Midnight Kiss (Men of Midnight #7) - Lisa Marie Rice Page 0,16

the choices. “Do you eat meat?” She was probably vegetarian. He just hoped she wasn’t vegan because the chef here made full use of eggs, cheese and butter.

But she surprised him. “God, yes, I eat meat. Love it.” Her finger landed on the page. “Pepper steak. I love pepper steak. Is it good here?”

He smiled at her. “Oh yeah. I’ll have it myself. With fries?” And was delighted when she nodded.

She pursed her mouth, considering. “Maybe we should also order a salad? Just to even things out? Sneak in a few vitamins?”

“Okay. And then since we’ve been really good about the salad, how about a slice of blueberry cheesecake? To die for.”

“Oh God.” Her eyes closed and a smile tilted her lips up. “Pepper steak, fries and blueberry cheesecake. I can already feel my arteries hardening. Can’t wait.”

While her eyes were closed, Luke sneaked a guilty look at her lips, soft and naturally pink and so very kissable.

Whoa. Jesus, where had that come from?

Do. Not. Go. There. He told himself sternly. He had to be really harsh with himself, drill-instructor harsh, slap-yourself-upside-the-head harsh because operators don’t get involved with their protectees. Fastest way on earth to lose someone — have your head up your ass, giving an opening to whoever was gunning for your client.

Not gonna happen.

“Okay.” He stood, put some distance between them. “While I order, do you want to take a shower? I’m told there’s more or less everything you might need in the bag Summer put together for you.”

“Summer?”

“A friend of Felicity’s. She put the bag together for you, since Felicity herself doesn’t have much freedom of movement these days. Summer’s a journalist. You might have read some of her stuff? Used to run a political blog, Area8. She just published a book, is writing another one.”

Luke shook his head in admiration. Man, he was good with a lot of stuff but he couldn’t ever write one book, let alone two.

Hope stood, too, giving a little gasp. “Summer Redding-Delvaux?”

He nodded. “That’s the one.”

“I used to read her blog all the time! And I have her book, The Massacre, on my ipad. Felicity recommended it. Be sure to thank Summer for me.”

Luke nodded. “Will do. She told me to tell you that you should find more or less everything in there. For all your, ahm, needs. That’s what she said.” He could feel just a touch of heat rising along his neck.

“Okay.” Hope picked up the wheelie and disappeared into the bedroom Luke indicated, and then into its en suite bathroom. After a moment, he could hear the shower. The showers at the hotel were amazingly luxurious and he hoped the four shower heads, one of which had a choice of lavender-scented, lemon-scented or rose-scented water, would make her feel better.

The food would definitely make her feel better.

The food arrived and he arranged it on a small table he pulled out from the wall. A bottle of a good California red was open and breathing when she came out of the bathroom, a puff of lavender-scented air coming out with her. Oh, man. He was tongue-tied for a moment. The shower had put some color in her face and she looked rested, as if the shower were the equivalent of a nap. Often it was.

She was dressed in an outfit Summer had provided — a turquoise cotton sweater and dark blue pants. She was a little smaller than Summer so the clothes hung on her but the effect was just to make her look more delicate. Fragile. Like a strong wind would blow her away.

She also looked unspeakably beautiful.

“Hey,” she said into the silence and it jerked him out of whatever it was that made him stare at her. Luke quickly ran a hand along his chin just to make sure his tongue wasn’t hanging out and shot to his feet.

“Hi. Hey. You look great! Fabulous. Ahm … I mean you look like the shower did you good. Showers are great. Food’s arrived.” She can see that, you moron. Quit while you’re ahead.

He held out a chair at the small dinette table and held his tongue.

“Thanks.” Hope sat, turned her head to smile up at him. “Aren’t you going to sit down?”

Fuck. Since when being in a room with a beautiful woman made him tongue-tied? Since fucking never. He always kept his head — the big one and the little one — strictly under his control. Plus, he would soon be working at a place where a whole