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“I like him. He pays attention.” Lachlan pressed the button for the elevator.
Sophia laughed. “He gives every new guy who comes into the building the stink eye.”
They rode to the fifth floor. When they reached her door, Lachlan held out his hand and waggled his fingers.
She gave him a questioning stare. “I can open my door. You’re carrying the food.”
“Sophia, let me open the door.” He kept his hand out, and judging from the stubborn glint in his eyes, she wouldn’t win this one.
“Oh, for goodness sake.” His manners were a bit too old school sometimes. She accepted the bag and dropped her keys into his waiting palm.
A flash of black drew her gaze to the gun in his other hand.
“What the heck?” She’d had no idea he was armed.
He unlocked her door and opened it a crack. “Your alarm isn’t on. Is your friend home?”
“I never use my alarm.” She checked her phone. According to her Find a Friend app, Emily was still in Foggy Bottom. “And Emily is still at work.”
His glower had her raising her brows in return. “What? I’m on the fifth floor of a building with a security guard in the lobby.”
“Stay here.” He prowled into her home with soundless steps toward the two bedrooms down the hall and back to her living room before returning to scrutinize the alarm panel by the front door. The gun, thankfully, had disappeared.
Now that he was actually in her home, his commanding presence sucked all the air from the place, leaving her restless and aching. She was finding it harder and harder to believe Admiral Dane’s suspicions about Lachlan. Her traitorous brain went right back to that scorcher of a kiss. Desire flushed her skin and heated her insides, dampening her panties. Once wasn’t enough. She wanted more. Needed his mouth on her, his bare skin against hers.
Needed him to lose control because he wantedher,not just any woman.
If he looked at her now, there’d be no hiding the fact she was contemplating having him for dinner instead of the takeout from Snuffy’s.
She hurried to the kitchen, took out the taco dinners, and arranged them on two plates, then poured herself a glass of wine and set the plates, silverware, and her glass on the dining table. “What do you want to drink? I have wine, sparkling and filtered tap water, and juice. Sorry, no beer. Emily and I aren’t beer drinkers.”
“Water’s fine, thank you.” He was still over by her door. “Do you have alarm contacts on your windows and sliding glass door?”
She squinted at him. “Who do you think is going to get in? Spider-Man?”
He scowled. She rolled her eyes, not caring if he saw. His sense of humor, if he even had one, was missing and presumed dead. “Come eat while the food’s still warm.”
He strolled with the grace of a big cat to the table and sat. “You’re too naïve to the dangers in this world,” he grumbled. The taco appeared tiny in his long fingers. One bite and half of it disappeared without a single piece of pork or a shred of cheese falling to the plate.
“And you’re too jaded,” she shot back. She bit down on her taco and watched in dismay as half the filling jumped from the tortilla like it was a sinking ship to land on her plate.
“I have reason to be.” Lachlan didn’t look at her as he polished off his meal.
Not ready for their evening to end, she moved the topic to more neutral ground. “We still need to finish getting the information together for the government report.”
“We’ll do it tomorrow morning.” He pushed away his plate and leaned into the back of his chair. His direct, intense stare reminded her of a big cat homing in on its prey. It should have unnerved her instead of sending electricity zinging through her bloodstream to her core.
“Tell me more about your family. You’re an only child.”
His interest in her was more intoxicating than an entire bottle of chardonnay, even if she wasn’t a fan of the subject matter. She wiped her mouth with her napkin and set it on the table. “My parents had me late in life.”
She paused. How to explain her childhood? It hadn’t been marred by dysfunction in the way one would expect. “I don’t think they had planned to have children.”
“So, you were a miracle baby?”
“I’m not sure they saw it that way. I think it was more them not knowing what to do with a child and not having the interest or energy to raise one.” She glanced up, caught his frown, and added hastily, “Don’t get me wrong. They weren’t cruel or cold. Just...uninvolved. I didn’t want for anything, and they paid for extracurricular activities, summer camps, Catholic school, and college. They bought me a car.” She shrugged. She’d said too much.
“Money isn’t love.” Lachlan’s big hand covered hers, enfolding her in his warmth. “I think they should be very proud of you, and if they aren’t, that’s their problem, not yours. You’re a beautiful, intelligent, kindhearted woman.”