Page 14 of The Right to Remain Mine

"She provoked him," Raith explained. "Right after he'd been arrested for trying to kill his wife."

"Willow!" Kit barked, his face soaking red with anger.

Willow sighed and turned to Raith. "Will you shut up and stay out of my family business? No... better yet, just get out of my house altogether."

"Wait a second here," Kit stepped in. "If he's supposed to teach you to defend yourself, then he's damn well staying."

Willow spun to Kit. "And you can go too," she added through gritted teeth.

Kit merely smiled and patted her cheek. "Yes, I love you too, cuz. Now, into the living room with you. You're going to learn some selfdefense."

Willow resisted his tugging hand on her arm. Her gaze met Raith's.

He shrugged and sent her a challenging look. "If you want to chicken out," he dared, "I'm not going to stop you."

Her eyes frosted, and Raith realized he had never been so attracted to her before. She moved threateningly closer, and he held his breath, anxious for her next biting words.

"You better eat as much as you can," she snarled in a low voice, glancing at the half-cleared plate in his hands. "Because you're going to need all the energy you can get before I'm done with you tonight."

Raith tried not to picture all the delectable fantasies his mind conjured at her unintentionally erotic suggestion, but he failed.

"Be in the living room in ten minutes," she finished. "Or I'm starting without you." Then, spinning on her heel, she ignored her cousin and marched from the kitchen.

He watched her swaying backside and wondered why he heard a sexual innuendo in every phrase she spoke. Swallowing whatever food was in his mouth, he left his plate on the counter and followed her, eager to get his hands on her ripe body.

Four

Willow had to admit she was grateful for her cousin's lingering presence once the three of them moved their party into the living room. She really did want Deputy "Raith" Malloy to scram, but she couldn't back out of their training session and look like the coward if he seemed perfectly willing to proceed.

No way was she going to let him know how much he affected her. Biting the inside of her lip, she swallowed back a dreamy little sigh of pleasure and glanced at his body as he spoke, droning on about never showing her back to a potential threat.

He looked good. The simple black t-shirt he wore fit him snugly, outlining two defined pectorals and a load of muscles on his upper arms and lower abs. The top matched his plain blue jeans to perfection, and she wanted to sigh all over again.

God, he was gorgeous.

It wasn't just his body that enthralled her, either. He had a very arresting face to go with his killer physique. Thick, stubby lashes framed a pair of dark blue—almost navy—eyes. His cheekbones and jaw were angular, complimenting his dark eyebrows and slightly-bent nose to make him look devastatingly rugged and male.

She'd heard somewhere that women never had an immediate physical attraction toward a man. According to the professionals, a woman looked at a man's mind first and then checked out his physical appearance once she fell for his personality.

Willow had to think that nonsense was a bunch of hogwash. Malloy was hot and that's all there was to him. He sported a bad attitude, and his personality sucked. He rubbed her the wrong way every freaking time she ran across him. But, boy, was there some sizzling steam rolling off the friction between them.

Well, okay, so he was smart—or maybe smartass was a better term. She had to admire his brain to an extent because he always knew exactly what he could say to irritate her the most. And she knew he did it on purpose. The man loved to get on her last nerve. Still, that shouldn't endear him to her in any way. Yet, whenever he was near, she couldn't seem to focus on anything but him. Ergo, she concluded it had to be his body—and his body alone—that attracted her so strongly.

Just look at him though. He put the saliva in sexy.

"Can you try that out on her?" Kit said, breaking into her straying thoughts. "I want to see how it works."

Both Willow and Malloy glanced over to give him similar looks of horror. From where he sat on the armrest of her couch, her cousin sent them both an innocent smile. "What? I just want to show Tina a couple of moves when she gets home."

Willow had no idea what the deputy had been explaining, because she had been too busy trying not to ogle him and wondering what kind of cologne he wore. It was intoxicating, whatever it was.

"Well," Kit urged, motioning toward her as he sent Malloy an expectant look. "Let's see some action. She can't learn unless you go through each step manually."

Malloy turned to her and sketched an eyebrow. "Ready?"

She took an immediate step back, her eyes popping wide. "Wait. What?"

"God, DeVane." He dropped his shoulders and narrowed his eyes. "Haven't you been listening to a word I've said?"

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