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remember? We could spend time there. And if CPS allows it, and your foster parents
allow it, we could play basketball, hang out.”
Dane’s eyes clouded again. “Right.”
Craig released the boy, his eyes worried. She’d seen a lot of emotions cross his face
in the last day, and it proved to her once and for all that under his tough façade, Craig
MacGilvary harbored deep feelings he didn’t like showing just anyone. Yet he’d revealed
them all to her. Tenderness, caring, affection. Strong convictions with flexibility and an
open mind. Like it or not, that made her heart open to him even more.
Damn it, Leigh. Falling for this cop had been too damn easy.
“We’d better go,” Miriam said to Craig. “Dane, I’ll take you to the Reynolds’
house—”
“No.” Dane’s loud voice made other people in the waiting room take notice of their
little group. “I want Craig to take me.”
Dane’s outburst made everyone pause. After a few seconds silence, Miriam said,
“Deputy MacGilvary, would you mind?”
Craig shook his head. “Of course not.”
Dane’s quiet as they drove him to his friend’s home concerned Leigh, but Craig’s
silence worried her almost as much.
They pulled up alongside the curb at Reynolds, and Craig turned to Dane in the
backseat. “I’m going in with you.”
Craig spared her a glance, and she quickly said, “I’ll stay right here.”
Dane nodded, and they left the car without another word. Craig came back a short
time later, and he didn’t have much to say then, either. She stayed equally wordless,
understanding on an instinctual level that he needed to process what had happened to
Dane. Perhaps bad memories assaulted Craig, and he didn’t want to share.
When they reached her house it was three-thirty in the morning. They walked in, and
the awkwardness felt thick.
“Maybe I should go home,” he said.
“Stay. It’s three-thirty in the morning.”
“I’m not sure I can sleep.”
She sighed softly, her voice low. “Then don’t sleep.”
She opened the blinds on the sliding glass doors in the living room and Craig stared
at the sky. Leigh watched him.
He fascinated her. The t-shirt shirt couldn’t hide the sculpted male beauty of hard
muscle. The way his jeans cupped his lean hips and the muscled perfection of his ass
caused her loins to stir in unexpected arousal. Admiring him and craving another
connection came easy. She moved toward him, aware rejection might come if his
thoughts still wrapped around Dane’s troubles. He might want to be alone. As he stared
into the night and sparkling diamond stars, she wondered what went on in that handsome
head.
She placed one hand on his right shoulder and dared gaze into his eyes. “You want
coffee? I don’t think I could sleep either.” She paused, then dove in. “Are you okay?” she
asked softly.
“No.” He looked away, all repressed male and hard ass mixed into one.
Wonderful. He’d return to the cool, non-communicative man she’d first believed him
to be. Yet she knew his calm, regimented exterior hid a hot, passionate man.
Leigh squeezed his shoulder. “Dane will be okay. Peacock will make sure he’s taken
care of. The Reynolds will make certain of it, too. It’s great he can stay with them until
some things are resolved with his parents.”
He glanced at her. “You didn’t seem to like her.”
“Who?”
“Miriam Peacock.”
Leigh pursed her lips and released his shoulder. “How did you know? Was I that
obvious?”
“Only to me.”
“You can read me that well?”
Craig’s smile returned. “Yeah.”
She put her hands on her hips. “She’s professional and seems nice enough. The way
she looked at you was interesting.”
“Yeah.” His smile wide.
She punched him on the arm playfully.
“Ow. What was that for?”
“The woman ogled your ass.”
“I thought you said she was professional.”
“She was. But I can tell when a woman likes a man. And she really liked you.”
Craig faced her full on, the single lamp throwing his masculine features into stark
relief. His sense of humor vanished as he crowded her. Scant inches separated them.
“You jealous?” His question came out deep, liquid with sensual heat. “Why?”
“No—I…” Ah, hell. “Yes, damn it.”
“Why?”
“Because you—because I—”
Frustration strangled her. God, she couldn’t believe how tongue-tied this man made
her.
He reached up and caressed her jaw line, and swift sexual excitement swirled like a
blizzard in every corner of her body.
Challenged, she placed one hand in between his pecs. “You’re infuriating.”
“Miriam Peacock is pretty, but I’m not interested in her.”
Relief flooded her veins. She closed her eyes for a second, then opened them. “I’m
sorry. Look, the important thing is she helped Dane.”
He slipped his hand into the hair at the back of her neck. “You’re right.”
She gently clutched his sweater, bunching it in one fist. “But I think there’s more.
You want to help him because of what happened to you when you were a kid.”
Their faces were close now, their voices lowered yet laced with conviction. “Dane’s
not me.”
“No. I think you want to help him, though. You’re making a positive difference in
his life. He trusts you when he trusts no one else.”
Craig’s eyes warmed, telling her she hit a chord somewhere. She didn’t know which
chord, but the sensation burned true.
He moved even closer. Closer. God, she loved him near her. He leaned in those last
inches and kissed her. His mouth molded, sealed to hers. Passion swirled like a tornado
inside her. His tongue plunged, took, the sexual cadence that lured her into surrender. She
fell into his need, as hungry for connection as he was. He released her long enough to
strip his t-shirt over his head. Dressed the man spelled pure masculine power. Half-naked
he reminded her of a Viking warrior. Jeans hung low on his hips, tight abs drew her
attention. She touched those ridged stomach muscles and he sucked in a breath. Her
palms traced upward to test the strength of his chest and arms. Tantalized, she glided
around until she stood behind him and could see that vicious tattoo.
“I never thought a tattoo would turn me on.”
She touched the dragon. It seemed faded a bit, as if the years had worn away at the
startling color. At the brush of her fingers, he shivered.
“It’s so…powerful. So sexy,” she said.
He turned and drew her into his arms. A gleam dawned in his eyes. She drew in an
excited breath as he walked her backwards until they bumped into a wall. He gathered her
hands in his and drew them up until he held them gently against the wall on either side of
her head.
“What are you going to do now?” he asked softly.
His deep voice sent sinful thrills to her center. She quivered as anticipation pulled
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