Page 29 of Last Call at the Doghouse

Where had he been? Who had he been with?

Andrew had ruined her. She might never trust any man ever again.

“I went for a walk,” he said.

“A long one.” With her back resting against the headboard, she crossed her arms over her chest. “A late one,” she added.

“Just trying to get the lay of the land.” He sounded casual, not at all like someone who’d been caught doing something he shouldn’t.

“Alone?” She regretted the snapped question as soon as the word was out of her mouth. She didn’t want to be that woman, the one always looking for betrayal, the one waiting to be hurt again. If she didn’t love Mitch Duncan—and she didn’t—he couldn’t hurt her. No one could. “Never mind. It’s none of my business.”

He sighed, then sat on the edge of the bed. Springs squealed and wood creaked. The lumpy mattress dipped under his weight, causing her to roll toward him. She caught herself and fought to stay upright.

“I’m not your ex,” he said.

“I never said you were.” She sounded far more defensive than she’d intended.

“If you were mine, I’d never look at another woman.”

He caught her by surprise with those words; words that sounded sincere, not at all like he was pulling her leg. The sentiment was almost romantic.

“You’re just trying to talk your way out of…”

“Out of what, Armi? I went for a walk. You were sound asleep when I left and I didn’t want to wake you.”

“So you were being thoughtful.”

“Is that a crime?”

It should be, but no. She felt her anger fading, a little. “Of course not, but…”

Frustration showed on Duncan’s features. “You have no idea how hard it is to share a room with you and keep my distance.”

Armi took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She did know; she knew too well. “Dammit, I was worried. With everything going on, how could I not be? You should’ve said something.”

“Like I said, I didn’t want to wake you.”

“Well, you did.” Had her sleeping self somehow sensed that he wasn’t in the room? Had she already come to need him that much? “I woke up and you were gone. How was I supposed to sleep after that?”

He grinned. Damn him, he did have a charming smile. “You missed me.”

All she had to do was give him a little shove, and he’d be gone. He’d stand up, move to his pallet on the floor, and this would be over. Should she tell him that sharing a room with him was difficult for her, too?

They weren’t kids and hadn’t been for a long time. Life was uncertain—more uncertain than she’d ever realized—so why not take all the pleasures of life while they could?

Duncan still sat on the edge of the bed, but in a second, maybe two, he was going to move away and this moment would be lost. “Maybe I did miss you,” she said. “Maybe I woke up and decided to invite you to share this bed, but you were gone and I wondered where the hell you were.”

Those blue eyes darkened and narrowed. “You know damn well what’s going to happen if I crawl into this bed with you.”

Her insides quivered and she experienced a rush of desire unlike anything she’d felt in… ten years? Twenty? Had desire ever been this intense? “I do. Life is short and right now it’s damned uncertain. Maybe I don’t want to die in some war I never wanted or expected wondering what we could be like together. Maybe it’s time for me to learn to take what I want, to be fearless, to take life…” she hesitated.

“By the balls?” he finished for her. There was that smile again.

“Yeah,” she whispered.

He leaned down and in and kissed her. Oh, did he kiss her. This made their earlier kiss seem unfinished, inadequate. Child’s play. A part of her knew she should call an end to this here and now. It was a bad idea. Her mind knew this; her body was ignoring this last ounce of common sense. She didn’t move away. Instead, one arm draped around his neck. She pulled him closer.

The kiss deepened, as the connection between them wiped away everything else. Every doubt. Every uncertainty. Then, in a flash, there was nothing else but this. Nothing but the two of them in an uncertain world where tomorrow wasn’t guaranteed.