Breathless Descent (Texas Hotzone 3)

“No can do,” Caleb said. “I’m all Shay’s until bedtime. And I have a sunrise jump in the morning.”

His words repeated in her mind. All Shay’s. Until bedtime! Shay gulped as discreetly as she could manage. Though the words were innocent enough to the rest of the group, they packed a solid punch to her.

This was hardly headed toward that talk-from-a-distance conversation she’d planned, and Shay’s mind raced for a way out. Turning to him, she said, “This really isn’t necessary, Caleb.”

His jaw set. “It’s necessary.”

Shay knew how uncompromising Caleb was when he made up his mind. He’d made up his mind. “Fine,” she said. “Let’s go.”

With no time to spare anyway, she heaved a sigh, murmured a goodbye and turned on her heels. She rushed to the door, Caleb close behind, so close he was at the door, pulling it open before she could. She didn’t look at him. She darted to the high wooden porch, humidity thick and restricting, her focus on the sky.

The half-full moon hung low in the horizon, the sky a swirl of blue, gray, orange and yellow. But it was all a haze in her midst. She was actually nervous. With Caleb. It was crazy, and the unsettling sensation sent her rushing down the stairs in flight.

Her car was just to the right of the front door. Caleb’s truck was to the left. She had to pause, had to tell him where they were going.

“I’ll follow you, so we don’t have to come back here and risk getting pulled into the poker game,” he said, sparing her the need to figure out what to say.

She dared a look at him. “You don’t—”

“I do,” he said, his jaw set the way it had been in the kitchen. Strong. Determined. Two words that often defined Caleb.

Shay tugged her keys from her purse. “Stubborn,” she added out loud. Another word that often defined Caleb. “You’ve always been stubborn.”

“Determined,” he corrected, a slight lift to his mouth.

Shay turned away, afraid he’d notice she was looking at his lips. His full, sexy lips. Why did she keep looking at his lips? Because he kissed you, Shay, and you want him to kiss you again.

Shay paused at the side of her silver BMW and unlocked the door. The car had been a splurge the year before when her stockbroker fiancé had broken up with her. He’d said she wanted to love him but didn’t. After a few weeks of introspection, she’d known he was right. He’d been more buddy than lover. Comfortable. Safe. And not Caleb, though she barely allowed herself to think such a thing.

Nevertheless, the engagement had ended and Shay had bought herself a replacement for love and happiness—the car. Because she’d worked hard and she could survive—all by herself.

Deep in thought, Shay reached for the door handle when suddenly Caleb’s hand was there. She’d not heard him approach, or maybe he’d been by her side the whole time. Electricity shot up her arm, and Shay reacted, yanking her arm back.

If he noticed her rapid withdrawal, Caleb didn’t react. He opened the door and waved her forward. A gentleman. Nerves subsided ever so slightly as a memory of Caleb repeating his father’s words on many occasions skirted through her mind. “Soldiers are men of honor. They know good manners. Until you piss them off. Then they have none, so—”

“Don’t piss me off,” he finished for her with a grin. “That was my father. He didn’t say a lot, but when he did, he was a straight shooter every time.”

“Kind of like you,” she said appreciatively. “A nice change from Kent’s loud mouth. But I guess that’s why he does so well in sales. He’s always talking.”

They both smiled, and the charge in the air thickened into silence. Shay contemplated about ten things she could say to him, but as she raced through ways to turn them into sentences, nothing cohesive came to mind. Nothing overly coherent, for that matter. There was just her, Caleb and a kiss in the pantry.

“I know,” he said, as if one of the ten things had come out of her mouth when it had not. “We’ll talk. Let’s take care of your patient first.”

Silent understanding settled between them, and she nodded, but nerves fluttered in her chest again. Their game of tug-of-war had worked until now—one saying yes while the other said no. But Shay was really hungering for yes. If they were alone together, she feared she’d be weak, that she’d forget the potential fallout of an intimate connection between them. She’d most definitely kiss him again. And again. And, oh, yes, again.

Shay hurried into the car before she kissed him then.

6

CALEB FOLLOWED Shay to her office building, a white brick structure in the trendy Arboretum area of northwest Austin, surrounded by weeping willows and rows of perfectly manicured bushes. And as if all the privacy the greenery provided wasn’t enough of a safety concern, Shay had ignored the parking lot and headed into a garage beneath the building. Pulling his truck to a halt beside her car, Caleb took one look at the dark, vacant parking garage and shoved open his door with a mumbled curse. He stalked toward Shay as she exited her car.