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as her security guy, his calm and solid presence
the night of the break-in and the sound of his voice when she’d been frightened
in the middle of the night—all totally understandable reasons for her shifting
perspective. He couldn’t be merely sex anymore because he’d become safety.
    Disgusted, she flung her ponytail over her shoulder. If
convenience had opened the trap she’d stumbled into, she had to find a new
security company.
    Except…she wasn’t thinking about security measures last
night with the mostly anonymous man in her borrowed bed. No. She was thinking
about everything after the sex that made the sex itself into a complete
experience.
    After three years of divorced life, she finally wanted a new
relationship.
    That was…not good.
    It still wasn’t good hours later when David knocked on her
new reinforced glass door while she tidied the bins of sock yarn. The sign on
the door said “closed” but he met her eyes through the glass and raised a sandy
eyebrow.
    Jovanna stomped on the mingled awareness and fear that
pulsed through her and crossed the shop to unlock the door. She didn’t have
anything clever or cruel to say so she waited for him to speak first.
    “You’ll need the code for your alarm system,” he said after
a beat of silence. “It’s keyed up to the doors and windows. I also installed
cameras at the front and back doors. The cameras are feeding to the new monitor
on your desk.”
    She moistened her lips, dry with the unwelcome reminder of
the night before. “You didn’t have to come all the way over here.”
    David braced his shoulder against the door frame. “You’re not
taking my calls.”
    His scent tickled the edges of her memory, reminded her of
midnight satin and pleasure. She stepped backward as heat stung the tips of her
ears. “I’ll get a pen. Do you have an invoice?”
    Desperate to hide the flush burning her cheeks, she turned
her back on him and headed for the service counter. Behind her, the tiny bell
over the door chimed as David stepped in and let the door close. The sound of
her keys jingling together, of the lock bolting home, made her breath catch.
    From the corner of her eye, she saw him pocket her keys. Her
pulse kicked up and a sense of inevitability, thrill instead of fear, slid down
her back. She tried to ignore it. “The code? And my keys?”
    He supplied a six-number sequence but said, “I think I’ll
keep your keys for now. I want to talk to you and I don’t have the patience for
a conversation through text messages. Especially when you’re ignoring my
messages.”
    Jovanna dropped her pen in a cup and turned to face him.
Mistake. He sat in a casual sprawl on one of her overstuffed sofas. The
hunter-green backdrop and the late sun coming through the wide front window did
terrific things for him, darkening the golden hue of his skin and illuminating
his dark-blond cut. While she watched, he spread both arms across the back of
the sofa and planted his booted feet on the carpet. Knees bent, weekend cargoes
stretched taut across his thighs.
    It would be such a bad idea if she hiked her pencil
skirt to her hips and straddled him there in the warm beam of the sun. She
forced her eyes to his. “I’m ignoring your messages because I don’t want to
talk to you. Unless you’re giving me access codes or delivering my bill.”
    “Our relationship isn’t strictly business anymore. I haven’t
been to the club recently because I’ve been busy with setting up new clients.
Recent months aside, I’m a regular visitor. From what I hear, so are you. We’re
going to encounter each other again.” He broke eye contact, but not to look
away. Instead, he very deliberately refocused on her body, tracking from mouth
to knees. “I’m going to know you whether you wear a mask or not. And unless you
forbid me from playing with you, I’m going to do it again. And you’ll recognize
me when I do.”
    The low timbre of his voice stroked her skin, confident