After Dark

He sighed and stepped back, allowing her to enter.

“I’m assuming you have candles and wine at the ready,” she said breezily—if sarcastically—as she walked inside.

“I don’t.”

“No?” She turned, giving him a purposefully surprised look. “I told you that I’d bring you lunch today, so I assumed you’d be expecting me.” She paused. “Or at least grateful that I showed up to feed you.”

He remained silent. A muscle along his jaw pulsed. Finally, he extended his arm toward the hallway leading to the kitchen. “So feed me.”

Her first instinct was to dump Mabel’s special gravy over his head, but she resisted the urge and reminded herself that she wasn’t much for accepting help, either.

She was her father’s daughter, and she could handle anything that came her way. With her mother gone, surrounded by lawmen, the sisters at the Catholic school where she attended were her primary female influences. So, she’d developed the strength and ruthless nature of men and the compassion and sense of community responsibility that taught her to work, not take handouts.

Without commenting, she pulled the plastic food containers from the bag. “I brought napkins and utensils. I wasn’t sure if you had them.”

“I have forks and paper towels.”

“Metal forks?”

“Plastic.”

“Naturally.” She finished laying out the meal and tried to pretend her pulse wasn’t vibrating simply from the sound of his voice. “I must say, Mr. Kendrick, this is by far the fanciest date I’ve been on in months.”

“This isn’t a date.”

She dropped into a chair and looked up to see him scowling at her, as usual. “You’re telling me.” Smiling, she patted the chair next to her. “You’re hungry. Have a seat.”

He hesitated.

She met his gaze. “I’m not going to keep asking.”

He sat.

They ate in silence for several minutes. “This is good,” he said, somehow sounding impressed and reluctant at the same time. “I was starving.”

“You can’t do the work you want without rest and fuel.”

“Is that a speech?”

She paused and looked over at him as she sipped her tea. “Are speeches usually one-liners?”

“I guess not.”

“Then, no, that wasn’t a speech.”

After several more minutes passed, she rose, folding her napkin, dumping her empty plate into the large, gray plastic can he’d so artfully set near the back door. When she turned back, he was standing behind her.

All six-foot-three amazing inches of him.

She drew a quick breath. Her gaze jumped to his. “Your eyes are bloodshot.”

“Up too late last night.”

Since his body heat was making her head spin, she simply took his plate from him and dumped it into the trash.

When she turned back, he was close.

Really close.

“Thank you,” he said, his gaze roving her face.

“You’re welcome.”

He scowled. “I thought about you half the night.”

Her stomach quivered. “That’s a bad thing?”

“Yes.”

This negative attitude toward her was really starting to be annoying. Unrequited lust wasn’t familiar territory for her. And though Aidan obviously wasn’t totally immune to her, her ego was taking a pretty serious hit. Why was she bringing him lunch, trying to make conversation, sympathizing with his pain and, in general, being nice, when his only genuine smile probably came the moment the door shut behind her?

She lifted her chin. “Well, that’s just f—”

His lips captured hers, silencing her in a flash. Her heart jumped in her chest, and she was pretty sure she let out a moan of longing, then she angled her head and sank into him.

He didn’t hesitate to tangle his tongue with hers. He tasted of the lemon he drank with his tea. He smelled of sawdust and spicy sandalwood.

She clutched his T-shirt in her fist, grasping to get closer, to absorb him into her. She wanted to feel his bare, sleek skin against hers, to have that intense gaze focused on her, to feel his muscles harden beneath her…to have him tremble and gasp along with her.

His hands, braced at the lower part of her back, molded her to his body, and she felt his need, the hunger, the wild lust. It had been a long time, too long, since she’d felt desire grab her so effectively by the throat. Since the liquid heat of her body had rushed and pulsed.

She wasn’t sure she’d ever felt so—

Ding-dong.

Aidan lifted his head, his eyes flashing silver like a wolf after prey. “What the devil is that?”

“Doorbell,” Sloan gasped, linking her hands behind his head, tugging him back to her, inhaling the sharp scent of arousal. “They’ll go away.”

Their mouths met again. He nipped her bottom lip with his teeth. Light and gloriously exciting. She wanted—

Ding-dong, ding-dong.

He yanked away, looked down at her and snarled.

Okay, maybe I’m taking this wolf metaphor a little too far…

“I’m going to kill whoever’s at the door.” He stalked away, apparently to do just that.