The Harder They Fall Read online

  Her jangled emotions made it difficult to respond. So did the carefully masked concern on his face. He looked mouthwateringly perfect in his sport jacket and fitted trousers. She’d never seen a man wear clothes quite so well. “How am I?” It wasn’t in her to be less than honest. “Embarrassed,” she admitted, deciding to keep the confused and aroused part to herself.

  “Don’t be,” he said softly. “We all have something in our past.”

  “Yeah, but we don’t all have that little something aired out in the open.”

  “Is that what’s bugging you most?” he asked in astonishment. “That I know?”

  “That,” she answered evenly, “and the fact that I don’t know much about your past.”

  “It’s really boring,” he said, surprising her by reaching out to touch her cheek softly. “And anyway, I’ve got to go, I’ve got a meeting.”

  “Oh, well, then.” Trisha smiled and tried not to be hurt about his lack of interest in revealing a thing about himself. “Have a good day.”

  “You too.” He tossed his keys in the air, catching them easily. She recognized the gesture as a nervous one and wondered what the stoic Dr. Adams could possibly be nervous about.

  “Could we ... get together tonight?” he asked, unusually hesitant.

  A date. Well, finally! He’d completely forgiven and forgotten she’d ordered him out of her life. Now, if she could just be so lucky as to have him not discuss her past or sell the house, she was home free. “That would be nice,” she said in a huge understatement, wondering frantically what she would wear, where he would take her, what they would do. If he’d kiss her again. “I’d love that, actually,” she blurted out loud without meaning to.

  “Good,” he said with some relief, obviously completely unaware of where her thoughts had led her. Good thing she didn’t blush easily. “Because we didn’t finish our discussion last night.... We have things to resolve.”

  “To resolve,” she repeated slowly, her euphoria fading as understanding dawned.

  “I didn’t mean to hurt you by putting the house up for sale,” he continued quietly. “That’s the last thing I want to do, but—”

  “You want to talk.”

  “Yes. Talk.”

  Not a date, she thought. All he wanted was to finish their talk—the talk she had no intention of finishing. Oh, she was an idiot. Such an idiot, in fact, she had to laugh. It was that or cry, and crying wasn’t even an option. Not with Hunter standing there looking at her as if she were a basket case.

  “I’ll be home around six-thirty,” he started, then broke off abruptly at her darkening expression. “Is that a bad time?”

  Oh, the man was a prize. A Ph.D. in whatever it was he did in space, but he didn’t know the first thing about women. “For a discussion?” she asked sweetly, her hands on her hips. “Yes, actually, Dr. Adams, it is. If you’ll excuse me...” Annoyed at herself, and more hurt than she wanted to admit, she brushed past him and headed toward her car.

  He followed her, his brow furrowed in befuddlement. “What is a good time?” he wanted to know.

  At her car, she fumbled through her purse for her keys. Why was it she could never find them when she wanted to make a dramatic exit? “I’m not really sure.”

  He straightened and gave her a long look, as if he’d just figured out she was out of sorts. “Why is that?”

  “Well, because I don’t run my life on a schedule as you seem to.” Darn it, where were her keys?

  “Trisha,” he said softly, turning her to him. “What is wrong?”

  “Nothing—” she started, but he shook his head sharply. “Nothing and everything and I don’t know,” she said, exhaling painfully. “Oh, God. Fine. I thought—I thought you were asking me out.”

  “On a date?” He looked startled.

  “Yeah. How ridiculous, huh?” She pushed at him, useless when the man stood solid as a wall. “Please, just go to work.”

  He squeezed her shoulders gently. “You thought I was asking you out.” He marveled, shaking his head at himself. Then he looked at her, his eyes deep and spilling over with laughter and affection. “I didn’t realize you would accept.”

  “Didn’t realize—” She clamped her mouth shut to keep from sputtering. What did he think after the other night, that she let every man who saved her from a fire touch her like that?

  “The other night,” he said carefully. “Before the fire department came, I told you we couldn’t do this. You said—”

  “I know what I said.” For tonight, she’d told him. And fool that all men were, he’d believed her. “I wasn’t asking you to marry me, Hunter. Just a date.”

  “I know. I’m sorry, just forget—”

  “Go to work, Hunter, you’re safe from me. Just stop looking at me.”

  He didn’t stop, he only moved closer.

  She backed up. “Don’t touch me, either,” she warned when he reached for her, suddenly grinning a little. “And stop laughing at me.”

  “Is that all?” he asked with a straight face. “Don’t look at you, don’t touch you, and don’t, for heaven’s sake, laugh at you?”

  “That’s right.” Good Lord, she sounded ridiculous, but false pride refused to let her take back her words. “I can’t think when you do any of those things.”

  His lips twitched and she folded her arms over her middle. “I mean it.”

  “Of course you do,” he murmured, leaning close to plant his lips on hers. It rendered her dumb, so he took advantage and did it a second time, wetter, deeper, with far more hunger and heat.

  “I said don’t look at me,” she whispered when she could breathe again.

  “I didn’t,” he whispered back, his eyes laughing now. “I had my eyes closed. And I didn’t touch you either.” Guilelessly, he lifted his hands. “See?”

  No, he hadn’t had to touch her. Not when her traitorous body had leaned of its own accord against his long, harder one. “Go away, Hunter.”

  “I’ll see you tonight, Trisha,” he whispered, and slid his lips over hers once again in a light kiss that shimmered with promise and passion, before turning and walking away. “We’ll make it a date.”

  He whistled as he confidently strode off, not bothering to wait and see whether she would accept his offer. She guessed he knew her better than she wanted to admit. He hadn’t waited, because he knew she’d say yes.

  She frowned and rubbed her chest where it pounded excitedly from just a simple kiss.

  Damn him and damn her, but she wanted another.

  Twelve

  Luckily for Trisha’s life, driving had become second nature. Her thoughts, far from the road, raced. She felt exhausted and bone-deep weary, both from too many emotions and too little sleep.

  But suddenly things seemed different, less dire. Even more surprising, she felt so strangely light, so amazingly unburdened. Nothing had been resolved, and certainly Hunter could still decide to sell the duplex and walk right out of her life, but the weight of her past didn’t seem so overwhelming anymore.

  For some reason, having Hunter say the horrors out loud had put things in a less painful perspective. The past could no longer hurt her. The only thing that could do that now would be Hunter walking away before they even started.

  What was and could be between them held her thoughts now, and she instinctively knew, if Hunter let it, it would be the best thing that had ever happened to her.

  She opened Leather and Lace, having beat Celia in for the first time all week. She flipped on the lights, the heater, and some music before settling herself to open her new shipment. She stared down into the box, stunned.

  The local distributor she’d used was not new. In fact, they used him frequently, and often the shipments came with bonus items as a thank-you for the business. This shipment, given what had caught her eye, was no exception.

  She’d gotten a bonus, all right.

  Just then Celia walked into the shop, her hair a startling platinum blond. “Hey, sweetie. I’v