and chest, sending him off balance, and for a moment man and cat were suspended in midair flying to Rain’s right. Then there was a crashing sound as the man hit the floor, mixed with a profound curse. The cat immediately launched himself off of the man, up and onto the counter in one smooth move.
It was Rain’s chance to escape, and she took it, but she’d only taken one step before her foot struck something hard and cold. She pitched forward, flailing to get her balance, but fell straight into the prone stranger.
There was heat and the scent of soap and maleness, and strength. That scared her. She quickly pushed as hard as she could, sending herself back and away from the contact, hitting the wooden floor and ending up on her knees. She sat back on her heels, pushed her tangled hair out of her face. Whatever chance she had of escape was gone.
The man was standing and towering over. Then she saw the weapon he’d been holding, the thing that had caused her to trip. She made a grab for it, but she wasn’t fast enough. He had it and he was standing over her once again.
She took several deep breaths, then pushed herself to her feet. She couldn’t do a thing about his size advantage, but she could talk a good game—her father had always told her that, insinuating that was why she was so good at what she did. She took another breath, thankful that the man was keeping his distance, at least for now. She didn’t want to touch him again or have him touch her.
She braced herself, ready to try anything, then looked right at him, but he wasn’t looking at her. He was frowning at Joey on the counter. “What in the hell is that?”
“My attack cat,” she muttered, her mind working a mile a minute. The best defense is a good offense, and she’d go on the offensive to see what happened. “You’re lucky all he did was knock you down, you sneaking in here like this and scaring me to death.”
He looked at her then and she had the oddest feeling she’d met him before. But she hadn’t. She’d never heard that voice or faced the man himself before in her life. She would have remembered. “What was he going to do, tear me to shreds?”
She shrugged. “Who knows?”
He shook his head. “Just tell me why you’re here and what in the hell you’re doing here at two in the morning?”
At least he was talking and not bashing her over the head with the lamp base. An attacker who wanted to talk, but why was he here half-dressed? It didn’t make sense. “You explain first,” she said.
He exhaled roughly. “Oh, come on. I’m not the one who broke in.”
“I didn’t break in. There’s a key in the lock.” She knew at least one thing. “That’s how you got in here, isn’t it? I left the damn door open.”
“No, I have my own key,” he said.
Her stomach sank. “You were in here all along?”
“Since midnight.”
Oh, boy, had she been wrong. “In here?”
“Actually, in the bedroom. I was sleeping….” He shrugged. “Let’s start over. It’s obvious that you aren’t here ripping me off, and I belong here, so just tell me why you’re here in the middle of the night with that animal?”
He was staying here. She knew people went in and out of this place, but no one had told her that anyone would be here tonight, or she wouldn’t have come over. She motioned to Joey who was calmly cleaning himself on the counter. “Feeding that beast.”
“At two in the morning?”
“That wasn’t my idea,” she muttered and looked at the lamp base in his hand. “Were you going to hit me with that?”
He looked taken aback, but said, “Only if you were a killer and you outweighed me by fifty pounds.”
“Well, I’m not and I don’t,” she muttered.
“So I can see,” he said softly in a tone that brought color to her cheeks. Then he said, “So, you came to feed the cat…?”
She exhaled and motioned to the lamp base. “Can you put that down?”
He eyed her up and down, and there was a definite softening in his expression. She realized that his eyes weren’t just shadowed, they were dark as night. “If you promise not to unleash that beast on me again.”
“Sorry, I can’t promise that. He’s pretty much got a mind of his own.”
“Okay, but I’ll keep an eye on him,” he said and laid the lamp base on the counter. Facing her again, he asked, “Now, why were you coming in here to feed him at this time of night?”
“Because he ran away.”
“From you?”
“No, the guy who used to live here. He moved, the cat went with him, but he disappeared—the cat, not the man—and his wife’s worried about it and thought that the cat might try to get back here, and sure enough…” She pointed to Joey. “He turned up tonight. I was sitting on the fire escape meditating when I spotted him going over the roof, then he jumped down to the window and disappeared. I guess the guy left the window open just in case he came back. Anyway, he got in, and I knew…” She cleared her throat. “I thought this place was empty.”
“Wrong,” he said. “So, you were outside on the fire escape, then came in here? What do you do, hang out on fire escapes at night for fun?”
She shook her head. “I’m staying in the next unit. The guy, the one who lived here and moved out with the cat—”
“I’ve got that part of it.”
“Okay, well he asked if the cat showed up, could we feed him or something and keep him here until he could get over here to take him back. So, I did. Not that he liked the food I found.” She took a breath. “I thought he was waiting here in an empty loft, and I came over.” She shrugged. “And there you were.”
He raked his fingers through his hair, spiking it even more. “Who was it who asked you to watch for the cat?”
“Zane something-or-other, one of the suits at LynTech, I think. They lease this place, for whatever reasons. Since I’ve been here, no one’s lived in here at all for more than a few days.”
“One of the what at LynTech?”
“Excuse me?”
“You said one of the suits at LynTech? A suit?”
“A suit. You know, some bigwig executive who makes millions and wants to rule the world from his corporate tower. Although this isn’t any corporate tower, and I’d think, with all the money they’re raking in, that they could put their people up in a plush penthouse or something.”
His expression tightened. “Zane Holden wants to the rule the world?”
“Whatever. The man’s the head of everything at LynTech, along with some other guy, and, from what I’ve heard, eats up competitors. Heck, he’s probably eyeing IBM even as we speak.”
“You’ve met him?”
“Oh, of course not. And I can’t say I’d want to.”
“Not your type, huh?”
She heard the edge to his voice, then suddenly it all added up. She was so slow on the uptake, it had to be the late hour and inability to sleep that was fogging her brain. He was here, in a place leased by LynTech. He more than likely worked for Holden. He was a suit. A half-naked suit at the moment, but a suit, unless he was just loft sitting or something. Maybe a relative in from out of town? “I wouldn’t know,” she murmured.
He eyed her night shirt and bare feet. “Take my word for it, he’s not your type.”
She felt that touch of heat in her cheeks again at the tone in his voice. Condescension, or maybe sarcasm? She wasn’t sure, but she knew that she didn’t like