Part 20 (2/2)

Zach gently kissed her, then set her back down on her feet. His eyes found hers and his expression grew concerned.

”I didn't come here for this, I swear. I just I saw you standing there and you looked so d.a.m.ned beautiful and I wanted you so d.a.m.ned much.” He blew out a breath, raked a hand through his hair. Reaching down, he picked up her towel and handed it over. ”Where you're concerned, my usual self-control seems to go right out the window.”

Elizabeth wrapped the towel around her, covering her body from breast to thigh, tucked the fabric in at the top. ”I could have stopped you.”

”Yes.”

”I wanted you, too, Zach.”

He reached out and touched her cheek. ”There's nothing wrong with two people wanting each other.”

She looked away from him, trying not to feel regret for what they had done. ”I don't suppose there is.”

”Let me spend the night.”

She started shaking her head. ”I don't think”

”You don't think it's a good idea.”

”And you do?”

He sighed heavily. ”I'm not sure. There's something going on here, Liz. And it's more than just s.e.xual attraction. I feel it and so do you.”

”Whatever we might be feelingit doesn't change the way things are.”

”Maybe it does. Why don't we wait and see?”

She walked away from him, away from the heat that had returned to his eyes and the look she had seen there before. She told herself not to imagine it was yearning. Whatever it was, it didn't change what he was, didn't change the fact that he had always been a loner and always would be. Didn't lessen the awful risk she would be taking if she allowed herself to get more deeply involved with him.

”I need to go change,” she said, wanting to put some distance between them. ”I'll be right back.”

Zach just nodded, reading her thoughts, a look of resignation on his face.

Elizabeth returned a few minutes later, dressed in a pair of tan shorts and a crisp white blouse, her resolve back in place. No matter how much she desired him, she couldn't take the risk.

She walked past him toward the kitchen. ”I made a pitcher of iced tea just before you got here. Would you like a gla.s.s?”

He nodded. ”Sounds good.”

She noticed he had straightened his clothes and combed his hair. He looked as good as he had when he'd walked through the door and it bothered her to realize she wanted him again.

She busied herself dropping ice cubes into gla.s.ses and filling them with tea. Setting the gla.s.ses down on the kitchen table along with a spoon, she shoved the sugar bowl over to Zach's side of the table.

His eyes remained on her face. ”It's fine the way it is.” He picked up the icy gla.s.s and took a long swallow, and she watched the long muscles moving in his throat.

”Did you get a chance to talk to your brother?” she asked, determined not to think of s.e.x with Zach.

”Actually, that's the reason I stopped by. I talked to Carson. Unfortunately, he says there isn't any list of former tenants. I also talked to some of the workers. Mariano Nunez has been there the longest. He remembered most of the families who lived in the house while he was there. I wrote them down.”

He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and tossed it down on the table. ”But the old man had no idea where to find them. He says as far as he knows, no one ever died in either the old house or the new one.”

”That leads us nowhere.”

”We've still got the utility companies. You'll take a stab at them tomorrow?”

She nodded. ”I can get away from work for an hour or so, I think. I'll see if I can dig up any information.”

”You haven't eaten supper, have you?”

”No, but Look, Zach”

”We could order some more Chineseor maybe a pizza, sit around and watch a little TV.”

”Or you could go back to your world and I could stay here in mine.”

”We could do that. I don't want to.”

She looked at him, looked into those intense golden brown eyes, and her heart clenched. ”I don't want to, either.”

She couldn't believe she'd said it. Now that she had, she realized it was true, and that it didn't really matter anymore. She was already in way over her head. Whatever happened, she was going to get hurt.

In the meantime, she had Zach. She would enjoy the time they had together.

She set her gla.s.s of tea down on the table, walked up and slid her arms around his neck, kissed him full on the mouth.

”Let's order something later,” she whispered against his ear. ”I can think of something a whole lot better to do than eat.”

Zach grinned and kissed the side of her neck. ”We'll have to see about that.” Lifting her up in his arms, he carried her into the bedroom.

Eighteen.

Zach set the alarm for four o'clock the next morning, but awoke before the buzzer went off. Snuggled spoon-fas.h.i.+on against him, Elizabeth felt him stir, felt his morning arousal and moved to take him inside her. He made love to her slowly, until they both peaked, then he kissed the side of her neck and left her lying drowsily in bed while he showered and dressed to leave.

At this time of morning, without the usual traffic, it should take less than two hours to drive back to L.A., but Zach would need time to change clothes, and he had told her he had work to do before his first meeting.

”Call me this afternoon,” he said as he walked to where she lay in bed. ”Let me know what you find out from the utility companies.”

She mumbled something unintelligible, then gave him a sleepy smile. ”I will.”

Zach bent down and kissed her. ”Don't forget.”

”I won't.”

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