Page 14 of Contentious

“What’s that car doing there?” she asked of the black SUV parked across from her house. “I don’t recognize it.”

It pained him to realize she was so on alert that she kept track of the cars on her street. “One of my guys. I asked him to keep an eye on the house while we were gone.”

“Oh. You did?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Why?”

“Because Ty and the nanny would be there alone, and I wanted someone here.”

“The security system is on.”

“Which is good, but I don’t take chances in situations like this one.”

“And what, exactly, is this situation?”

“Well, you’ve got a guy stalking you and your son who’s looking to extract his pound of flesh, and frankly, that’s not going to happen on my watch.”

She fanned her face.

“What?”

“You’re sexy when you’re protective.”

Cresley Dane thinks I’m sexy. Thank God it was dark, because he felt his face flush with heat that might appear as a blush, and that wouldn’t do. “Stop.”

“And you’re cute when you’re embarrassed.”

“I’m never cute.”

“Hate to break it to you…”

“Enough of this nonsense.” He got out of the car and went around to help her out, determined to walk her to the door and end this unsettling evening with his pride intact.

She took hold of his hand and gave a squeeze that shot sensation straight to his cock.

What the hell? He wanted to release her and run away while he still could, but that wasn’t an option at the moment. Instead, he kept his gaze focused on the front-door destination, where an overhead light cast a warm glow.

“Thank you for an eventful evening,” she said when they reached the stoop.

He grunted out a laugh. “Sorry for the extra drama.”

“It was fine. Don’t think a thing of it. I enjoyed meeting the other Remingtons. If you ever need to talk about it with an impartial friend, you know where I am.”

“I do. Thank you for all the support. It means a lot.” He leaned in, intending to kiss her cheek, but she turned to the left and… fuck. When his lips connected with hers, the impact was immediate and overwhelming. As if operating outside of his control, his arms ended up around her, and the kiss went from lips touching lips to tongues twisting and scorching desire in about two seconds flat.

In the far, far, far recesses of his mind, an alarm sounded that reminded him of teenage mornings when he actively slept through his alarm every day. Like then, he heard it but ignored it because he had something better to do. Then, it’d been sleep, and now…

He needed to put a stop to this, if for no other reason than his employee was probably watching him make out with Cresley Dane, and he’d never hear the end of that. What do you mean “if for no other reason”? There are ten thousand bigger reasons why this should absolutely not be happening.

So stop it, then.

I will. In a second…

They finally broke apart, gasping and wide-eyed.

Her lips were slightly swollen and parted in surprise, which only made her sexier than she already was, and how was that even possible?