Page 13 of Full House

She quickly typed in her code and hit the disarm button, breathing a sigh of relief when the beeping stopped and the red light changed to green.

“Zero-zero-zero-zero?” Darkness shrouded her entry, but enough moonlight shone through the open front door for her to see his raised brow. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

“It’s easy to remember.” She didn’t sound defensive. Not. At. All.

His other brow rose to meet the first. “You memorize full scripts.”

She hoped he didn’t see her blush through the darkness. “So, sue me, I’m bad with numbers.” Of course, that wasn’t the truth. The truth was, usually in her panic to deactivate her alarm, she’d forget the code. Three times she’d set it off before changing it to a code even a kindergartener would remember. She’d spent a whole weekend making cookies as a peace offering to her neighbors. All ten units.

She saw him almost crack a smile and unwisely asked, “So, are we back to being friends now?”

And just like that, the scowl was back on his face. “I’ll be here tomorrow morning to pick you up.”

She almost told him that wasn’t necessary but stopped herself at the last minute. It kind of was, seeing as she’d left her car back at the studio. Damn. She’d been so flustered when they’d left his house, she hadn’t thought of that small fact when he’d asked for her address, or she would have had him drop her at her car instead.

He tipped his head toward the box. “Be sure to set that and lock up.”

Then he stepped out, closing the door behind him with a final click.

She stared at her closed front door, pondering his behavior and wondering how things had gone so wrong so fast, before doing what he’d told her to do, turning the dead bolt and arming the security system.

≈≈≈

“Cut! Cut!” Simon shouted as he stood from his director’s chair.

Nate’s shoulders stiffened as he watched Simon approach. Fuck. He’d been on edge all afternoon, and in turn, Victoria had been tense, feeding off his bad mood.

He couldn’t get that one word out of his head, playing on a loop and fucking with his ability to concentrate.

Mistake.

While he agreed with everything she’d said last night, he just didn’t agree it applied to them. He wanted to be more than just a really good, bad mistake. And that pissed him off because he knew, deep down, relationships founded on heat-of-the-moment lust didn’t have staying power. Not in this business where a couple’s willpower at fidelity was tested time after time. Most failed.

And even deeper down, he wanted to be more than just a mistake for Victoria because, however things played out, she would never be a mistake for him. That’s why he stopped things last night. He knew if they’d fucked, that’s exactly how she would have forever seen him, and that’s not how he wanted to be seen. So, with a restraint he hadn’t even known he possessed, he’d gotten dressed and taken her home, leaving him now frustrated and pissed off.

“I don’t know what the fucking problem is, but you’ve got,” Simon glared at his watch, “ten minutes to fix it.” He gave Nate a hard stare before turning on his heel and disappearing into the shadows.

Nate took Victoria by the arm. “Come with me.”

He dragged her to the same storage room he’d taken her to the week before. Bad idea. Visions of their first kiss filled his heads. Yes, both of them. Just the thought of getting her alone had the semi he’d been sporting all day raging into a full-on hard-on.

He closed the door with more force than intended right before Victoria ripped her arm from his grasp.

She spun around and faced him, arms folded across her chest, heat blazing from her eyes. “What the hell is your problem?”

The room wasn’t small but was packed with so much miscellaneous crap that it appeared so. He took one step toward her, and that’s all it took to put her back within touching distance. And he did just that. Gripping her by the upper arms, he pulled her forward, plastering her front to his before taking her mouth in a fierce kiss.

She opened for him willingly, and her heat mingling with his created a blaze. He felt her weaken, her tense muscles slowly going slack. Her folded arms fell from between them, and her hands landed on his hips.

The two sides of his brain were dueling. The good side telling him he was going about this all wrong. That this wasn’t why he’d brought her there. That they needed to talk. The evil side was laughing, gloating, and carefree, telling him Victoria was theirs and nothing and no one would get in their way.

He tore his lips from hers, both of them breathing heavily, their exhaled breaths intermingling. Their faces were so close, all he could see was her, all he could smell was her, and he said the first thing—the only thing—that had been in his head all day. “We’re not a mistake.”

She licked her lips, her dazed eyes coming into sharper focus. “Okay.”

“I’m taking you out for dinner tonight. To a nice restaurant.”

He watched her throat work as she swallowed. “Okay.”

“I won’t be fucking you after.”

A blush coated her cheeks, and he got a secret thrill at putting it there. What he didn’t get was an answer. “Okay?”

Her lips quirked, and she said begrudgingly, “Okay.”

He shook his head, smiling, feeling better now that he had a game plan—he would show Victoria they were worth fighting for. “We’ve got about five more minutes. Let’s put them to good use.”

She gave him a full smile. “Okay.”

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