that? No bill is worth your life, Tara.”
Time seemed to slow as she rose on tiptoe while Clint bent even more, their lips meeting in the middle. The kiss started off sweet, soft. Tentative at first, then growing more heated as he groaned and wrapped his arms around her, drawing her to him. Tara’s head was spinning, her blood pounding in her ears and molten warmth spreading from her core out to her extremities. This was too much. It would never be enough. She slid her arms up his chest to twine her hands around his neck, toying with the soft dark hair at the nape of his neck and loving his slight shiver against her. He rocked his hips into her, letting her know he was enjoying this as much as she was and she lifted one leg, to wrap it around his waist, thinking she’d like to climb him like a redwood if…
“Daddy!” Ashley called from down the hall. “I’m thirsty again.”
Clint pulled back, his breathing fast and his eyes locked on her lips. His pupils were blown wide, all but obscuring the blue irises. He looked as ragged as she felt and she wanted more, wanted to undo him completely—and damn if the intensity of that desire didn’t have her pushing him away.
She didn’t do this. Didn’t lose herself over some guy. She had goals, dreams, things to achieve. A relationship would only get in the way of that. She stumbled back to her seat on the sofa, watching as he went to the kitchen for a glass of water and headed upstairs to his daughter.
Her heart pinched a little. Just once in her life, she wished she could feel like a priority to someone. But Clint wasn’t offering that—not to her. And she wouldn’t be able to accept it, anyway. Not when her focus needed to stay on her plans, no matter how thirsty for something else she might be.
8
Clint didn’t get much sleep that night. Instead, he lay awake in the second guest room, staring at the shadows dancing across the ceiling and remembering just how good that damned kiss had been. Too good, honestly, which was a huge issue.
He had enough problems to deal with already without breaking his cardinal rule—no dating clients.
Finally, after a few hours of not-snoozing, he decided to just get up and rolled out of bed. After showering and changing, he padded into the kitchen barefoot to start a pot of coffee. Following the chaos of the night before, it was nice to have the place quiet for a change. Ashley and Tara were still sleeping. He yawned and found the supplies in the pantry, then scooped grounds into the filter before pouring a pot of water into the top of the machine and pressing Start.
Nothing happened.
Squinting through the hazy, early morning sunshine, Clint tried the button again. Nada. Checked to make sure it was plugged in, but still no go. Dammit. He glanced over to the digital clock on the stove, but that was off too. Must be a tripped fuse.
Still a bit groggy, he began to search for the fuse box, but didn’t find one in the house, which meant it must be out in the garage somewhere. Dandy. Less than an hour in and already his day was off to a rockin’ start.
Grumbling under his breath, he grabbed the spare key and a flashlight, then headed out of the front door to the garage at the side of the house. The air was still chilly, frosting his breath. He made it to the garage, his bare toes curling on the icy cement, and wrangled the door up before walking inside and turning on the flashlight. He blinked into the bright beam, giving his eyes a minute to adjust, then skirted his way around Tara’s car to the back corner where the main electrical panel was located. With a sigh, he opened the metal door and began to scan the numerous fuses with the flashlight beam, each marked with a label, before finally reaching the last one for the master switch. But instead of finding a simple switch to flip back on, what he saw had him wide-awake in seconds.
Fuck.
This was no tripped fuse. Someone had deliberately cut the wires. The coppery ends stuck out and glinted ominously in the brightness. Worse, as he scanned to the side, he found a scrawled sticky note attached to the inside of the metal door warning Tara to “cut” her losses