Page 8 of Desperate Temptations

N ot quite an hour later there was a knock at the door.

“Dammit!” she said under her breath as she sauntered to the door and peeked out the curtains on the door-side window. She’d guessed wrong. It looked like she was out of time.

“Open the door, Jessa,” a muffled voice said through the thick wood.

Jessa frowned down at herself. She’d been home for a while when she decided he wasn’t going to come, so she’d changed into comfortably worn jeans with rips in them and an old college t-shirt.

The hair clip holding her hair up at work was gone.

Her hair was flowing down her back in a messy tangle because she hadn’t thought to brush it.

Not that she cared what she looked like, of course. At least she didn’t want to care.

“Jessa,” impatience laced his voice.

She sighed and opened the door. A pleasant aroma hit her in the face. Cain walked in carrying a white sack from one of her favorite restaurants, making her mouth water.

“I thought we’d eat while we talked. Okay with you? You haven’t eaten yet? I would have called, but I don’t have your cell phone number.”

She shook her head, closed the door, and followed him into the kitchen. She walked to her cupboards, pulled down two plates, and grabbed silverware.

“What would you like to drink?”

“Do you have a beer?”

“Yeah, I’ve got a beer.” She wanted to laugh at the astonished but happy look that crossed his face. Did he think beer was beneath her or something?

They sat in silence, putting food on their plates and digging in. They didn’t talk as they ate, enjoying the spicy Chinese dish she usually ordered.

When she’d had her fill, she pushed her plate back and sighed contentedly. She looked up to find Cain staring at her. She smiled nervously.

“Thank you for dinner. It’s one of my favorites.”

Cain pushed his own plate away and wiped his mouth with the napkin. He leaned back in his chair and took a long swallow of beer.

Jessa watched his throat work and wondered how he could make swallowing sexy.

Her eyes roamed over his muscular chest, down his roped and chiseled arms to his large, powerful hands.

He was such a masculine man. His hands alone made her tingle, thinking about them on her body, on her skin.

She raised her eyes to find him watching her study him.

Oh, Lord. Jessa felt the heat of a blush steal over her face and creep down her neck, which made him chuckle.

She lowered her eyes, embarrassed. She cleared her throat and concentrated on the napkin she was tearing into little bits.

“What did you want to talk about?” she asked.

Cain stretched his legs out under the table and made himself comfortable.

“Look at me.”

Her eyes flew up to his face. It was overwhelming to have his intense attention focused on her. Those cold, hard, dark eyes heated when he looked at her, and she shivered in reaction. He nodded when he had her attention.

“First, you’re going to stop meddling in the investigation.”

She sat up straight, scowled, and dropped the napkin on the table.

“No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you damn well are.”

She gritted her teeth.

She stood abruptly, grabbed both plates, and took them to the sink.

She rinsed them slowly, needing the time to calm herself.

Her body tightened when she felt the presence of Cain’s body come up close behind her.

It made her a bit nervous that she had never even heard him move.

The heat that rolled off his body was incredible, and his scent made her mouth water.

He smelled like outdoors and musk. Pure male animal.

She turned off the water, stood still, and waited.

She heard him sigh, his breath caressing the back of her neck and making her skin tingle.

“You’re going to get yourself killed nosing around the way you are. These people are as bad as they get.”

Jessa said something softly.

“What?” he asked.

She swallowed hard and squared her shoulders.

“Why do you care? You don’t even know me.”

He put his hands on the counter on either side of her hips and boxed her in. Her breath stalled in her throat when he pressed his powerful body harder against her back. She knew he was doing it deliberately because he wanted her to feel what she did to him.

His voice was a velvety, dark murmur, and another level of heat washed over her body.

“I do know you. I do care.”

He spun her around when she shook her head and pressed a hard kiss to her full lips, stunning her.

Cain cradled her chin in his hand, making sure he had her attention. “I care. More than you know,” his voice had deepened.

Jessa raised pain-filled, tearful eyes to his.

“I won’t stop.”

Confused and pissed, Cain ground the word out between his teeth. “Why?”

A dark, sickening grief filled her heart. “It’s all I have.”

He straightened, anger caused a frown to mar his face, and his lips tightened as ice crept into his eyes. “What the fuck does that mean, Jessa?”

She tore herself away with a tortured cry, taking several steps away from him, and then faced him.

“It means I don’t have anything else. I’ve got nothing besides my work. I have no family, what friends I have I lost after Drew died because I didn’t want to be around anyone.” She watched as shock crossed his face. “You don’t understand.” She pushed past him with a small cry.

Cain grabbed her arm and stopped her retreat before he dragged her back around to face him.

“Make me understand,” his voice was ice cold and lashed through her.

Her misery was so severe, her face so bleak with sorrow, she could tell it affected him on a deeper level.

“You can’t understand until you lose everything,” she cried out and tried to pull away from him.

“I could die tomorrow, and there might be a few people who would shed some tears, but after a few weeks, I’d just be a vague memory.

The people who would mourn me are all gone.

I’m alone, an orphan, a widow, a...” She couldn’t go on.