“Whatever. Unlike what’s-his-bucket, I don’t make a habit of living on an emotional seesaw. Besides, there is no way in the world you can look into someone else’s eyes and know what they’re like, what they’re thinking or feeling. People have too many protective layers these days. It’s a defense mechanism we all have. And considering the criminal elements in our society, it’s a good thing to be cautious.”
“No one can keep their true nature hidden completely.”
“Ah, that’s where you’re wrong,” Zack told her with the sage voice of experience. “I’ve known several people who could hide their true natures completely. Unless they choose to take the mask off, no one has a clue who they are or what they’re capable of.”
“You seem awfully familiar with the ‘criminal element.’ You’re not a criminal, are you?”
“Of course I’m not a criminal. Do I look like someone who could rob a bank?”
“Yes,” Anna said instantly, grinning at the insulted look on his face. “And you also look like a person who wouldn’t get caught, either. You’re very…confident.” She bent over, huffing and puffing as she struggled to lift one box off the other. “Look at the label on the box beneath this—beef jerky. Yippee! What is your line of work, anyway? No, wait. Let me guess. You look like you would be very photogenic. Are you a model?”
For the second time that night, but with even more fire, “The hell you say! Look, you’re going to hurt yourself. Let me.”
Anna was more than happy to move aside and let the big strong man lift the heavy box. “Okay, okay. I was just teasing. I’ll be serious now. Let’s see. There are any number of professions a man like you could be suited for. You’re obviously familiar with a shady side of society. Are you a public defender?”
“Sort of,” Zack replied. “I defend the public quite a bit, as a matter of fact. No more guesses? Use your ESP, Anna.” He set the box on the floor and turned to her, both hands planted on his hips. “Can’t you look in my eyes and know all my secrets?”
Anna’s smile grew wider. “Oh, I’ve had you pegged from ‘Hello.’ Not your profession, maybe, but definitely your nature. You’re a typical male—you like to win every game you play. You’re so intelligent it’s scary, you flirt like a pro and you’ve had enough experience with the world to make you a little cynical. You can also laugh at yourself, and you enjoy helping people. How am I doing so far?”
“Pretty good. Except that bit about me being typical.” Zack teasingly fluttered his lashes at her. “I like to think I’m somewhat out of the ordinary.”
She opened her eyes wide, speaking in a spooky, Vincent Price voice. “I can see into your soul, Zack Daniels. I know who you are inside and out.”
Softly he said, “Lady, you haven’t even scratched the surface yet.” Zack took one step, just enough to bring his sneakers and her stocking toes together. His eyes locked on hers, and his smile took on a slick and dangerous curve. This flirtatious, provocative dance was familiar ground for him. He was face-to-face with an incredibly appealing woman, and he was tired of being on the defensive. In addition to chess, there were certain other games he played very well; he had it on the best of authority. And he was getting increasingly hungry to play them with Anna. “I’m going to give you a chance to prove your point. Look in my eyes.” He lowered his voice, imitating Anna’s eerie delivery. “Tell me what I’m thinking, oh great and wonderful wizard. Read me.”
Here was something new. The atmosphere between them changed in a heartbeat. One moment they were lighthearted and teasing, the next moment a sharp awareness slipped into the narrow space dividing their bodies, stealing their smiles in a sneak attack. Zack was suffocatingly close, seeming larger than life, every powerful physical attribute he possessed magnified ten times over. Anna stared mutely at the way his ragged lashes cast half-moon shadows on his cheeks, the sharp flecks of blue in his smoky gray eyes. She could smell the faintest hint of his cologne, something musky and very male. His glossy, jet-black hair was shimmering almost wetly beneath the overhead lights, a devilishly dark halo. She could feel him reaching out to her, urging, pulling at her. And she couldn’t pretend not to understand the look in his restless gray eyes.
Her body was buzzing and tickling, her respiration coming in short, quick catches. She couldn’t step back; she couldn’t pull her eyes from his. Her lips parted on a strand of breath, her eyes widened with awareness.
Anna wasn’t a woman who carelessly took risks, but suddenly she realized she wanted to walk the knife-edge line between safety and danger. Zack was virtually a stranger, which added a tantalizing dose of the unknown to the moment. He was charismatic, he was ultraconfident, he was one hundred percent male. And even if she wanted to, she couldn’t get away from him until they were rescued. Zack Daniels and his hedonist’s smile was temptation in the finest masculine incarnation she had ever seen.
As she studied his face, she deliberately allowed her imagination to wander into an unfamiliar and reckless curiosity. In an oddly distant way she knew she was safe. A brief lowering of her defenses wouldn’t change that. In a matter of hours they would be going their separate ways, back to their own lives. She would never see him again. And meanwhile the chemistry sizzling between them was pressing her to experiment. Just a little, and no one but Anna and Zack would ever know. One short moment in time when consequences wouldn’t matter.
Why not?
Three
“This is so strange,” Anna said softly, her voice unnaturally husky. “When I stop and think—”
“The sad end to all waking dreams—thinking. Why do we have to stop and think? Haven’t you ever wanted to do anything risky?” Even as he spoke, Zack’s pulse continued to accelerate. He wondered if she had any idea of the beguiling, bewitching picture she made. Her small face was draped with gold and honey-colored hair that curled in looping question marks over her shoulders. So sweet.
Her beautiful eyes remained solemn. “Are you telling me you’re risky?”
“Some people think so.” His body moved infinitesimally closer to hers, drawn by something he couldn’t see or explain. She was a hypnotizing contradiction of darkness and light, uncertainty and daring. With all his experience, Zack felt like a newborn, amazed that a situation that had begun so innocently could feel so sharply, aggressively sexual.
Thoughtfully she tilted her head to one side, unable to stem her curiosity about this man. “Should I be careful, then?”
“No. Please, no.” His hand slipped beneath her hair, warm on the delicate nape of her neck. Even as he lowered his face to hers, he was aware of an uncharacteristic trembling in his body. He saw her eyes grow wider, brighter, the dark rings of her irises visibly expanding. Then her face blurred, his attention fiercely riveted on her parted lips. The first tentative touch of his mouth on hers was the merest caress, a fluttering, barely there butterfly kiss. Still, the resulting shiver that coursed through his body was hard and unexpected. He heard the sharp intake of her breath, and a stark urgency flared to life within him. Whatever was happening here was happening to them both.
And he wanted more.
The second kiss went much deeper and demanded far more than the featherlight touch of butterfly wings. Zack slanted his head to capture her lips fully, his palms framing her face while he drank with a hunger that startled even him. At the same time Anna’s hands closed over fistfuls of his T-shirt, clinging for dear life. She could feel steel in his muscles.
The fact that Zack was a virtual stranger sharpened the fiery sensations sparkling through her like champagne bubbles. And the way he made magic with his warm lips and cool tongue added the most delicious, sinfully wicked pleasure. She felt a curling heat deep in her stomach, a connection to this man and this moment that somehow went beyond a simple kiss. In an instant she somehow knew she had changed, never to be quite the same again.
When Anna finally pulled back from