me crazy, but you seemed to enjoy it. I sure as hell did.”
She certainly couldn’t deny that she’d enjoyed it greatly. “Maybe it was the atmosphere or the fact that I haven’t been with anyone in a long time.”
“I know what you mean. It’s been awhile for me, too.”
“I find that hard to believe.”
“Why?”
“Well, aside from the obvious things, such as you’re an eligible bachelor and highly regarded, you’re also a man.”
“Being a man doesn’t have anything to do with it. My job doesn’t always allow for an active social life.”
Active sex life would be more accurate. “That’s true. Neither does mine. But regardless of our reasons for why this happened, we can’t take it back.”
He frowned. “Do you want to take it back?”
Did she? “Honestly no, I don’t think I do. It was… It was…”
“Hot.”
“You could definitely say that.”
His frown faded into a smile. “Great?”
She answered his smile with one of her own. “Better than great.”
He scooted up and propped his neck on the sofa’s arm. Alisha rested her chin on his chest and stared up at him, totally enthralled by his mouth, his five-o’clock shadow and those ever-changing green eyes that he kept locked on her. Reality worked its way into her mind, bringing with it more concerns she couldn’t ignore. If anyone found out about this tryst, she could be buried. Maybe that wasn’t exactly logical, but sometimes logic was influenced by past experience. “Daniel, you have to promise me something.”
He got that guy-about-to-panic look. “This sounds serious.”
“Relax. I’m not going to ask for a key to your apartment. I just need to know that you’re not going to tell anyone about this.”
His expression was a mixture of relief and frustration. “Do you think I’m going to scribble your name and number on the bathroom walls?”
“No, but these things have a way of getting around via the grapevine.”
“Alisha, we both deal with confidentiality on a daily basis. I’m not going to mention this to anyone. Except my insurance carrier.”
“I beg your pardon.”
“My shoulders might need medical attention.”
Alisha lifted her head and noted several scratches running from his shoulders to his upper arms. “Did I do that?”
“Yeah, unless I have a cat I don’t know about.”
Heaven help her, she’d scarred him for life. “I’m so, so sorry.”
“I’m not.”
Mortified, she pressed her face into his chest. “I have totally lost my mind,” she said, her words muffled but still discernible.
Once more he lifted her head up with his palms. “You and I both knew this was going to happen sooner or later.”
He probably could use an ego check. “I respectfully disagree. I wasn’t planning on this at all. I’m not a casual-sex kind of girl.”
“I don’t think what we did would qualify as casual, and there’s nothing casual about you. But you are full of surprises.”
“How so?”
“Let’s just say if there were ten women in the room, you’re the last one I would’ve expected to be that uninhibited.”
She playfully slapped at his arm, right at the point of his wounds. He gritted his teeth and sucked in a breath. “Obviously I’m making things worse,” she said.
But when she tried to roll off him, he tightened his grip. “I don’t want you to move an inch because I like you right where you are.”
If he kept saying such charming things, she might start believing them. “I have to go home now.” When she leaned to retrieve her panties from the coffee table, he yanked them from her grasp and held them up.
“‘Happy New Year?’” He laughed, a low, grainy, sexy laugh. “I’ll be damned. Special-occasion underwear.”
She reached up, snatched them back and played keep-away. “I had no idea anyone was going to see them.”
“Do you have a pair for all of the holidays?”
“It’s one of my quirks.”
“Can’t wait until Valentine’s Day then.”
Again disbelief drilled through Alisha. Surely he wasn’t seriously thinking they’d still be together next month. “You know, I really do need to go now.”
He tightened his hold on her. “You’re not going anywhere tonight.”
“Says who?”
“Says me. First, you’ll have to walk back and it’s crazy on the river tonight. You wouldn’t be safe.”
“You can drive me back to my car.”
“I thought about that, but that would mean we’d have to get dressed, and I prefer you without clothes.” He slid his hands down her bare back and gave her bottom a squeeze. “And even if I did take you back, that means you’d have to drive home with all the drunks. I’m not willing to let you do that.”
“Then you’re going to hold me here against my will?”
“I’m going to hold you against me all night.”
Alisha’s heart took a little tumble over the sincerity in his voice, the sudden softness in his expression. He brought her mouth back to his and kissed her again. A surprisingly tender kiss, gentle and thorough and thought-robbing. She now faced two options—forcing the issue and demanding he let her drive home or staying with him until morning.
But he was right—driving could be costly in terms of her safety. And being in his bed could prove costly in terms of her emotional distance. Yet when he nudged her aside and stood, staring down on her with his gorgeous body in full view and his hand extended for her to take, she didn’t hesitate.
Daniel Fortune might be dangerous, but he was the kind of danger she could definitely enjoy on a daily basis.
Three
Daniel awoke the next morning to find the space beside him unoccupied. He sat up and rubbed a hand down his chest, hoping the hot redhead hadn’t fled without at least telling him goodbye. He also had another pressing issue—the tent he’d pitched beneath the sheet. Making love in the morning was among his favorite pastimes, and frankly having more of Alisha Hart this
