Page 14 of Dangerous Temptation
She headed into the garden maze, intending to take a path further away from the house.
‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you.’
She looked around quickly. Was there someone else around that she hadn’t seen?
He sighed. ‘Stay away from the front gate, Elena.’
That brought her straight upright. Her breath caught when she found him staring straight at her. His grey eyes were piercing and all too knowing.
How had he sensed her? More so, how had he figured out her plans? ‘I … I just thought I’d see if the reporters are still out there.’
‘Trust me. They’re dug in like ticks.’ His attention returned to his computer screen. ‘Ready to draw blood.’
Apparently they were talking now. Or were they?
He planted a foot on the chair in front of him and braced his forearm across his knee as he leaned forward. The position emphasised the long muscles in his back. Whatever he was working on had his attention more than she did.
Although he’d somehow spotted her when she’d made little to no noise.
She edged backwards. ‘I’ll stay hidden in the treeline.’
‘Did you watch TMZ last night? They were trying out a thermal camera.’ He tapped a few more keys on the keyboard. ‘They managed to spot one of the rabbits that run around the place.’
His gaze was on her again in that second. ‘Myrabbit.’
She froze under his stare.
‘There’s no telling how rabid they’ll get if they spot a person.’ That grey gaze slowly trailed down her body. ‘Especially if it’s female.’
There it was again, the crackling in the air. Self-consciousness overcame Elena as she stood before him – or was that just awareness? Awareness of her body, acknowledgment of their differences, him male, her female? He missed nothing with that gaze, and she felt the way her breasts filled out her knit top. She sensed the lift in the heels of her boots and the resulting tilt of her hips. Even with the extra three inches, she barely came up to his chin.
The hoodie’s zipper bit into the palm of her hand.
His hoodie.
The one she was wearing and hadn’t returned.
Her immediate impulse was to give it back, but the bulkiness hid her shape. In that moment, she could no more take it off than she could walk down a stripper runway. ‘I suppose I shouldn’t do that then.’
‘Leonard will let you know when it’s clear.’
She nodded. All right. That sounded like a dismissal. It rubbed wrong, but this was his land. He hadn’t invited her here. ‘Thank you,’ she forced herself to say.
The sooner she got out of here, the better.
She turned on her heel, this time back towards the lake. His voice stopped her again.
‘You haven’t been doing yoga in the evenings.’
Oh, yes. He knew exactly what her body looked like underneath his fleece jacket.
Awareness ran like an electrical charge down her spine. When she looked over her shoulder, she found him still watching her. His pose was casual, still leaning over with one foot braced on the patio chair, but his eyes were alert. She might have been watching him on his walks through the woods, but he’d been watching her too.
Warmth unfurled inside her and began to circulate through her veins.
‘It’s getting too chilly.’
He waited for a long moment, almost as if he was debating what he’d say next. When he spoke, the offer surprised her.
