he tamped down the impulse to take her by the shoulders and shake a sense of self-preservation into her. Instead he shoved his fists into his pockets, making it obvious he wasn’t taking her keys. “You make a habit of giving these out to strange men?”
Hip cocked, she narrowed her eyes. “Only the ones I’ve already invited into my body and who rescue me two days in a row.”
Invited into her body … Yeah, he’d been there. Was fast on the way to a mental return even as she stared him down. Forcing his jaw to unlock, he blew out a strained breath. “Look, when are you going to be back?”
“About three hours.”
That ought to be enough time to get his head screwed on straight. Especially if he ran for half of it. Looking Elise over in all her casual disarray, he amended, Ran hard … for most of it. “I’ll keep Bruno and we’ll meet you back here then.”
Her mind was officially in the gutter. And it was wholly Levi Davis’s fault.
Never, in all her years of yoga and Pilates, had Elise had the difficulty she’d experienced in maintaining her focus through her classes today. She’d been an utter charlatan, preaching that yogic breathing, or pranayama, promoted clarity of mind and balanced emotions, while revitalizing the entire body.
Ha.
From the minute her hands and knees hit the floor for Tabletop, through every Forward Extension, Downward Facing dog, Plow, and Bridge, Levi had been in the studio with her. A sensual phantom infusing her every stretch and held position with tantric potential.
By the close of the second session she was about as far from clarity of mind as she was from purity of thought. It was bad and she wasn’t any better by the time she’d gotten home.
Levi wasn’t supposed to want her again.
He was supposed to be the kind of sexy commitment-phobe she could count on, post one-night, to gently but firmly maintain an arm’s-length distance between them. Just in case she couldn’t quite manage it herself. Not show up at her apartment ready to play along with whatever absurd scenario she’d concocted to get him there.
Huffing out a breath, she scanned the deserted sidewalk from her perch at the front window. Once they were in sight she’d jog down to meet them at the street. Thank Levi and say goodbye. He’d probably want to bring Bruno back inside himself, but that wasn’t happening.
The man tempted her in ways she’d never had to ignore before, and, while she wasn’t interested in a “real” relationship, she didn’t think she could handle the kind of casual on offer.
One more go—just for the heck of it—wasn’t her style.
And she couldn’t really imagine what more would have brought Levi back. Sure, the sex had blown her mind, but Levi’s experience was vast.
Two hard knocks sounded at the front door. Stumbling back, she hissed at her own stupidity. She’d literally been staring out the window waiting for him … and hadn’t seen him coming.
That kind of distraction was dangerous.
Didn’t matter. She just wouldn’t invite him in.
“One sec, I’m coming.” She’d lay it out straight. Apologize for the misunderstanding. Thank him again for helping out. And then a no-touching goodbye.
Swinging the door just wide enough to put herself between the gap, she opened her mouth for the straight talk and no-nonsense dismissal—only to find Levi, propped on one strong arm against the frame, mere inches away. He’d changed out of the track pants and athletic shirt from earlier and into a pale blue oxford open at the neck and rolled at the sleeves, and a pair of worn, asset-hugging jeans like the ones he’d been wearing that first night. His hair was slightly damp, falling in the kind of tumbled half-curls that indicated a quick shower and even quicker towel dry.
Wow, this guy was trouble.
And he wasn’t just handing off Bruno’s leash.
While she’d been standing there ogling him, Bruno had pushed past her legs and Levi’s wide palm covered the curve of her hip as that cocky smile loomed closer.
“How was class?” he asked, those dark eyes intent on hers.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, warning sirens were sounding loud, and yet, when he closed that last distance between them, bringing the mass of his chest into brief brushing contact with hers, she’d long since spent whatever breath it would have cost to protest.
The pressure at her hip guided her back a step, just enough for Levi to continue past her into the apartment.
So much for her plan.
“Kitchen this way?” he called, already halfway down the hall. “Bruno got some water at my place, but we had a pretty good run, so he might need more.”
The tap sounded and then a few low-spoken words of praise before her short reprieve was over and Levi was headed back.
Tall. Strong. Overwhelming the narrow width of her hall and sucking the oxygen from the air between them so no breath she took seemed enough to fill her lungs.
Bruno followed him halfway down the hall, before stopping and stretching out on the floor. In the blink of an eye, he fell asleep. It was enough to break that slow-building connection and bring Elise back to the here and now, and Bruno all but collapsing beside her.
Focus shifting between man and beast, she remarked, “I’ve never seen him conk out like that.”
Levi shrugged. “We ran awhile.”
Guess so. “Thank you, very much, for helping me out today.”
“Yeah, well, I was here.” Levi’s mouth pulled to the side, wry humor tingeing his words. “And, apparently, you really needed it. So, I’m glad I came.”
This was the point to tell him to go. She could see in the slanted gaze he’d fixed on her—he was waiting for it. Only when she opened her mouth to say goodbye, she found herself asking instead, “Why did you come?”
Running a palm over his jaw, he shook his head. Good question.
He didn’t like to lead women on, so he’d generally made it a rule to leave one-nighters at one night. But with Elise … it just hadn’t been enough. And when she’d provided such a perfect excuse … when he’d seen a way back in without having to think too much about why he wanted to get there … he’d taken it.
“The dog thing.” He laughed. “With the offer to pay me. That was … unique.” It was also only part of the answer. The rest, he didn’t want to examine too closely, but suspected had a lot to do with the way the air seemed to hum with a kind of energy between them.
“The money?” She half gasped, chin pulling back in an expression fast on its way to horror. “You came back because it … excited you to be paid?”
“What?” Whoa, had that squeak come out of his mouth? And she couldn’t really be asking if he— Only the look on her face said that was exactly the conclusion she’d jumped to.
Like that, the humming energy shorted out, leaving a sort of vacuum in its stead.
“Oh, God, were you playing out some kind of a fantasy?” She looked as if she was about to choke, only the damn words just kept coming. “Like you’re a gigo—”
“Elise, I’m begging you. Stop.” Desperation ran thick through his words. “Just close your mouth before you say another word.” Before she ground the last bit of his masculine pride into the hardwood beneath her little bare foot.
She was a verbal train wreck. How could he want her like this?
It was physical. As she’d said in the park.
That crazy, bendy body had gotten under his skin, was all. It couldn’t be the twists and turns of her mind getting