on the walls. Thumbtacks held a large periodic table on the back of the closed door. Funny, she’d done the same thing in her bedroom as a teenager, to hide her inner science geek.
But what the heck? She turned back to the handsome man before her, standing tall and solid, holding two mugs of coffee. He wore a tight white T-shirt that showcased a muscled chest and arms, and navy blue slacks. His feet were bare. Dark, mussed hair fell haphazardly over his forehead, and stuck up in spots. A day’s worth of scruff covered his jaw. Kira liked scruff. But who was he? And why did his blue eyes stare back at her with a wary edge?
She studied the face, recognizing it. Derrick. Memories of last night whooshed into her mind, seeing him at the bar, watching him as he watched her, stumbling into him, pushing him against the wall, and oh, God, propositioning him. Connie taking a picture of him and his driver’s license then patting him down for weapons before walking them out to his car to check that for weapons too. She shook her head in disbelief then dropped her forehead into her palm. “I’m sorry...bad week. Too much to drink.” Sexual deprivation. A night of freedom.
“So you said. Last night.”
Kira could have done without the humor in his tone.
So what? She’d propositioned him. He was a good-looking guy. For sure she hadn’t been the first. Embarrassment warmed her cheeks, because there was a definite chance, a small one, but a chance nonetheless, that she could have been the first woman to refuse to get out of his car until he took her somewhere they could have sex. And she’d been pretty explicit about what she’d wanted.
Yet here she stood, fully dressed in the skirt and blouse she’d worn to work yesterday. “My clothes.” She looked up at him. “We didn’t...?”
He shook his head.
Well that sucked. The awkward morning after without the night of hot sex that should have preceded it.
“Why not? Didn’t you want to?”
Damn he had a nice smile. “Yeah, I wanted to. But it wouldn’t have been right.”
Wouldn’t have been right? Why the hell not? Two consenting adults. Check. Mutual attraction. Hmmm. Had their attraction been mutual? The feel of his arousal, big and hard beneath her while she’d straddled him in the front seat of his car came to mind. Oh, yeah. Their attraction had been mutual. So why—?
Someone knocked on the closed bedroom door.
Kira jumped.
“You want breakfast?” an older sounding male voice asked.
“We’ll be down in a few minutes,” Derrick said.
“Who was that?” Kira whispered, like whoever it was could hear her. Then she scanned the room for her shoes, messenger bag, and briefcase. Time to go.
“My dad.”
She swung around to face him. “Are you kidding me? You live with your parents and you brought me home to their house?” At the age of thirty, Kira was way too old to be worried about getting caught in a boy’s bedroom by his parents. Yet she found herself glancing toward the window as a means of escape.
“Second floor,” Derrick said, as if he could read her mind.
But Kira was focused on what she saw outside that window...or rather what she didn’t see. She stepped closer.
No big buildings, no crowded streets. No closely spaced buildings or brownstones or houses. No signs she was in New York City or any of its five boroughs. No, sirree. He’d taken her someplace rural, with lots of trees, wide open spaces, and no neighbors that she could see out of what appeared to be a back window. She squinted off into the distance. Heaven help her, was that a...cow?
Maybe fear would have been an appropriate response right then, but Kira got mad and turned on him. “Where the hell am I?”
“I can explain,” he said, holding out a cup of coffee. “You’re probably going to need this.”
Kira eyed the dark liquid. Last night, alcohol had allowed a far-too-long-ignored desire for sex to overtake her usually strong protective instincts. Well, this morning they were back at fully functional. She didn’t know this man, didn’t know what he was capable of, and would most certainly not drink a beverage she had not watched him prepare, regardless of how much she wanted it.
“It’s coffee,” he said. “Do you want me to take a sip before you drink it?”
“I want you to explain what’s going on.” Seeing her shoes, bag and briefcase lined up neatly at the foot of the bed, she bent to pick them up. “Where am I, and why is your father here?”
“Fine.” He set one mug of coffee down on the dresser. “If you change your mind, help yourself.” He walked over to the small desk, pulled out an old wooden chair and sat down. “Sorry, but I need to sit. I’ve been up watching you most of the night and I’m exhausted.” He took a sip of coffee.
“Watching me? That’s not at all creepy.” It was totally creepy. She took one step closer to the door.
“Wrong choice of words.” He ran his fingers through his hair, pushing it out of his eyes. “I’ve been up most of the night waiting for you to wake up. So you didn’t freak out. So I could explain...”
“Go ahead then. Explain.” Kira sat on the corner of the bed closest to the door, making sure she had a clear path, her hand inside the bag on her lap, her fingers wrapped around the canister of pepper spray she kept on her keychain. Just in case.
“Remember how I told you it wouldn’t have been right for me to have sex with you?”
She nodded.
“That’s because my being in that bar last night wasn’t a random coincidence.” He looked her straight in the eyes. “I’d followed you from your office.”
Kira didn’t wait to hear more. “That’s it.” She stood. “I’m out of here.”
Derrick stood, too.
The movement wasn’t in any way threatening, but when he reached for her Kira whipped out the pepper spray and held it few inches from his face. “Don’t.”
He stopped and held up both hands in surrender. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
“No, you’re not,” Kira told him, standing tall and on guard, confident in her ability to protect herself thanks to several self-defense classes. “By the way, I’ve been taught that you should never trust a man who says ‘I’m not going to hurt you,’ because that means he’s thought about it.”
“Or,” Derrick countered, his hands still raised up by his shoulders, “it means he realizes he’s bigger and stronger and he really doesn’t want you to think he’s going to use his size or strength to hurt you.”
He said the words matter-of-factly, but Kira could sense his tension.
“Who are you? Why were you following me?”
“I’m Derrick Limone.”
Limone. Why did that name sound familiar?
“I got a HIPPA form signed and faxed it down to your office, just like you asked. Then you wouldn’t take my phone calls. So late yesterday afternoon I rushed down to the city to meet you at your office to give it to you in person so you’d speak with me about my mother.”
His mother. “Daisy Limone.” Un-friggin’-believable.
“I missed my train,” he went on. “So I drove down from White Plains, in Westchester County, where I live and work. I drove past your office just as you and Connie were getting into a cab out front...so I followed it.”
“You followed it? You think that’s acceptable behavior to follow me after business hours? Why on earth would you do such a thing?” Because he was a total nut job!
“You wouldn’t take