“Went down the wrong pipe.”
“You do look tuckered out, Honor.” Lexie gave her the critical once-over. “Have you been getting any sleep at all?”
Not much. “Of course.”
“I don’t see how,” Jason said. “Not with the strange hours you keep.”
That caught Sullivan’s interest. “Strange hours?”
Before this got out of hand, Honor pointed at Lexie and said a firm, undeniable “No.”
Full of mock innocence, Lexie blinked at her and played dumb. “What?”
“Not a word, Lex. I mean it.”
Silently agreeing, Lexie pretended to lock her lips and throw away the key.
“A mystery.” Sullivan smiled. “I don’t know about you, Jason, but now I’m twice as curious about what she’s been up to.” He pushed back his chair at the little dinette table and stood. “Too bad I need to head out or I’d try my skills at interrogation.”
Lexie unzipped her lips real quick, blast her. “You could interrogate me.” Coy, she murmured, “I’m known to cave easily.”
“Something else for me to think about.” He nodded to Honor. “Remember what I told you. If you need anything—”
“I’m right next door,” Jason finished for him.
At that, Sullivan almost laughed but instead turned it into a cough. “Right.”
“I’ll walk you out.” As Lexie followed Sullivan, she used both hands to make a squeezing gesture in the air near his rear, then looked over her shoulder at Honor and Jason to mouth, Oh my God!
Jason laughed. “How does she know I won’t tell him?”
“She’s nuts and probably wouldn’t care.” Honor stared after them, even when the front door opened and closed.
“Honor.”
That deep, dark voice drew her gaze back to Jason’s. He looked both concerned and determined.
Idly turning his Coke can, he asked, “Will you tell me what’s going on?”
“What do you mean?” She knew exactly what he meant. In a too-high, evasive voice, she claimed, “Nothing’s going on.” Her follow-up, negligent laugh sounded more like a nervous admission.
Jason’s gaze sharpened as if he could read her thoughts. “You are such a mystery.”
“No, I’m not.” Mysteries sounded intriguing and exciting. Sadly Honor knew she was neither.
Even though his mouth stayed firm, his dark eyes teased her. “You know, sometimes I think you just like being contrary.”
“No, I don’t.”
This time, he gave in to the laughter.
Great. Now she had him laughing at her.
Except that when he looked at her, there was nothing mocking in his gaze, and he was so devastatingly focused on her that she forgot to be annoyed.
As they stared at each other, the humor faded away to a slight, sexy smile. “Come on, Honor. Where do you go in the middle of the night, and what difference does it make if Lexie tells anyone?”
No way would she go into detail with him, but this time she couldn’t think of an excuse to dodge out.
Trying not to sound rude, she said, “It’s just...it’s complicated.”
Jason sat back in his seat and looked at her, his expression hooded, his inky lashes at half-mast.
When she finally escaped his gaze, her attention went all over his body instead. His flat, firm abdomen was pretty darn sexy, especially with that downy line of dark hair trailing from his navel down into his loose-waisted shorts.
He was the most casual, comfortable man she’d ever met.
She tried to get her gaze northward, but only got as far as his pecs. How nice would it feel to rest her cheek against that lightly furred chest?
“Honor?”
“Hmm?”
“Keep looking at me like that and I’m going to get ideas.”
Her gaze shot to his.
Lifting a brow, he corrected, “More ideas, I should have said.”
Wondering if he meant that to be teasing, Honor stared at him. Could he be as fascinated with her as she was with him? She licked her lips. “More ideas?”
“I’ve had a few already.”
So had she. Too many ideas. Impossible ideas. “Oh.” Smooth, Honor. Real smooth.
Keeping her gaze captive in his, he sat forward again, one strong forearm resting on the table, his other hand reaching out...
She held perfectly still.
He tucked her hair back. “You honestly do look exhausted. What’s going on?”
He sat so close she could smell the scent of his big, semibare body.
His brows twitched. “Are you holding your breath?”
Oh, shoot. She released it in a long sigh. “I’m sorry.” Regret put a stranglehold on her. It would be so nice to flirt as Lexie did, to be cavalier about an involvement. But she didn’t know how. “You shouldn’t do things like that to me.”
He turned his head, and his voice went all sexy deep. “Things like what?”
Like touching her, but she wouldn’t state the obvious. He knew what she meant. “It rattles me.”
“Can’t have that.”
She started to relax.
“Can’t swear it won’t happen again, either.”
So her awkwardness hadn’t scared him off? It did most guys—not that she’d known any guys like him. If only she weren’t so damn backward.
If only she didn’t have so many obligations.
Getting serious, his tone gentle, he said, “Relax, Honor. If you’re not interested, I’ll back off.”
Oh, she was interested all right. “It’s not that,” she dared to admit.
Satisfaction glittered in his dark eyes. “Then what’s the problem?”
“The thing is—” A loud roar started in her backyard, cutting off the explanation she didn’t know how to make. “What in the world?”
Leaving her chair so fast it nearly toppled, Honor dashed to the side door. Of course it didn’t open, so she put her hands together on the thankfully clean pane and looked through the window. She couldn’t quite see anything—but the noise was deafening.
From behind her, now crowded very close, Jason peered out over her head.
Good Lord, the man was hot. Literally. Heat radiated off his body and seemed to seep into her, making her knees weak and her nerve endings tingle. And his scent...heavenly. She’d never realized men smelled so good. Or maybe they all didn’t. Maybe it was just him.
Or maybe everything about him appealed to her.
She bit her lip and concentrated on not leaning back into him.
What would it be like to have him actually hold her? Touch her, kiss her? Lexie would tell her to go for it, but she wasn’t Lexie, so instead she stood there, stiff and still, in awful indecision.
“That’s the Bush Hog,” he murmured, and his breath brushed her ear, making her shiver.
Get it together, she ordered herself. Giving a blatant show of her inexperience would only make