Page 52 of Hideaway Heart

“Maybe I don’t have a side that needs protection,” he said. “Maybe I feel perfectly comfortable exposing all of my parts.”

I laughed. “Except to me.”

“Hey, listen.” He got gruff with me again. “Protecting myself and protecting you are two different things. Don’t confuse them.”

“I’m not confused.” I grinned and held out my arms, Xander Buckley-style. “I’m just telling it like it is.”

* * *

By the time we got home, the rain was torrential, and the wind blew it in on a hard, pelting slant. We jumped out of the car and bolted for the porch, where Xander held his bag over my head while I typed in the code. “Shoot,” I said as we rushed in. “Wedidleave the windows open!”

“Get the ones in the bedroom,” he ordered, quickly turning a lamp on. “I’ll get these.”

I raced down the dark hallway into the bedroom, slipping on the wood floor in my wet boots. Luckily, the rain was angling away from the windows above the bed, so nothing had gotten wet. I cranked them shut, then sat down, tugged off my wet boots, and peeled off my damp socks. I thought about changing out of my soggy dress, but Xander seemed to like it. I’d caught him staring at me a lot today.

Heading back to the living room barefoot, I stopped short when I saw Xander’s naked back across the room. He tossed his wet shirt aside and reached into his bag for another one. The muscles beneath his tattooed skin worked as he lifted the plain white T-shirt and pulled it over his head. He turned around before it was all the way on, giving me the briefest glimpse of his bare chest and abs. Lots of ink. Lots of muscles. Lots of delicious little hills and valleys I could imagine running my hands over. Or my tongue.

I might have licked my lips.

“Is anything wet?” he asked.

It took me a second. “Oh, you mean the bed? No.”

“What did you think I meant?”

“Nothing.”

Behind him, the lamp flickered. The house groaned in the wind. “Think we’ll lose power?” I asked.

“We might.”

A loud crack of lightning split the air. “Ooh!” Touching my chest, I laughed nervously as thunder shook the cabin walls. “That one spooked me.”

He gave me a boyish smile that made my stomach flutter. “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” I said. “Just a little jumpy, I guess.”

We stood there for a moment, looking at each other from opposite ends of the room while rain hammered on the roof.If my life were a movie, I thought,I’d rush toward him and he’d rush toward me and we’d close the gap between us in two heartbeats, our bodies and mouths colliding fast and hard.

But I wasn’t about to take that first step and risk his hand shooting out to stop me. He’d made his position clear last night, and I’d promised to respect it.

“Well,” I said, “I guess I’ll turn in and get cozy with a paperback.”

“Okay.”

I waved stupidly. “Goodnight.”

He shoved his hands in his pockets. “Night.”

Hesitating for a couple more seconds, I gave him ample opportunity to stop me, but he didn’t. Rooted to the spot, his body was rigid and tense, the cords in his neck taut with restraint.

I could feel his eyes on me as I moved down the hall.

FOURTEEN

xander

She disappearedfrom view and I exhaled with relief. Only when I heard the bathroom door close did I pull my hands from my pockets. For a moment there, the compulsion to kiss her again had been almost unbearable. In three strides I could have crossed the floor and swept her into my arms, carried her off to bed, and stripped that wet dress from her skin.