Page 22 of Two Steps Ahead

Night had fallen and he was already at work in the kitchen, having showered and changed himself. She was a little sad he’d donned a shirt, but loved the look of the ice-blue color against his brown skin. And was all but drooling at the way the muscles of his arms stretched against the tee’s sleeves.

His arms had felt so strong wrapped around her this morning. Like he was powerful enough to fight off any demon that would dare try to haunt her.

“Okay.” He turned to her, somehow aware of her presence in the doorway even though she hadn’t said anything. “This meal won’t be quite as impressive as I’d hoped due to lack of ingredients. But I make a mean salad to go with spaghetti.”

She walked over and hopped up to sit on the counter next to the stove. “I’m a sucker for a good salad. Especially if it has exotic ingredients in it like tomatoes.”

He pointed at her with the spoon he’d been using to stir the sauce and winked. “You just wait until we’re not stuck hereanymore. I’ll make you a proper meal with ingredients much more exotic than tomatoes.”

She couldn’t help it. She reached out, gripped the front of his shirt and pulled him to her.

His lips were the perfect combination of soft and firm—everything she wanted them to be. She wanted to pull him even closer. To lose herself in the kiss.

But then he pulled back.

It stung. Tension floated in the air between them. His eyes were so serious as they pinned hers.

She let out a nervous laugh. “Sorry. Don’t know what I was—”

She didn’t finish her sentence. He reached over to turn off the stove top.

Then his lips were back on hers.

One hand slid into her hair, the other wrapped around the small of her back and slid her closer to him on the counter. He tilted her head so he had better access to her mouth, and when she gave a surprised little gasp, he took advantage of it, teasing her tongue with his.

She draped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. She shuddered as he deepened the kiss, senses reeling as his tongue demanded more of hers. She slid even more forward until their bodies pressed up against each other. Both of them moaned.

And then the power blew, leaving them in darkness.

Chapter Seven

The sudden darkness didn’t throw her into a panic. She was too busy attempting to recover from that kiss. “Wow, I’ve never had a kiss so explosive it blew the power.”

She expected Weston to make his own joke, but he had frozen and was looking down at his phone. “We’ve got trouble. We need to get out of the house.”

She stared at him. Maybe hewasmaking a joke and she just wasn’t getting it. But the way he slid her off the counter and dragged her to the other side of the kitchen did not seem like much of a joke.

He opened a lower drawer and pulled out a gun.

“How did that get there?” she asked. And, even more importantly, why had he known it was there?

He put a finger over her lips. “Quiet. They’re coming in through the back.”

She stared at him with wide eyes. “What? Who’s coming through the back? What are you talking about? How do you know?”

How could he possibly know?

“I set up perimeter sensors on my first day, just in case.” He pulled out his phone and showed her where they’d been tripped, coming in from the west side of the property.

She blinked at him in the dimness, still trying to wrap her head around what was going on. “How would you know to do that? Did my father tell you to do it?”

He pulled her into the living room to the corner by the small couch, putting a hand on her head to keep her low. “It’s my job and I take it seriously.” His voice was more gruff than normal. “Your dad said you’re skittish about security, so I didn’t tell you about the sensors. Let’s discuss this after we’re out of danger.”

They heard a creak toward the back of the house. She let out a little gasp. “So what do we do now? Should we run?”

Weston looked at his phone again. “There seems to be two of them. I need to take them down while they’re not expecting it.”

Take them down?Everything about him screamed warrior—his tone, his stance, his focus.

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