She knew that made her a hypocrite or a tease, but she couldn’t stop the battle between what intrigued her and what scared her witless. That left only one solution.
“You’ll get the sense of security back. We’ll figure this out.” This time he didn’t reach out, but his voice dipped low to the soothing level that made all the other nurses sigh.
“I said no to you five times because I wanted quiet. Peaceful.” The second the words left her mouth, part of her knew they were a lie.
“Sounds boring.”
“One date and all this happens. You can see where I’m reasoning out the cause and effect and—”
“Blaming me.”
The word stung her. She didn’t mean that. “Not blaming. Connecting the dots.”
“Same thing.”
She reached out for the brush on top of the chest because she needed something in her hands. Needed to find a way to keep from twitching because the way her insides jumped all over the place, it was inevitable that would soon show on the outside, too.
“Some women might find it all thrilling. I find it terrifying.”
He lifted the brush out of her hands and put it back down. “What are you saying exactly?”
“Tomorrow I find somewhere else to go. Somewhere safe because I sure don’t have a death wish, but somewhere away from all this.” She rubbed her hands together then wrapped them around her middle. When that felt wrong, she dropped them to her sides again. “And then we end this before whatever is following you makes me collateral damage.”
“Happy to know you’re concerned about my well-being in this scenario.”
Everything was coming out wrong. She wanted to drop her head into her hands. Maybe scream for an hour or two to work out all the frustration building inside her. “Don’t you get it? I’m trying to get out before you mean too much.”
His head snapped back as if she’d slapped him. “That’s an excuse.”
“I’m being realistic.”
“You’re being a coward.”
In a blink, guilt turned to fury. Anger washed over her, heating her skin everywhere it touched. “How dare—”
“Let’s try this.” Without warning, he stepped in close with his hands on her hips. “I’m going to kiss you. If you don’t want me to, you need to say so.”
This far away she could smell the soap on his skin. Something clean and fresh. If she reached out, she could brush a finger over that sexy scruff on his chin.
And he asked permission. It was all too much for her wavering self-control to handle. She couldn’t speak. Couldn’t breathe. She was pretty sure she’d forgotten how to do both. She may have nodded and she certainly didn’t remember putting her hands on his forearms.
But she felt the kiss.
His head dipped and his mouth brushed over hers. Soft at first, gentle and undemanding. Then the second pass, bone-shattering and intense. Deep and full of need. His lips crossed over hers and a hand went to her hair. It drove on, unlocking something deep inside her that she’d shut down and forgotten.
When they broke apart, all she could do was stare into those rich green eyes. “Uh, wow.”
“Tomorrow we’ll figure out date number two.”
Chapter Five
Gary Taub sat in his top-floor office in the nondescript office building away from the historically protected houses and expensive yachts associated with Annapolis. His business, Worldwide Securities, required anonymity and more security than a hundred-year-old town house with its faulty wiring could offer.
He looked around. The place might be new and state-of-the-art, but it was drab. If his wife were still alive, she’d drag in photographs and paintings. But he’d lost her a year ago to improperly diagnosed stomach cancer, six months after losing his brother to carelessness.
Without Marilyn’s touch, from the unadorned beige walls to the beige carpet, it could be any office in any corporation, anywhere in America. The only nod to the subject matter of his work was the presence of three computers lined up around the utilitarian metal desk.
He’d set up the surroundings this way on purpose. The only way to hide what happened here was to make it boring, forgettable. He’d been conducting the same work, moving the money around, for ten years. No need to change his operation now.
And he knew how lucrative silence could be. He had the expensive modern waterfront home a few miles away to prove it. He’d earned it. As a businessman he demanded perfection—in his clothes and his technology. He thought it would be obvious he expected the same of his employees.