Close Contact

Much as he’d enjoy trailing behind her, getting a great view of her ass on the stairs, he had to put safety first. “You wait here.”

“I hired you for a reason. I go where you go.”

He saw she was serious, and probably with good reason, so he nodded. “Stay behind me, then.”

“Not a problem.”

He had to duck to get under the lowered ceiling at the base of the narrow stairs. He suspected someone had converted the attic to living space years ago. “Are these the stairs where your grandmother fell?”

“Yes.”

She said nothing else, so he didn’t press her. God knew she’d been through enough for one day.

The stairs turned a sharp corner and then opened into a small study with a desk, chair and file cabinet. The only window in that room was a skylight overhead.

From there he went into a more updated bathroom, which meant it wasn’t more than a few decades old, yet no one would call it modern either. Her bedroom was next, a rectangular room barely big enough for a bed and nightstand. The lure would be the double doors that opened to a balcony above the porch below.

“Where do you keep your clothes?”

“In here.” She slid back a pocket door to show a big walk-in closet nearly the same size as the bedroom.

“I take it you put this in?”

“First thing.”

She’d spared no expense. Bright lights showed off detailed shelving, multiple wardrobes and niches for things like shoes and scarves, with a dressing table in the middle. She’d filled every inch except for a mirrored door in the back of the room that, Miles discovered, opened into yet another room.

Ducking down again, he stepped through to a clichéd attic space. Bare rafters loomed overhead, plywood flooring squeaked under his weight and air whistled through a single skinny window in the center of the back wall. Boxes, trunks and random pieces of old furniture cast long shadows over the cluttered floor. A single bare bulb swung from the ceiling, but when he pulled the long string, it didn’t work.

Miles didn’t say it, but given everything that had happened, it was creepy as hell.

Soon as they were back in the main room, he asked, “Why do you sleep up here?”

“The bedroom downstairs was my grandmother’s. It didn’t feel right, taking it over.”

But she wanted him to sleep there?

“Don’t worry,” she said, maybe reading his thoughts. “Everything has been packed away and the bedding is freshly washed.”

Great. It was still Granny’s. “Should I look under the bed?”

Her smile didn’t hide her exhaustion. “If you want, but I’ve got so many storage bins under there, nothing more than a mouse could fit, and mice aren’t brave enough to come around with so many cats.”

Unable to help himself, he touched her cheek. Her eyes were heavy and smudged with fatigue. “You need a nap.”

“I need a shower.” Glancing over her shoulder at her own butt, she wiggled. “That oil soaked through.”

A dozen inappropriate comments came to mind, but Miles banked them all. “I can either go down and get food started—” although how he’d find his way around that kitchen, he didn’t know “—or I can wait right here while you get cleaned up.”

“You won’t mind giving me ten minutes?”

“You’re the boss.” As soon as he said it, he regretted it. He’d meant it to be teasing, but damn it, she looked wounded.

Maxi being Maxi, she rallied and said, “Don’t you forget it.” She gestured to the bed. “Get comfortable if you want. I’ll hurry.”

Settle on her bed? Breathe her scent in the pillows? Not a good idea. “You can take your time.”

“If you heard my stomach grumbling, you’d know I can’t.”

He stood in the doorway while she went through the closet and pulled faded jeans from a shelf, a peachy bra and panties from a drawer, and a white tank top off a hanger.

Crazy that seeing her like this hit him so hard. She kept the flannel pulled down in back to hide her rounded behind, but she had beautiful legs, and her long dark blond hair, even uncombed, looked sexy as hell.

He moved as she stepped out again and started for the bathroom.

At the door, she paused. “If anything happens, I want you to be able to come in, so I won’t lock it.”

It took him a second to find his voice, then he went for teasing again. “Planning on screaming?”

She held the pile of clothes close to her chest. “Someone was in my house again. How, I don’t know. But the oil wasn’t there when I left or I would have stepped in it.”

He nodded, acknowledging that. “We’ll buy new locks today, too.” Going one further, he whispered, “I promise it’s going to be okay.” Somehow, he’d make it so.

She managed a strained smile. “In case I haven’t said it yet...thank you for being here with me.”

Before he could answer, she closed the door. Seconds later, he heard the creaking of pipes.

With nothing else to do, his gaze went to her bed. In no time at all, his thoughts were out of control, focused on things they shouldn’t be—like how much he wanted her.

Again.

Still.

And here he’d started to think that working at Body Armor would be a piece of cake.

* * *

“THIS,” MAXI SAID, licking her lips with a groan, “was a much better idea than food at home.”

Miles smiled while sinking his white teeth into a loaded burger. “Quicker, for sure.”

They sat in his roomy SUV, him half-turned to face her, one arm loosely draped over the steering wheel, a bag of fast food between them. He’d found a recreation area near the store they were going to and parked beneath a shade tree to keep the sun from reflecting off the black exterior. From their position, they could see kids playing on swings, people walking dogs and couples holding hands. With the windows down, a summer breeze kept it from being too hot.

Maxi felt much better now that she was clean and dressed, her hair braided down her back. Before they’d left the house, she’d cleaned up the mess and put her clothes in the wash, but she didn’t have hopes of the oil coming out. The shorts would no doubt join her growing pile of “work” clothes, meaning they’d be appropriate for the farm, but nowhere else.

Miles had been silent as she’d put her book back on the shelf and washed her wineglass. She didn’t know if he believed her about what had happened, and she wasn’t sure if she even wanted to know. He was with her, and for now, that was more than enough.

When she glanced at him, she found him watching her in that intense, very intimate way of his that made her breath catch in her chest.