It Started at Christmas...

“You came to my show tonight.”

“Coworkers can support one another outside work without it meaning anything.”

“I see how you look at me, McKenzie.”

* * *

McKenzie blinked at the man driving her home. More like driving her crazy.

How she looked at him?

“What are you talking about? You’re the one who looks at me as if you’ve not seen a woman in years.”

“I’m sure I do, but we’re not talking about how I look at you. We’re talking about how you look at me.”

“I don’t look at you.”

“Yes, you do.”

“How do I look at you, Lance?”

“As if you’ve not seen a man in years.”

“That’s ridiculous.” She motioned for him to make a right turn.

“But nonetheless true. And now that I’ve had to do mouth-to-mouth to revive you, you know you’re dying for another go at these lips.” Eyes twinkling, he puckered up and kissed the air.

“You have such an inflated ego,” she accused, glad to see him pull into her street. A few more minutes and she’d be able to escape him and this conversation she really didn’t want to be having. “Besides, you did not do mouth-to-mouth. I passed out. I didn’t go into respiratory arrest.”

“Where you are concerned, I didn’t want to take any chances, thus the mouth-to-mouth.” His tone was teasing. “You were unconscious, so you probably don’t recall it. George offered to help out, but I assured him I had things under control.”

“Right.” She rolled her eyes. She knew 100 percent he’d not taken advantage of her blacking out to perform mouth-to-mouth, even though when she’d come to he’d been leaning over her. She also knew the phlebotomist had offered to do no such thing. “Guess that’s something we really do have in common, because I don’t want to take any chances either. Not with the likes of you, so you’ll understand that there will be no invitations into my house. Not now and not ever.”

“Not ever?”

“Probably not.”

* * *

McKenzie really didn’t want Lance walking her to her doorway. Since she’d passed out at the hospital, she supposed she shouldn’t argue as it made logical sense that he’d want to see her safely into her home. That was just a common courtesy really and didn’t mean a thing if she let him. Yet the last thing she wanted was to have him on her door stoop or, even worse, inside her house.

“You have a nice place,” he praised as he drove his car up into her driveway.

“It’s dark. You can’t really see much,” she countered.

“Not so dark that I can’t tell you have a well-kept yard and a nice home.” As he parked the car and turned off the ignition, he chuckled. “I’ve never met a more prickly, stubborn woman than you, McKenzie.”

She wanted to tell him to not be ridiculous, but the fact of the matter was that he was way too observant.

“I didn’t ask you to be here,” she reminded him defensively. She was sure she wasn’t anything like the yes-women he usually spent time with. “I appreciate your concern, but I didn’t ask you to drive me to the hospital or to stay with me while I had my blood drawn or to threaten me with mouth-to-mouth.”

He let out an exaggerated sigh. “I’m aware you’d rather have faced George again than for me to have driven you home.”

That one had her backtracking a little. “That might be taking things too far.”

“Riding home with me is preferable to needles? Good to know.”

He was teasing her again, but the thought she was alone with him, sitting in his car parked in her driveway, truly did make her nervous.