Page 30 of Treat Her Right

She left the window and moved blindly toward the hall. She needed another shower—this one preferably ice-cold to chase away the lingering hunger. She knew she wouldn’t sleep tonight, not after feeling him atop her, not after inhaling his aroused scent.

She had to get herself together, and she had to give the man some space. Rushing him was not the best tactic. No, Zack was a subtle man, when he wasn’t challenging her. He was a father, and his sensitivity toward his daughter only made him more attractive. He was the hero Dani had described him as being, and by far the most appealing male Wynn had ever met.

Zack needed time to get used to her, to get to know her.

She’deaseher way in, she’d be charming and sweet and polite…because knocking down his defenses sure didn’t seem to be working.

CHAPTER 6

ZACK SAW HERevery damn day. He woke up in the morning and she was outside working in the yard or cleaning her driveway or chatting with the other neighbors.

He got home from work and she’d just be coming in or going out.

He ran into her at the grocery store and once while they were both taking out their garbage. Dani chatted her up every time, like she was a long-lost and valuable friend. And Wynn was forever sweet and attentive—to Dani.

It irked him, especially since she lounged in that hammock every damn night. Before bed, he’d find himself standing at his window, watching for her like a lost soul. And sure enough, she’d come traipsing out, her long legs bare and her stride sure to the point of being almost mannish. Not that anyone would ever mistake Wynn Lane for a man. She was too curvy, too soft and…she smelled too good to be male.

His whole body would go taut watching her as she relaxed back in that hammock and stretched out the length of her sexy body. Damn if he didn’t get aroused every time.

Sometimes she read until the sun went down. Sometimes she just swayed, music feeding into her ears through a set of headphones. She sometimes dozed and she sometimes whistled, but not once had she fallen into a sound sleep again.

He almost wished she would, so he’d have a legitimate excuse to seek her out, to touch her.

She no longer intruded. In fact, she seemed to have lost interest in him. Always she’d be cordial, give a wave or a friendly hello, and then she’d move on. She treated him the same as she did the other neighbors, and he didn’t like it.

He’d never known himself to be such a fickle bastard before. But he missed her. He barely knew her and already he’d grown accustomed to her.

As had Dani.

Even now his daughter sat on the kitchen door stoop, wistfully staring at Wynn’s house, waiting for her to appear. Dani missed her. She wasn’t at all appeased by the short friendly chats or casual waves, and that wasn’t something Zack had counted on.

It tore his heart out.

“Dani,” he called, “come on in and eat your sandwich.”

Two seconds later Dani peered in the door. “I’m gonna eat it out here.”

Normally Zack would have been fine with that, but he didn’t want his daughter turning melancholy. “Dani…”

“Wynn’ll need a sandwich, too.”

Zack went still and a strange emotion, one he refused to study too closely, swirled through him. “Is she out there?”

“She’s with a bunch of big men.”

Before his brain and feet could make a connection, Zack found himself at the door looking out. Sure enough, there was Wynn, surrounded by bodybuilders—three of them. All massive, all handsome.

All fawning over her.

He scowled, thinking to duck back inside before she or her cursed boyfriends spotted him.

His traitorous daughter did him in once again.

Dani took two bounding steps down the stoop to the lawn and waved her arms like a windmill.“Hey Wynn!”

Wynn looked up and her seven-watt smile shone brightly. She patted one of the guys on the chest, swatted at another’s immense back and started in Dani’s direction. Zack couldn’t deny the pounding of his heart. It had been a week since he’d really talked to her, really been close to her. Deny it all he liked, he’d missed her. Maybe even more than his daughter had.

Dani shocked him by rushing to Wynn for a hug.