Desire (Desire, Book 1) - By Missy Johnson Page 0,15

rang. I glanced at my phone. I rarely had visitors, and when I did, they almost always called first. I pulled myself out of the couch cocoon I’d made, and headed for the door.

Salesperson? Mormons? It was times like this I wish we had one of those little spy windows you look through so you can pretend not to be home.

I edged the door open slightly, blocking it on one side with my foot, ready to slam it shut if need be.

Devon smiled back at me with his usual sexy smirk.

“Hey.” He said, amused. “Do you always open the door with such suspicion?” I blushed a little, trying to block the inappropriate thoughts that were filtering through my mind.

This guy was hot. Like mind blowing hot. As in I struggled to concentrate when he was around me kind of hot.

“Hey.” I finally managed, smiling back. “You have to be prepared. You never know when it’s going to be someone selling funeral plans.” He laughed as I moved aside. He squeezed past me, his hand brushing past my own, sending tingles of electricity coursing through my body.

“What brings you here? Any news?” I forced myself to focus on his whole reason for entering my life. Mom.

“No news, sorry. I just thought I’d see how things were going.” He followed me over to the couch, and sat down, his left leg stretched out. I tried unsuccessfully not to stare at him. He wore jeans and a faded blue shirt. A small tattoo peeked out from the bottom of his sleeve. I almost sighed, catching myself just in time. I found tattoos incredibly sexy. He caught me looking at it and rolled it up.

The tattoo, a thorny vine that wrapped around his forearm, made him even more appealing. If I didn’t want to jump him before, I sure as hell did now.

“A moment of stupidity, when I was eighteen.” He made a face.

“Any more?” I raised my eyebrows suggestively. He laughed and shook his head.

“You?” His eyes glistened as he slowly and deliberately ran his eyes over my body. I blushed, feeling naked under his intense stare. “Oh really? Well only fair. You’ve seen mine, after all.”

“I have a small rose in a rather, uh, delicate, position.” I finally announced. He chuckled.

The rose was actually in a very delicate position, on my left butt cheek. Why and how I ended up with a rose was still unbeknown to me. From what I’d heard from Ara, combined with the fragments I actually remembered, I’d stumbled my way into the all hours tattoo parlor begging the very cute tattooist to ‘brand’ me after celebrating passing my finals last year. All I knew was I’d woken up with a very sore bum.

Yes, my mind had gone there too.

“Do I get to see it?” His voice was teasing, and his eyebrows were raised, making me blush even further.

“No. Nobody gets to see it.” I placed emphasis on the word nobody.

“Interesting. No boyfriend, then?” I grinned at his deduction efforts. This boy had skills. No wonder he’d made detective so early. Inside I was swooning at the fact that he cared about whether or not I had a boyfriend.

Did that scream interested, or what?

“Enough about me. Tell me about you, Devon.” I smiled pointedly. He already knew way too much about me.

“Me?” He mused thoughtfully. “Well, you know what I do. I’ve lived in Seattle all my life. I have a younger sister, who is your age. My parents are still married. I live alone.” He emphasized alone. “What do you do, Kait?”

His smile almost had me drooling. I tried to focus on answering his question, rather than succumbing to the very naughty thoughts that were flashing through my mind. I hadn’t realized I was such a pervert.

“I’m studying International Business. My last semester. After that, I have an internship at a firm in here in Seattle. I used to work in a café, but I’ve just gotten a new job which I start today, actually.”

“Wow, congratulations. Where is it?” he asked, genuinely interested.

Shit. It was the most obvious question to be asked, yet I hadn’t been expecting it. What the hell was I going to say? Definitely not the truth.

“Just a hotel. Receptionist. I don’t start until 10pm. Ara will be home for the kids.” I’d never been good at lying, but if I was going to take this job, I needed to get better at it, and fast.

“Ara?” He repeated.

“My housemate and best friend.” I explained,