Temptation wasn’t something she needed, even if sometimes alone at night she was desperate for the comfort of another human being. And too often, Justin Kelly was exactly the comfort she craved. How she longed to lean into that toned body, feel those muscular arms around her, press her mouth to his lips that looked so firm. At just over six feet, his lean body was solid, toned muscle. Short-cropped light brown hair accented a sculpted face with a square jaw, high cheekbones, and dark brown eyes that reminded her of melted chocolate.
She hadn’t been with anyone for so long she’d almost forgotten what it was like. But, if she was honest with herself, she hadn’t ever felt that same crackle of electricity with any other man. That same hunger. That same throbbing in every one of her pulse points.
And beyond that, he made her feel safe. With Justin, more than with anyone else, she felt one hundred percent protected. Knew if danger came calling, Justin would be there helping her.
She was sure Avery hadn’t clued him in on her real situation. One of the reasons her former boss had sent her here was because Avery had a zipped lip, knew the meaning of security, and had top-of-the-line protection available. To Justin, she was just someone who had moved to Arrowhead Bay, ran a small art gallery, and basically avoided the mainstream of life.
She had no idea what to do with this hot sexual attraction growing between them, an elephant in the room they both were ignoring. Not that he was overt about it. No, that wasn’t his style. But he left plenty of openings for her to send him signals. She saw it in his eyes when he was teaching her certain moves. Or when he helped her to her feet and held her hand just a few seconds longer than necessary. Or removed the protective pads she wore during class and let his hands linger on her skin.
Twice he’d asked her to go for coffee after class. At first, she’d said no, but then she’d thought, I want this. What harm can coffee do? Except, even with a table between them, and casual conversation, the electricity in the air surrounding them was so strong it was almost visible.
Then last week he’d been teaching her a kick maneuver and swept her legs out from under her, taking her to the floor. They lay there for an endless moment, neither wanting to break the intense gaze they were locked in.
Yes! She wanted to shout. Kiss me.
And she was sure he would have, except Avery had come into the room to tell Justin he had a phone call. Her brain told her that was for the best, but the rest of her body had yet to catch up.
Marissa was so busy letting all these thoughts dangle in her brain that she missed it completely when Justin executed a perfect kick to her knees and took her to the mat.
“Hey!” She pushed herself up so she was leaning on her elbows. “That’s supposed to be my move.”
That tantalizing grin flashed again. “Then you best get to it. Come on, or I’ll think you’re a quitter.”
It continued to amaze her the way he could tease her into putting all of herself into this very physical exercise.
“Marissa?” Justin’s voice broke into her tiny reverie.
She blinked and shook her head. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to let my mind wander again. Let’s get to it.”
He cocked his head, studying her. “You sure? We can quit for the day. The hour’s almost up, anyway.”
“Quit? Hah! You wish. Come on, show me what you’ve got.”
She skillfully parried and blocked every move of his, answering with one of her own. When the alarm on Justin’s watch sounded, letting them know the hour was up, she was again dripping in sweat and breathing hard, but she felt exhilarated. She’d had greater success blocking his moves then previously, and got in a few hits of her own.
“You did great there at the end,” he told her, helping her out of the pads. “One of these days you’ll kick my ass but good.”
“Oh, right.” She snorted. “As if.”
“Seriously. You picked this up quicker than most people. You’re my star pupil.”
“I bet you say that to all your students,” she teased, grabbing a towel from the bench and mopping her face and neck.
“Not quite.” He checked his watch. “Listen. It’s eight thirty. You don’t open until ten. Want to grab a coffee and muffin at Fresh from the Oven like we did the last couple of times?”
Yes!
She was playing with danger here. Her life could blow up at any moment, dragging Justin in with her. But despite all her discipline, she couldn’t say no.
“You’ve got plenty of time.” He tapped his watch. “An hour and a half. Come on. You know what they say about all work and no play. Besides, you always end up having fun.” He cocked an eyebrow. “Right?”
She had really enjoyed the last two times. What could it hurt to do it again?
God, she certainly didn’t want to answer that question. But wasn’t she entitled to a little pleasure? As long as she kept remembering it was just coffee. Do not pass Go. Do not collect two hundred dollars or anything else. Suppress all those tantalizing feelings. It was becoming harder and harder to do that, but…
She blew out a breath.
“Okay. Sure. That would be nice.”
He burst out laughing. A deep, warm sound that tickled her nerve endings. “Not the enthusiastic response I hoped for, but I’ll take it.”
Heat suffused her cheeks. “I’m sorry. I—”
He waved a hand at her. “Just kidding. It’s fine. Meet you there in about a half hour? That will give you plenty of time to relax with coffee and a roll before you open the gallery.”
“I— Yes. That works out fine. Thank you.”
It might have been her imagination, but she was sure she could feel him staring after her as she walked out of the room.
The gym was housed in a long building next to the renovated Key West house that contained the Vigilance offices and electronics setup. She had just unlocked the door to her car when she heard a woman calling her and turned to see Avery standing on the porch.
“Hey, Avery.” She waved back.
“Come on in for a minute, can you?”
Marissa’s stomach knotted. This had to be bad news. And just when she was finally drawing a full breath and thinking she was safe.
“Sure.”
When she reached the porch, Avery gave her a hug. Marissa wasn’t sure if it meant the woman was glad to see her or was setting the stage to drop a bomb.
“Is everything okay?” She hated to ask the question.
“What? Oh, sure.” Avery grinned. “I just wanted to chat with you a little bit. Come on in for coffee.”
“Um, the thing is, I’m meeting Justin for coffee in half an hour and I still need to shower and change.”
Avery’s smile
