Hot Property (Hot Zone 4)

Amy’s heart beat fast in her chest and her head pounded so hard she thought both might explode. “How dare you!” She faced Roper and poked him hard in the chest. “This is my office. Where do you get off walking in here and calling the shots?”

Despite her words, a traitorous part of her was glad to see him. In the time since she’d been home, she’d been fighting her deepest feelings. The rational part of her understood that she and Roper were trouble waiting to happen. But looking at him now, it was difficult to remember why.

“You need to calm down and listen.”

She inhaled deeply. “What?” she asked, her voice deliberately cold.

He shook his head and laughed. “You don’t make things easy.”

She opted for silence.

“We grew close at the lodge,” he said in his most seductive voice.

She swallowed hard.

He stepped nearer. She stepped back. He stepped closer. She stepped back. The dance continued until her back hit the radiator by the window and he had her cornered.

Just as he had at the solarium. Memories and seductive heat swept through her.

“Very close,” he said as he took his final step, his thighs coming into direct contact with hers. “Remember?” He stroked her cheek with his hand.

“It’s over,” she said in a shaky tone. Damn, she hated the effect he had on her. The longing and wanting threatened to make her forget her reasons for not being with him.

“Actually, it’s just beginning.” His eyes bore into hers and his fingertips stroked her face, her cheek, her throat. “I love you, Amy.”

She couldn’t have heard him correctly, though everything inside her turned to liquid, molten heat and a sudden yearning for so much more settled inside her chest. “You—”

He inclined his head. “I love you and I believe you love me, too.”

Oh, my God. Oh, my God. How long had she dreamed of the day when the man she loved would tell her he felt the same?

And she did love Roper. She knew it in a soul-deep way and had for a while, though denying and pushing it away from her consciousness had become second nature.

“Tell me, Amy,” he said, his lips inches from hers.

She was enveloped by the sensual cologne he wore that made her weak. She wanted to let herself be swept away by the dream. But she couldn’t.

Because it was nothing more than a dream.

“I can’t.”

“No, you won’t. You’re scared. I understand that. I’ve never said those three words to any woman before in my life. But we can make it work.” His tone was low and imploring.

She drew a deep breath, steadying herself. Reminding herself of the reasons she’d left the lodge and had steered clear of him since. “We can’t. I gave you all the tools to fix your life. I took you away, I showed you what you needed. But the first time you were faced with a choice, you chose to cave into your family’s needs.”

“Let me explain.”

“In a minute. I need to finish first. Until you can make that separation between yourself and your family in a way that leaves you healthy emotionally, you aren’t remotely ready for the kind of relationship that love entails.” Her heart and her voice cracked as she spoke.

“Are you saying you love me, too?”

When she didn’t reply, the knowing smile that had teased the corners of his mouth disappeared. “I will handle my family. You just can’t expect me to shut them down with no explanation after a lifetime of doing just the opposite.”

He made sense. He did. But it wasn’t enough. She merely shook her head.

“There’s more bothering you than just my family,” he stated with certainty.

She trembled, unwilling to admit to anything more. She couldn’t put it into words herself. “The family issue’s enough, considering it’s not going to change.”