Page 21 of Stalked By the Recruiter

Guilt ate at me while fear crept up the back of my neck and held me in a chokehold. But I couldn’t get myself to regret it. Not when the excitement of it and the fantasy of Andres was so crystal clear in my head. Stitch barked and went running through the house to the front door.

The doorbell rang again, and I stood, sure I’d been caught. My beautiful dog looked at me, his head tilted like he was wondering why I wasn’t moving faster. I made my way toward the door like I was a dead woman walking, almost positive it was the cops. They’d come to take me in for lewd acts and breaking and entering.Dramatic much?I opened the door. I wasn’t sure I was relieved it wasn’t the school police but Andres, standing there with an apologetic look on his face. Stitch barked again, poking his face between the door and me.

“Hey.” Andres smiled and bent down. “Nice to meet you in person, Stitch.” My dog barked again, enjoying the head rubs Andres was giving him. “Hi.” The guy of every dirty fantasy I’d been having looked up at me. “How are you?”

“Good. Umm, you?”

“Good. Finally off work.” He shrugged before standing up. Sensing he wasn’t going to get any more attention, and that Andres wasn’t a threat, Stitch ran back to his spot in the living room. “Sorry about not being there after work. I had a video conference meeting that could have been an email,” he explained out of nowhere.

Like he genuinely felt bad for missing our walk home. His eyes caught mine, and all the nerves and fear melted away. My shoulders dropped and relief washed over me. Somehow, like he was in tune with my emotions, Andres closed the space between us, crossing the threshold of my house for the first time. The tips of our shoes bumped, and when his hand rose up to touch me, I didn’t flinch. If anything, I found myself moving closer into his caress. He tucked stray hair behind my ear, and my eyesfluttered shut. With one simple tender touch, Andres somehow made the world make sense.

All from a small touch.

“I ordered a pizza,” he shared, breaking the intense silence. My eyes opened slowly, and I let myself drown in the dark pools of his gaze.

“Oh?”Pizza?

“Yeah.” His eyes smoldered, an underlying intensity in his dark gaze. “You talked up that Grid Iron Pizzeria so much, I had to try it,” he explained further. “Wanna share it with me?”

“Oh!” My eyes widened. Everything inside of me, even the cynical side that had stopped fighting the attraction I felt for him, wanted me to give in. The whole sneaking into his place thing had really done that. “That sounds good,” I agreed, and my stomach flipped at the panty-melting smile he gave me.

“I’m glad you said yes.” He leaned against the doorway, pulling me into him. I rested my hands on his chest while I stared up at him. He felt so solid and strong. Safe. “That could have been a little awkward.”

“Why’s that?” I asked, trying to focus on anything other than how his body felt and how good he smelled.

“Because…” His fingers stroked the edge of my chin before sliding down to hold the side of my neck. There was a possessiveness in his touch that I liked. One that if anyone else had tried would have frightened me, but not with Andres. “I ordered it to be delivered here. Food should be here in”—his eyes dropped to the watch on his wrist—“thirty minutes.”

“Thirty minutes, huh?” I asked.

My head filled with a gazillion different ways we could stay busy for a half hour. And all those were us without our clothes on. I shut my eyes and stepped back.What am I doing?I wasn’t this sex-starved maniac.

“Sorry.” He cleared his throat. His apology made me realize what I was doing. I was giving him the wrong impression. Andres wasn’t Sam. Andres, for as pushy and odd he was at the beginning, was so much more. His hand dropped to his side, not pushing me away but making it clear he wasn’t a threat. “If you don’t want to have dinner, you can keep the pizza––“

“No!” I cut him off. “That’s not it.” I shook my head, peeling my body off his. Without thinking, my hand found his and I was pulling him. “I’d love to have dinner with you. Come in,” I invited him inside, and I had a feeling it was an invitation for more than my house. And by the way he stared at me, he knew that. He shut the door behind him. We were all alone.

I’d been alone with men after my divorce. I wasn’t some kind of wilting wallflower. But Andres was the first man I had been interested in. Nerves started to prickle to life for a whole new reason.

“Would you like something to drink or––“ I was about to drop his hand when he squeezed and tugged, making me look at him.

“Come here.” There was nothing soft about his request.

“What?” My eyes widened and a tremble washed through me.

“Come here.” His hand dropped mine, and I frowned.

“I am here ––“

“Here.” He quirked his finger, gesturing me to move toward him. I would have thought a demand like that would put me off. I would have told any other man exactly where he could go.

But again, Andres was different. The trust I had in the man was ridiculous. We’d just met. Hell, how long had it taken me to see Sam’s true colors? I shook the thought away and went to him.

And not a voice or red flag whispered in the back of my head.

Standing right in front of him, I tipped my head back to look up. In this position, our size difference was obvious. He couldeasily overpower me. Manhandle me in any way he saw fit. I wasn’t worried about that.

His hand found mine and lifted it up between us. My lungs seized as I realized what he was doing. His lips touched my knuckles, his dark gaze unblinking and locked with mine. And I saw it. A flash of darkness and awareness. A deep almost animalistic sound vibrated through him, and I didn’t know what was happening until he lifted my hand up higher, putting my wrist just under his nose, and I knew without a doubt I’d been caught. I’d washed my hands, but no matter how many times I washed, the spritz of his cologne I’d sprayed on wouldn’t go away.

“We have some things to talk about, don’t we, princess?”Shit. He knows. He really, really knows.

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