at the twinkle lights on the trees lining this city block. It wasn’t like she was pulling a Kari, going home with anyone who suited her fancy. She was simply taking up a Good Samaritan on his offer, that was all.
She watched, mesmerized, as he tapped his pointer finger on the steering wheel to some unknown beat. Her heart seemed to synchronize itself to the rhythm. One…two…three…four.
What would it feel like to have that hand sliding over her flesh? Her face heated at the thought. Would he be gentle or commanding? Were his fingers dexterous and skilled, able to find all the right places and know what to do when they got there? She was certain that this man knew his way around a female’s body. He was too gorgeous not to have been with many women.
Okay, she seriously had to stop thinking this way. She shifted awkwardly in her seat, trying to eliminate the sudden twinge in her lower belly. It was as if she could feel the beat of her heart there. Calling to him. Needing him.
Char, come on, girl. You’re not Kari.
Reaching into her handbag, she pulled out a tube of lip balm and smeared some on her lips.
It wasn’t just his hands that captivated her. His eyes did, as well. Inside the restaurant, she’d found herself staring at them, wondering if they were blue or gray. With just a rim of color around the edges, his pupils were unusually large, like twin tunnels leading straight to his soul. She could totally get lost in those eyes if she weren’t careful, agree to things that she’d normally never consider.
At this time of night, traffic over the floating bridge was light. Less than a half hour after leaving the diner, they were pulling up to her house. She started to reach for the door handle and winced as pain shot through her wrist.
“I’ll get it.” In a flash, he was out of the car and opening her door.
She stared at the long, narrow walkway through the trees and cursed herself for not having replaced a few of the burned-out landscaping lights. The house was set back from the road and these patches of darkness would’ve really freaked her out if Trace hadn’t been with her. She couldn’t imagine walking here on her own after what she’d experienced tonight. “I can’t thank you enough.”
She glanced at him as they strode toward her front door. She couldn’t help but notice that he carried himself with a casual elegance and didn’t look at all like someone who had just beaten up a couple of hoodlums in a dark Seattle alleyway. “It was nothing.”
“So, what do you do for a living?” she asked as she stuck the key in the lock. “You really did seem like a law enforcement officer of some sort back there in the parking lot. Once I got over thinking you were one of the bad guys, that is.”
One side of his mouth curved up and when he rubbed a hand over his jaw, she heard the faint rasp of his stubble. Her face heated at how intimate it sounded. It was the familiar sound, not of a stranger, but of a lover first thing in the morning before he’d shaved. The heaviness again gathered low in her belly at the thought of waking up next to Trace.
“As a matter of fact, I am in private security. It’s a family-owned business. So I guess you could say that people’s safety and well-being is a concern of mine.”
Ah, that explained a lot. She swung the door open and stepped inside. “Can I get you something to drink before the cab gets here?”
He looked at her again with those fathomless eyes. “A glass of water would be great.”
She put