Part 5 (1/2)

”Your home is beautiful,” she said. ”You live here alone?” The house had three floors four if you counted the stilts that put the house twelve feet off the ground. That area was covered with ornate latticework to hide the garage beneath.

He smiled. ”Glad you like it.” They strolled up the walk.

”You built it, didn't you. All of it yourself.”

”Yeah. I started almost five years ago,” Tyler said.

Without invitation, Lane moved up the Federal steps to the wide, wraparound porch. Although big enough to have tables and chairs, maybe a couple of swings, it was bare of furniture. The only decor was a forgotten fern drooping in the corner.

”It's gorgeous.” The walkway and shrubbery was lit with tiny coach lanterns blending to a stone path leading off to the right and she a.s.sumed to the back of the house. What appeared to be a replica of an old carriage house was separated from the main house by a breezeway.

”That's your workshop, isn't it?” She pointed to the carriage house.

”Yes, it is.”

”What to do make there?”

”I'm still doing some finis.h.i.+ng work mostly moldings. Want to see inside?”

Alarms went off. Inside in that big house alone with him? Her body was screaming, Oh yes! But her brain, thank heaven, was still in charge. ”Another time, maybe.”

”Come on in, Lane. Let me make some coffee.”

She sighed, eyeing him. ”Tyler, we both know what you want.”

”I thought I was being subtle.”

She laughed, short and sharp. ”You? I'm not stupid. You just want to take me to bed.”

He stepped closer, gazing down into her eyes. ”I want to do more than take you to my bed, Lane.”

Her insides clamped, blood rus.h.i.+ng in her veins, making her skin tingle with heat. It had been a long time, too long since a man had looked at her with such open desire. The heat of it filled her, swamping her with needs she thought she'd managed to block out. ”We've only just met. Don't be foolish.”

Tyler didn't understand it, either. His body wanted this woman. His surge of testosterone was demanding he show her the fun they could have under the covers in long, slow kisses and hot s.e.x. Desire was building to a height he'd never experienced before. He told himself it was the challenge she presented, that the harder she pushed, the harder he tried to get closer. He couldn't accept more than that and wouldn't. He was letting his body do some talking right now, but not his heart. That was staying out of the picture.

”I can't seem to help myself around you.”

”At your age, you're blaming me for your raging hormones?” Lane said.

His brow furrowed and he saw something in her eyes he hadn't noticed before shadows.

”Take some aspirin and go to bed,” she said abruptly, needing to get as far away from Tyler as possible. ”I'm not getting into a relations.h.i.+p with you or anyone. I know I'm just a challenge to you, so please back off.”

The bite in her tone caught him off guard. ”Lane, wait. That's not true.”

She moved to the steps. ”Good night, Tyler.”

Before she could take the first one, he was there, grasping her upper arms and drawing her back. Her hand clutched his waist for balance, and for a moment, they just stared at each other.

”Don't.”

”Maybe you started out as a challenge,” he admitted. ”But that's changed.” His mouth was close, the warmth inviting her. ”Come play with me.”

She made a little sound, weak and almost panicked.

For a second she imagined herself going with him into his house, into his bed. Lying with him naked on cool sheets. Being desired and sharing more than words and a dinner out. The rush of need charging through her and clawing for that sweet moment of explosion. But it would be playing to him, nothing more. A game. Lane had been the tool of someone's game before.

The reality of her life hung over her like a looming dragon. Dan Jacobs, the tabloids, the suspicion of Mafia ties that cloaked her family. Because the news had hit the papers a week before her spring fas.h.i.+on show, it had bled over to her career and ruined her. In a few days she'd gone from being the hottest designer in Europe and New York to being the joke of the trade.

All of it kept her from having more than a casual friends.h.i.+p with Tyler, and even that was dangerous. She could lose too much and she liked her safe little world, wanted to keep it. That Tyler might learn the truth and bring attention to her was bad enough, but being with him longer than necessary, opening her heart to someone again, was just too big a risk.

”I can't.”

”You can.” He laid his mouth over hers.

Lane felt the floor vanish beneath her feet, the world of sound and sight folding up around her and sweeping her into a coc.o.o.n. With his strength, Tyler kept her prisoner, his mouth moving in slow lush waves over her. Patient. Trapping her soul. His tongue skimmed her lips, then pushed between them. Her fingers dug into his waist as the world tilted.

Mama mia, she'd forgotten that men could kiss like this.

Chapter 4.

She was energy, pure kinetic energy, and with a kiss, she cooked him from the inside out. Slow and wet, the kiss turned rapidly stronger, pulling him into dark heat and evoking slick dreams of more. His imagination went crazy, thoughts of dragging her into his house, of stripping her down to her skin and making love to her in the foyer pelted him like hard rain. He wanted her right this second, and need rippled up his body in a hot charge. But he wasn't so caught up that he didn't realize one thing.

She didn't deny herself, but she didn't surrender completely, either.

He felt it; that she wouldn't sink into him, that she wouldn't touch him more than her mouth on his and her hand at his waist. She held herself back, and the thought of what it would be like if she didn't made him groan. He started to close his arms around her, push his hand into her hair. But she stepped back abruptly. Tyler felt as if his limbs went with her and experienced overwhelming disappointment.

She blinked and stared. Heat poured off her in waves with her labored breath, and by the look on her face, she was just as stunned as he was.

”No, Tyler.”

”That felt like a yes to me, darlin'.” He reached for her. ”Come back here.”

Her gaze searched his, quickly, briefly. ”I can't do this, not with you,” she said in a strained voice, then turned and hurried down the steps, then d.a.m.n near ran. He'd never had a woman head for the hills like that, and he frowned at her back. Her hair had come undone, tumbling over her shoulders as she climbed into her car. Seconds later she was pulling out of the driveway. She never looked up, never looked back. He knew because he watched her.

Tyler sagged against the porch post, raking his hand through his hair. He winced at the sore spot on the back of his skull. The pain was running a close second to the ache in the rest of him.

The rain started up again, and Tyler fished in his pocket for his house keys and went inside. He stood in the foyer, the house echoing with emptiness. And he felt as if he'd just let something wonderful slip away.

Lane braked at the stoplight and dropped her head onto the cool steering wheel. Get a grip. She swallowed once, twice, but it wasn't much help. Her insides were stinging with sensations, and her heart was pounding like a jackhammer, making her body hotter than it already was. And it was boiling. Leaning back, she blew out a breath and pulled at her scarf, then opened her jacket, fanning the lapels. Then she opened the car window to let in the cool night air. To no avail.