yet, my picture of that night didn’t appear in your paper. Why?”
Guilt filled her, and she tried pushing it away. He would never understand why she needed the extra money, and really, she didn’t feel like telling him about her problems.
“I needed the money, and when I saw an opportunity, I took it.”
He tilted his head and tapped his index finger on his chin. “You don’t strike me as an opportunist, especially one that doesn’t have a heart. The other day during the tour, I could tell you do care about people, which is why I suspect you didn’t say anything to Joslyn about knowing me.”
Morgan really didn’t like this subject. He didn’t know her, and she didn’t want him too, either. “I think you’d like to believe you know my heart, but you don’t, Thomas Powers.”
“Why didn’t you want Joslyn to know we had met before?”
She huffed and spun toward her bike. “This is over. I’ve had a long day, and I need to relax, and you aren’t helping at all.”
Just as she picked up her helmet, he grasped her upper arm, swinging her back to face him. He was too close, again. This wasn’t good.
“Morgan, I’m not leaving until I get some answers.”
“Then I suggest, Mr. Powers, that you get used to rejection because you have met a woman who isn’t going to do everything you ask. I’m a private person, and I don’t need to tell you anything.” She peeled his fingers off her arm. “Please leave me alone.”
“I’ll leave as soon as you tell me, because you, my dear Morgan, have met a man who is determined and who won’t back down until he gets what he wants. If you don’t tell me now, I’ll follow you until you do. I’ll be in front of your apartment every morning and every day after work. If you want to hang out with your friends, I’ll be there, too. In other words,” he moved closer until their chests bumped together, “I’ll be closer to you than your own shadow until you give me some answers.”
She swallowed hard. It wasn’t that he was scaring her. Just the opposite. She could take him down with one lift of her knee to his crotch. However, his gaze was disturbing her more than she was prepared for. His blue-eyed stare was mesmerizing, and if she didn’t watch herself, she could get lost in the moment.
“So,” she said before licking her suddenly dry lips, “you’ll be my own little hemorrhoid until I spill the beans?”
He grinned, and his eyes twinkled. “That’s a good way to put it, but yes, that’s what I’ll be.”
“Then I suppose the only way to get rid of you is to tell you.”
“Exactly.”
Her heartbeat quickened, and she wished he wasn’t so incredibly handsome. And she wished he didn’t smell so wonderful, and that her body wouldn’t react as if it was starving of thirst and he was the nice, cool, pitcher of water. But it wasn’t until his gaze dropped to her mouth when she had suddenly become desperate for what he was offering.
Something was definitely wrong with her. She wasn’t like the women he dated, and she never would be. But, there was an attraction between them whether she wanted it or not. The only way to stop these confusing feelings would be to tell him what he needed to know so that he would leave her alone.
She pressed her palms against his chest – his very muscular chest, in fact – in order to push him away, but somehow her arms never accomplished what she’d wanted. Underneath her hands, she felt his heartbeat, and it was erratic as her own. Even his breathing was labored, just as hers was.
Staring at him became an addiction, one she didn’t want to break. Foreign feelings ran amok inside her, reminding her that going out with him would make her warm and tingly all the time. She could only imagine what it would feel like to have his arms holding her gently as they kissed.
She swallowed hard, bringing a little moisture to her parched mouth. “Thomas,” her voice croaked like a toad, so she quickly cleared her throat and tried again. “Thomas, the reason I didn’t want Joslyn knowing was because selling pictures to other places could get me fired from my job at the Tribute.” She hesitated briefly. “And Joslyn is just the type of woman who would take that information to our boss.”
He pulled back slightly, but not far