Page 11 of She is the Darke

He pointed the remote down at the heels that dangled from her fingertips. “Too tall.”

She was frozen into place like a popsicle. The audacity.

And even more frustrating? He was wearing a long-sleeved black shirt that hugged his gym-rat muscles, and dark-wash jeans that actually looked clean. He was filling up her senses with one of those hot-boy colognes that did funny things to girls’insides, and his beard was a work of art. He had this perfect model scruff on his chiseled jaw, and his eyes were that bright blue as he stared back at her.

“You like what you see?” he asked.

She scoffed. “I wasn’t checking you out.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“I wasn’t!” God, he was so irritating.

“I did some research on your people, and it says you can sense a lie.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “So?”

“So, I can too.”

“You’re human. You have exactly zero superpowers.”

“Maybe I could always sense a lie.”

“This conversation is boring. No one cares about your imagined powers,” she muttered, heading toward her bedroom.

“You lied when you said you weren’t checking me out,” he called.

“Not every woman in your general vicinity goes ga-ga over you, Tyler,” she spat out.

The smile fell from his lips. He tossed the remote to the couch and strode toward her with the grace of a predator. She froze, and the air got caught in her lungs as he closed the distance between them, eyes boring into hers. He was taller than she remembered, and she couldn’t deny the dominance she could sense from him. He slid his hand to her neck and leaned down, his lips near her ear as the butterflies in her stomach rampaged.

She gripped his wrist as his lips brushed her ear, and she rolled her eyes closed.

“Where is your bathroom?” he rumbled.

Her eyes flew open, and she shoved him back. “Why do you do that?” she demanded.

“Do what?” His laugh was so irritating.

“You just live to pester me. You used to do that when we were kids, too, and it’s not cute anymore.”

“So it was cute back then?” he asked.

“Stop!” She shook her head, frustrated. “I don’t want to go to dinner with you, and I don’t want you to be here. Sense the truth in that.”

The smile faded from his lips and he cocked his head to the side, studied her. Tyler gestured to the small stack of papers on her kitchen table. “Is that the hard copy of the contract?”

“It’s my copy, yes. You can save us some time and effort if you want to just sign that one, and then you may leave.”

He stared at her for a three-count, and then asked, “You got a pen?”

She huffed a steadying breath and nodded. “Sure. Top drawer by the fridge.”

She’d told him that so she wouldn’t have to walk right past him to get it.

As he turned his back to her, grabbed the paperclipped contract, and made his way into the kitchen, she let out a long sigh. Why did he affect her so much?

“I don’t know why I do that,” he said with his back to her as he signed the contract on the kitchen counter. “I don’t do it with everyone.” He turned and rested his hands back on the counter. Annoyingly, it made his arm muscles flex attractively. “I’m not trying to pick at you. I guess I just fall into old habits.”

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