“It’s not grape Kool-Aid, it’s claret. How did you getin?”
“Door wasopen.”
“You could have knocked.” She glanced at Jake and her mouth went dry. At a guess she’d say he’d been jogging. His navy T-shirt clung damply to the fascinating furrows and ridges of his chest and waist. Baggy running shorts showed off muscular thighs, knobby knees that made her smile, and a butt that made her put her hands in her pockets to keep them from temptation as he turned and bent forward to roll more paint onto thewall.
“I didn’t want you to have to stop whatever you were doing to answer thedoor.”
“How considerate.” She had a couple of cutting remarks on the tip of her tongue, but the way he put paint on a wall was pure poetry. She stifled her snarkiness, rolled aching shoulders and let him get on with it. “Do you think it’s toodark?”
“Too dark forwhat?”
She let her breath out in an exaggerated huff. “The paint. Do you think the paint’s too dark?” She snapped the magazine photo off the wall and stuck it in front of his face. “This is what Iwant.”
He stared at the photo for a minute, at the burgundy walls, aubergine ceiling and gold moldings. “Kind of ‘old English pub meets Middle Easternharem’?”
“Oh, never mind. Do you want somelemonade?”
“Sure.”
While she dropped ice into tall glasses and poured lemonade, he yelled, “You know the ceiling doesn’t match thewalls.”
She did a silentDuhand rolled her eyes. “It’s supposed to bestylish.”
“Whatever.” Even without seeing him she’d bet he was rolling his owneyes.
“You’re just the hired help,” she said as she carried the drinksout.
“What’s my wage again?” He placed the roller back in the tray and accepted the frosty glass. He gulped the drink back, and she took a moment to enjoy the way the strong muscles in his throat worked as heswallowed.
“In-for-mation.” She let all the smugness she felt ooze into the singleword.
That got his attention, all right. Ice rattled as he yanked the glass away from his mouth to stare at her. “You got thejob?”
She allowed the smugness to come right out, and grinned at him. “Couple of hoursago.”
In two strides he was right there in front of her. Even as her senses and nerves went haywire, trying to process the fact that he was invading her personal space, bringing the smell and look and feel of him, everything went intooverload.
His mouth came down on hers so swiftly her lips parted on a gasp. She froze in shock, vaguely aware of chilled, lemon-flavored lips that hinted at the hot wet mouthbeneath.
Her hands grasped his arms, whether to hold herself up or push him away, she couldn’t have said. Under her fingers she felt the heated swell of muscle under a T-shirt still damp from his run. He smelled so physical. Like sweat and whatever soap he’d showered with that morning, like paint and lemon. Likesex.
On the last thought, her body edged nearer, waiting for more. Wantingmore.
But just as she leaned in, he broke the connection with a shaky laugh. He lifted her and spun her dizzily around. “We’rein!”
He set her down and took a gigantic step backward. If she didn’t know better, she’d have sworn she made him nervous. Ifonly.
Hemadehersomething, though. Not nervous, but excited. He might scare the pants off her from time to time, but ever since he’d come on the scene, her boring life seemed to have flipped on itshead.
In the last week, she’d been made over top-to-toe, construction workers had ogled her and a man she barely knew had just kissed her. Not only had she changed her appearance, but she’d started changing her house and was about to change her job, plunging into the world of black ops, spies anddanger.
A shiver slithered down her spine at the thought of danger. “Will I need agun?”
He stopped, midway through a roller full of paint, and shot a comic-terrified glance over his shoulder. “Just slap my face. I promise it won’t happenagain.”
“I meant for the job.” He was promising he wouldn’t kiss her anymore. After just one little peck. Her self-confidence took a sudden nosedive. It looked as if she hadn’t changed much after all. That little peck had been the most exciting thing she’d ever experienced, and he was promising never to do it again. She didn’t want him to keep that promise. She really, really wanted him to kiss heragain.
That andmore.
