Page 55 of Angel In Armani

He smiled as he took it. “Whatever you say.”

She was relieved when he climbed out of the helicopter and strolled off toward the car park.

Leaving without her.

He’d stop if she asked him to. He’d stay. He’d come home with her and demonstrate that expert anatomical knowledge again.

She went hot just thinking about it and shut down the thought as she finished shutting down the helicopter. The mechanics would have all gone home hours ago; they’d check it and prep it in the morning. Still, she lingered a little, walking a circle around the helo, running her hand over the metal skin, not quite ready to let go of the flight and the few stolen hours with Lucas.

Was it too much to hope that Lucas would have the good sense to leave quickly so she wouldn’t be tempted to follow him into the night?

She reached her car, stowed the flight bag in the back, rolled her shoulders once to ease the slight stiffness caused by the flight, and then climbed into the driver’s seat. The engine coughed to life as she turned the key and she headed out of the lot, trying not to feel like she was a complete idiot for letting Lucas leave.

She was halfway home when her phone rang. She hit the button for the speakerphone. “Hello?”

“It’s me.”

Lucas. Her stomach tightened, but she couldn’t stop the smile that immediately stole across her face.

“Did you forget something?”

“In a manner of speaking.”

He was doing that low and wicked thing with his voice again, and her mouth went dry. She had to take a breath before she could speak. “What?”

“I forgot to ask you to give me your address.”

Her hard-won breath left her in a rush. He wanted her address.

Oh yes.

Every particle in her body shrieked it.

“We agreed the phone number wasn’t an invitation,” she said, managing to ignore them.

“I know,” he said. “But you never said I couldn’t use it to ask for an invitation.”

“Lucas—”

“Sara,” he said, mimicking her tone. “I’m driving in the dark and I swear I’m going to run off the road because all I can think about is you. Tell me you’re not driving home in the dark thinking about me, too. Tell me that and I’ll leave you alone.”

“I…” She wanted to say it. The sensible part of her knew that she should say it. One little white lie and he’d leave her alone and she’d be safely back on solid ground. No Lucas Angelo disturbing and disrupting her.

Oh, but she wanted him to disrupt her. Wanted him to turn her world upside down and into something different. Wanted it enough that she knew it was a very bad idea to give in to that desire. “I—” she started again and then it happened. Instead of being sensible Sara Charles and telling him to keep driving, to leave her alone in the dark, she gave him her address in a rush of words that spilled out of her before she could think.

“I’ll see you there,” Lucas said and hung up before she could say anything else.

She realized that she’d stopped at a stop sign. She had no idea how long she’d been there. She peered through the darkness at the nearest street sign, suddenly unsure where she was exactly.

Hell, she was unsure who she was exactly. She’d just invited Lucas Angelo over to her apartment.

About the only thing she was sure of was that right now she wanted very badly to be home.

When she reached the drive of the little apartment block, her heart was pounding madly. But she couldn’t see any strange cars and the pounding was joined by a sudden rapid swoop of disappointment.

She parked and sat for a moment. Had he not arrived yet? She had no idea where he’d been when he’d called her, of course. Or had he changed his mind?

Maybe he’d had a sudden fit of sanity and driven away. That would make everything infinitely simpler. But leave her here with her racing pulse and tingling skin and the heat traveling her body that had been growing fiercer and fiercer with every mile closer to home.

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