Strong And Sexy

Chapter 7

Distance, Shayne reminded himself on the drive to Dani’s. The trick was to remain a little distant. Shouldn’t be a problem, he was a master of distant, and any who knew him would be able to swear to that in a court of law.

But no more than six minutes after Dani had hung up on him, he pulled up to her apartment building.

For the second time.

He had no idea what to expect, or what he thought he could do, and twice on the way over he’d nearly turned around, and would have, except for one thing.

She’d been genuinely terrified.

As he parked, she came out from beneath the awning on the front porch and into the rain, moving like a shimmering wet dream. Her hair was down, still wet, clinging past her shoulders. Out of her black dress now, she wore only an extremely wet T-shirt and boxer shorts, no longer looking awkward and out of her league, but like a hot, drenched, curvy woman who deserved the trophy at a wet T-shirt contest. Holy shit.

Yeah, that was some great distance he was maintaining.

She opened the passenger door of the Porsche before he’d pulled the parking brake, and certainly before he could get out of the car to open her door for her.

“Sorry,” she gasped, shoving back the streaming wet strands of her hair. It fell in tangled, wet waves past her shoulders, as wild as her eyes.

He tore his own off her body. “For?”

She lifted her hands helplessly. “For making your car all wet for the second time tonight. For calling you in the first place. For kissing you. I don’t know, pick one.”

Reaching into the back seat, he handed her the coat she’d left at the party. “Yours?”

“Yes.” She shrugged into it and hugged herself tight.

“There’s no need to apologize for any of this.”

Her gaze dropped to his mouth. “Okay.” She licked her lips, an entirely innocent and uncalculated gesture, but it still shot a bolt of heat right through him. “If you’re sure,” she said softly. She hadn’t buttoned her coat, and with her hands fiddling in her hair, it fell open enough to remind him-hot, wet female.

No bra.

And, he could only figure, no panties. Though why he even went there, he had no idea.

“Shayne?”

He had to clear his throat and forced himself to look away. “Yeah?”

“Thanks for the ride.”

Distance. Keep it. Repeating the words like a mantra to himself, he turned off the engine.

“What are you doing?”

“Going up to check out your place.”

“That’s not necessary.”

Arching a brow, he turned to face her. “Did you call the police, then?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Truth?”

“Please.”

“I think…” Embarrassment crossed her face. “I think I probably just imagined everything.”

He studied her for a long moment. Her eyes were haunted, her mouth grim. “You don’t believe that.”

She lifted a shoulder, and he sighed. “So what’s your plan? Go to work in your pj’s?”

Again she lifted a shoulder.

“I can’t just leave you here, Dani.”

“Yes, you can.”

“Is there someone you could call to come stay with you?”

“No.”

“You’re the queen of no’s tonight, you know that?”

She let out a self-deprecating laugh. “I just…I don’t like to lean on people.”

“Trust me. I get that. Hell, I live that. But you shouldn’t be alone. Not tonight.”

Turning to him, she flashed those wide, gorgeous dark eyes, filled with…ah, hell, hurt. “Because I’m crazy?”

Crazy beautiful. “I didn’t say that.”

“If you could please just take me to the zoo, I’ll handle it from there.”

“Dani-”

“Please.”

She had a strand of hair stuck to her jaw, another along her throat, curling down to her collarbone. She had a drop of water on her nose, and as he watched, it fell to a breast.

Her T-shirt, white and thin, was really quite sheer. He was certain he should tell her, or at least reach in and close her coat.

Be the gentleman.

But he didn’t say a word, which undoubtedly made him a jerk. She’d been right not to want to go out with him.

“Shayne?”

“Yeah.” He shook his head at himself. “Yeah, I’ll take you to your work.”

“Thank you.”

He put the Porsche back in gear and pulled away. “So what do you do at the zoo?”

“I’m a mammal keeper.”

He arched a brow, surprised. “As in feed the bears?”

“Feed, clean, monitor…and not just the bears. Today I was with the elephants. Tomorrow I’ll be with the primates.”

“You’re not quite dressed for that.”

“I have things to change into there.”

Good. Great. He didn’t care because look at him, he was keeping his distance. “But we really should check out your apartment.”

“No. I imagined it. I know that now. I’m sorry.”

She was lying, but what could he do? Distance. Repeating that, he pulled out of the lot.

The highway was deserted, and as he drove into the dark, stormy night he told himself he was doing the right thing, and that he would not, repeat not try to change her mind regarding getting involved, because getting involved would lead to things, things like more kissing, and that would be a bad, very, very bad way of maintaining his distance.

Dani let out a relieved breath and leaned back into the soft, toasty interior of Shayne’s car. The heated leather crinkled around her, pulling her in, and she let out a shuddery sigh that undoubtedly gave away her relief and lingering fear. Going still, she glanced at him.

Looking unruffled and perfectly at ease as he drove, as if he could be modeling for a car ad, Shayne cut his eyes to hers.

He remained quietly calm, which she greatly admired. She wanted to be quietly calm. And he smelled good. How she could notice such a thing was beyond her, but he smelled yummy and looked even yummier with that hair tousled just enough that she wanted to run her fingers through it.

“You’re staring at me,” he murmured.

A short, mirthless laugh escaped her. “Sorry.”

What he did next surprised her. He reached out and took her hand in his.

She stared down at their entwined fingers, his long and tanned, work-roughened. And warm. So wonderfully warm. She pictured them gliding over the parts of her that were chilled, imagined how that would feel, and shivered again.

“You really should have let me go up there,” he said, cranking up the heat.

“No, it’s all right.”

“Or called the police.”

“If I’d called the police the two times you’d wanted me to tonight, I’d probably be at the station being held for a psych eval.”

His silence was his agreement, and she sighed again. The rain had picked up even more, if that was possible, and when a large truck came at them, splashing copious amounts of water across the windshield, Shayne let go of her hand to put both of his on the steering wheel, fighting the slick road and wind.

Feeling frozen from the inside out, she slipped her hands into her coat pockets-

And went still as stone.

Oh, God. “S-Shayne?”

Still fighting the road, he didn’t glance over. “Yeah?”

Heart kicking into full gear, she slowly pulled out what she’d found…

A gun.

Cool to the touch, surprisingly lightweight, it gleamed in her hand. As if it being lightweight was her biggest worry. Unable to believe she hadn’t felt it in her pocket, she just stared at it. “Um, Shayne?”

He glanced over and executed a double take. “Jesus.” He jerked the car to the side of the road with a squeal of tires. “What the fuck is that?”

She held it in the air between them as if it were a ticking bomb. “A g-gun?”

“Why are you holding a gun, Dani?”

“I don’t know!”

“Okay.” Watching her as if she was a spitting cobra, he nudged it aside. “Which is infinitely better than saying ‘I’m going to use it on you, Shayne.’”

“You thought I-Ohmigod.”

With the same slow care he’d have given the snake, he reached out and took it from her, then let out a long breath. “That’s better.”

“I wasn’t going to-Is it real?”

“Oh yeah.” He was staring at the gun in his fingers. “Definitely real.”

“Oh God.” She couldn’t even wrap her mind around it. “How did a gun get in my pocket?”

“Yeah, now see, I was kinda hoping you were going to tell me that story.” He held the gun with just his thumb and first finger, clearly trying not to get any more fingerprints than absolutely necessary on it now that he understood it wasn’t hers.

And thank God he understood. She had to give it to him for his composed, relaxed nature. He hadn’t freaked.

Which was good because she was freaking enough for the both of them. “It isn’t mine,” she whispered. “I swear it.”

Leaning past her, he opened his glove box and pulled out a small towel, which he used to hold the gun. Then he did something to it, and a part of it clicked open.

He was checking to see if it was loaded, she realized, and leaning in, she caught a flash of a bullet.

Oh, God. She covered her mouth with a shaking hand.

It was loaded.

Their eyes met, Shayne’s grim and determined as he wrapped up the gun.

“It was loaded,” she said very softly.

“Yes.”

“I could have shot off my own foot with it in my pocket like that.”

“Yeah.”

She swallowed hard. “I could have-”

“But you didn’t.”

Right. She’d focus on that. But she had to swallow again. “Do you think it’s the same gun that I saw someone use tonight? At Sky High?”

He closed his eyes briefly and rubbed his forehead. “What does it say about the way the night has gone that I actually forgot about that part of the evening?”

“That it’s been a long one?”

He opened his eyes and shook his head. “If it’s the same gun, and it’s not yours-”

“It’s not!”

“Then someone wanted it to look like yours.”

She just stared at him.

Swearing softly, he shifted in his seat to more fully face her. He put his hands on her arms, and she could tell by the look on his face that she wasn’t going to like what he said next.

“Dani, my brother is a cop, a detective, high up in the ranks-”

“Shayne-”

“No, listen to me. There’s something going on. What you saw tonight at Sky High, whatever happened in your apartment, and now this. It’s time for help.”

Staring into his face, she saw the concern there. Not for himself, but for her. And somehow that reached her. “I really did try to convince myself I imagined it all.”

“Well, you didn’t imagine the gun.”

“No.”

“Dani, we have to call the cops. It might as well be Patrick, who can-”

“Yes.” Her hands went to his chest, because he was solid. He was a solid piece of ground beneath her as she balanced on a spinning, out-of-control world. “I…” She closed her eyes. “I need help. Your help.”

Silently agreeing, he pulled out his cell phone and hit a number. “Patrick. Yeah, it’s Shayne. I have a problem.” He listened, then rolled his eyes. “No, I didn’t call you to take care of a speeding ticket-Look, it’s complicated. You available? Good.” His eyes cut to Dani. “I’m on the 134, between Victory and Zoo Drive, and there’s a gun-That’s right, a gun. It was found in the coat pocket of…”

A crazy woman, Dani silently finished for him.

But that’s not what he said. “A friend.”

Dani let out the breath she’d been holding and resisted the urge to hug him. He wasn’t a friend friend. He wasn’t someone…someone she could call for help. And yet that’s exactly what she’d done, and he’d come through.

“She’s never seen it before,” Shayne was saying. “And just a little while ago, she thought someone might be inside her place-Yes, we’ll wait here for you.” He gave his brother the address, then slipped the phone back into his pocket and looked at her.

She tried to smile, but couldn’t, so she gave up. “Now we wait?”

He nodded, still holding her gaze in that way he had that convinced her that not only could he read her mind, but he could see right through her.

Inside her.

To the real Dani Peterson, the one who felt more comfortable in pj’s than a fancy dress, the one who scooped elephant poop for a job and wouldn’t know a Prada item if it bit her on the ass.

The most surprising part of that was he seemed to be okay with that woman, as okay as he’d been with the one who’d kissed him in a closet. That felt lovely, so lovely, which was bad because she couldn’t do this with him. Not without getting hurt. “I’m not a good waiter.”

“It won’t be long.”

She looked into his eyes, feeling her heart sigh just a little. He’d been so patient tonight. She’d bet he was a good waiter. The best of waiters…which brought her mind back to his kisses.

“Dani.” His voice sounded soft, a little husky, as if he knew where her thoughts had gone.

And she felt a catch in her chest. He’d been such an amazing kisser.

His fingers were playing with her coat, and then one of her shoulders was bared as he nudged it, and in spite of herself, she leaned in. “Help me wait, Shayne.” Sliding her hands up his chest, into his hair, she entangled them in the wavy strands.

His eyes darkened, and her body reacted to that and the unbelievable amounts of adrenaline in her system. “We could talk,” he said.

“Talk.”

“Uh-huh.” He let their noses gently bump. “Talk.”

They were breathing each other’s air, just looking into each other’s eyes, and the moment seemed so startlingly intimate, she couldn’t move. “I don’t feel much like talking.” Oh, God. Had she just said that? Really?

“No?” He tilted his head so that their noses were no longer bumping.

Now their mouths were lined up perfectly.

“No…”

“Dani-”

God, she really loved the way he said her name, all raspy and extremely male.

“What else did you have in mind?”

Honestly? There wasn’t a single thought in her head that wasn’t a dirty, wicked little fantasy. Certainly nothing she could mention. “I can think of several things.”

He smiled, that killer smile that scraped at all her happy spots.

“Shayne?”

“Yeah?”

“How is it that when I’m with you, I don’t feel like I’m losing my mind.”

“I don’t know.” He ran a finger over her ear and made her shiver. “For me, it’s the opposite.”

“So I…rattle you?” And was that good?

Or bad?

But the look in his eyes told her. It was good, very, very good, and it set off all sorts of alarms inside her. “We can’t really do this again,” she murmured.

“No. Because there isn’t any mistletoe.”

Be strong. Say it. Believe it. “Because we’re not going to date.”

“Right. No dating.” He nudged the coat off her other shoulder as well. “Because…?”

“Because you’re not my type,” she said, reminding herself. So not her type.

His soft laugh brushed the hair at her temple. “Liar.”

Oh, God, she thought. Toss me a life vest, because I’m going down… He was warm, so deliciously, wonderfully warm, and exactly her type. So much so that her body leaned to his like a heat-seeking missile. And this time, when their mouths touched, it was more like a homecoming than she’d ever experienced, and she opened for him, opened and let out a sound that would have been horrifying for its dark neediness except for the fact that he matched the sound with one of his own.

All by themselves, her hands slid beneath his shirt-to warm them up, she told herself as she ran her fingers over a set of abs that made her tremble, and though he sucked in a shocked breath at the iciness of her touch and let out a low “holy shit,” he seemed to like her hands on him. Pulling her coat off, he bent his head and took his mouth on a hungry tour over her bared throat, her shoulder.

Her entire body quivered with anticipation.

He had all the access he needed. Her T-shirt provided little coverage. It was wet, clinging, and he easily pushed it up as his hand skimmed her belly to cup her breast, holding it for his mouth. His tongue rasped over her nipple, and the only sound was her head thunking back against the passenger seat. And then her moan, along with another of those horrifyingly needy gasps for air, as if she’d just run a 5K.

“Still not dating me?” he asked against her skin.

Oh, he sounded smug, didn’t he. At least he was breathing heavy too. Yeah, that worked for her, knowing she wasn’t completely alone in this. “No. Still not dating you-Ohmigod.” His thumb had rasped over her other nipple. “Shayne-”

At the knock on the window, they both jumped so high they nearly bumped their heads on the roof.

A cop stood there, looking an awful lot like…

Shayne.

In a moment that summed up all the moments of poor timing in her life, his brother had arrived.