face from numerous magazine covers Kat had seen over the past few years flashed in front of her eyes.
He pursed his lips as if he knew what she was thinking. “Yeah, you’re right. She looks a lot better in her underwear than I do.”
Kat tried to speak, but nothing came out. And dammit, her cheeks heated in what she knew was an obvious blush.
If he noticed her reaction, he didn’t show it. Instead he handed her the bag of groceries and the key dangling from his fingers. “It’s a green Taurus around back. Guy at the front said you can’t miss it.”
Happy he’d let the subject of his near nakedness drop, Kat took the key and groceries, watched as the muscles in his arms and shoulders flexed with his movements. Hearing him talk about his family confirmed there was a whole side of him she hadn’t known existed. And though it was counterproductive to her ultimate goal, she wanted to hear more. For some reason, needed to.
“Taurus, huh?” she said, hoping to keep him talking and enjoying the fact he’d finally dropped that ticked-off tone with her. “And here I pegged you as a sports car kinda guy.”
“I left my Porsche in Miami. The Taurus will have to do.”
One side of her mouth curled. Yeah, not nearly as ticked off anymore. “I guess it’ll have to, if that’s the best you can do.”
His eyes ran over her. And something hot flashed in their depths. “I can do a helluva lot better, Kat. I always could.”
A tingle ran down her spine. She suddenly wasn’t so sure they were talking about cars anymore. “I suppose a Taurus is probably less conspicuous than a Porsche.”
“Yes, it is. And we both know green is safer than sincity red any day.”
Her skin warmed. She imagined him behind the wheel of that wicked car, tanned and sleek and sexy, the wind ruffling his hair as he rocketed down the highway. The image, combined with the intense way he was watching her, made her mouth go dry. “Being safe is important.”
“It is. But it’s not near the adrenaline rush.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “And it’ll never be as satisfying.”
That tingling slid lower, into her belly. Lower still. She swallowed and forced herself to speak. “It’s just a car.”
His gaze dropped from her eyes to her lips in a move that sent those tingling sensations shooting straight between Kat’s thighs and reminded her of the thousands of times he’d looked at her like that in the past. “Men do love their cars.”
“Of course,” he added in that same husky timbre that made her remember steamy sex and sweaty bodies and long iniquitous nights, “sometimes all it takes is one test drive to know what you like.”
And what you don’t. The unspoken words were reflected clearly in his fathomless eyes.
“Maybe once isn’t enough,” she heard herself say before she could stop the words spilling from her mouth. “Maybe sometimes it takes more than once to know what you need.”
“Maybe.”
The air crackled between them. His gaze held hers, a thousand questions brewing in those stormy pools. And her heart thumped wildly in her chest. Though she knew it was foolish, she expected him to move forward, to touch her, to drag her close and kiss her like he had in Marty’s garage.
She waited for all that to happen, and some insane part of her wanted it, no matter what she knew to be true about him.
Then a muscle in his jaw tightened, and he looked away. And the spell he’d just woven around her broke like ice shattering against hard, cold cement.
“Maybe,” he said again. “But I doubt it.”
A breath Kat hadn’t realized she’d been holding rushed out of her like a balloon being deflated.
He shifted the backpack on his shoulder before she realized he was taking it with him and walked around the car. “I’ll meet you in the back lot in five minutes.”
Then he climbed in the old Pathfinder and pulled away from the building.
Standing there in the frigid breeze, Kat remembered when he’d looked at her like that in Cairo. Like he still wanted her but didn’t know what to do about it. Like nothing between them would ever be the same.
Because it hadn’t been. That day, in her apartment, everything had changed between them. She knew now that had been the beginning of the end.
She let out a long breath and turned for the back lot. He was stirring up feelings and memories she’d