Page 8 of Dangerous Lover

Silence. So thick it was a presence in the room. The only sound was the wind rattling the window in its pane.

Jack had got his dick down, but in the meantime something had happened to his throat. It was tight, and hot. A wild tangle of emotions warred in his chest, emotions he didn’t dare let out, but that felt like hot knives slicing away inside him.Grief. Lust. Sorrow. Joy. He’d lost his father and he’d found Caroline.

She watched him, saying nothing, as if she understood what was going on inside him. Finally, she broke the silence. “Well, Mr. Prescott, I guess I have a new boarder.”

He lifted his eyes to hers and coughed to loosen his throat. “Guess you do, ma’am. And please call me Jack.”

“All right, Jack. And I’m Caroline. Caroline Lake.” Jack nearly smiled. The one and only time he ever got drunk was the day the Colonel received news that he had inoperable stomach cancer. Jack accompanied the Colonel home, saw him into bed, then went right back out again. That night he got hammered and woke up two days later in some bimbo’s bed with a big ornate ‘C’ tattooed on his right biceps.

He knew who she was, all right.

Jack asked, because he knew she was expecting it. “How much is the rent?”

“A thousand five hundred dollars a month.” She said it sorrowfully, watching his eyes again. “I know that sounds like a lot, but really?—”

He held his hand up, palm out. He’d have paid a thousand times that, gladly. “That’s fine. Sounds reasonable. Particularly with meals, not to mention meals prepared by a good cook. I’ll save a lot on restaurants. So… how do I get out there?” He knew perfectly well how to get to Greenbriar, but it would sound weird if he didn’t ask.

“Do you have a car, Mr. Prescott?”

“No, not yet. I came in straight from the airport in a taxi. I’ll rent something on Monday.”

Caroline stood and he stood, too, catching the handle of his bag. He was too close to her and he stepped back immediately. It was an instinctive reaction. He was so tall he had to be careful not to loom over people. He particularly didn’t want to make Caroline uneasy.

“Well, no one else will be coming in today, not in this weather.” She gave a rueful shrug. “I think I’ll just close up the shop. You can ride home with me, Mr. Prescott.”

“Thank you, ma’am. I appreciate it.”

“Okay, Jack, and do please call me Caroline..”

“Caroline,” he said, the word passing his lips for the first time in twelve years.

She was staring up at him and seemed lost in thought.

He waited a beat, then—“Caroline? Ma’am?”

Caroline shook herself slightly. “Yes, um…Why don’t you wait for me at the front door? I need to close down my computer and change my shoes.”

She looked down at her pretty shoes, guaranteed to melt in the snow. Jack looked down, too. Their feet made an almost shocking contrast, as if they belonged to two different species instead of two sexes—Caroline’s in the pretty, small, pointy beige heels and Jack’s in his huge, ancient, battered combat boots. Their heads came up at the same time and their eyes locked.

Jack clutched his bag tightly, because the temptation to reach out and touch her—touchCaroline—was almost unbearable.

He’d never touched her, not once, in all the times she’d visited the shelter. He’d thought about it endlessly, but he’d never dared.His knuckles tightened on the handle.

She must have felt something in the air. Her eyes darted to one side, flashing blue-silver, and then she turned and disappeared behind a waist-high cubicle. Jack closed his eyes, relieved. A lifetime of self-control had come to the rescue. He’d almost done it. He’d almost lifted his hand. For a moment the temptation had been overwhelming. Her skin was a creamy ivory, with touches of rose along her cheekbones, without that skim-milk color lots of natural blondes had and it was a magnet for his hand.

Jack could just imagine how popular it would be for him to start groping her. He could imagine her reaction. Withdrawal, disgust, fear.I’m afraid I made a mistake, Mr. Prescott. I’m no longer accepting boarders.

He gripped the handle even harder and listened to the beeping sounds of a computer system closing down behind the cubicle wall. Her head disappeared as she bent to change shoes.

Caroline came out wearing lined boots, a wool cap and an eiderdown coat that reached almost to her ankles. Even bundled up so much it could have been a man or a Martian in there, she was so desirable it hurt. He watched her walk gracefully to a wall panel, switch off the lights and open the door.

Her gasp was loud even over the roar of the wind.

It was like opening a gateway to a freezing cold hell. The wind had risen and was howling like a tortured soul in the deepest reaches of the underworld, driving painful needles of sleet that stung the skin. It was so cold it stole the breath out of your lungs.

“Oh my God!” Recoiling as if someone had slapped her, Caroline stepped back straight into Jack’s arms.

Jack pulled Caroline further into the room and fought the wind for control of the door. He actually had to put some muscle into it. He leaned against it, held out his hand and put command in his voice. “Give me your car keys.”

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