Strong and Sexy Read online

  “Wait—”

  “It was a lovely party. I’m sure my mother is very happy with you and will continue to hire you to fly her on her every whim.” She had no idea where she was going; she’d gotten ready for the party at work, and thanks to her car being broken down again, she’d taken a cab here.

  But she had to go.

  Unfortunately for her, Sky High’s fixed operating base wasn’t on the main side of the Burbank airport, but across the terminal, on the private sector side. She could see the road from the lot, but it was quiet. No lights. No cars.

  And per the usual, she’d left her cell phone in her car in the shop, which was really going to piss off Reena because Dani had promised to call her with a play by play of the rich and famous. Even worse, Dani’s coat was in the coat closet in the building behind her, but even though she couldn’t afford a new one right now, she wasn’t going back for it.

  Not now.

  Not ever.

  Except . . . damn it. Her keys were in her coat pocket.

  “Dani.”

  You know what? She didn’t need her keys. She had one hidden beneath the mat at her apartment. So she kept moving, quickly. Or at least as quickly as one could move with only one heel. She was halfway through the parking lot, her feet splashing through the water pooling there, when a hand closed around her elbow, gently pulling her around.

  “Where are you going?”

  She looked up into Shayne’s face. His golden eyes were definitely no longer twinkling with good humor and that bone-melting lust, but were full of dark concern that threatened her composure, as tenuous as it was. And that mouth, the one that had been so adept at amping her heart rate, was no longer sensually curved, but grim. “I’m going home.”

  “Where’s your car?”

  Pulling free, she shook her head. “I’ll catch a cab. I’ll be fine.” Probably.

  Hopefully.

  He actually let her take a few steps away before he spoke. “You saw something tonight.”

  She nearly tripped, but didn’t. She did, however, slow to a stop, staring straight ahead into the dark night. “Yes.”

  She heard his footsteps as he came up behind her, his fine shoes hitting the water pooling in the lot. He’d ruined them, no doubt. She’d ruined them.

  “Something that terrified you,” he went on. “So don’t tell me you’re going to be stupid enough to go walking off into the night alone.”

  She blinked past the rainwater in her face, still looking straight ahead at nothing, nothing but the scary night.

  “Let me give you a ride at least.”

  Turning, she met his gaze. He’d shoved his hair off his forehead again, but water was still running in little rivulets down his face. His lashes were inky black and stuck in little spikes. Rain dripped off his nose, along his jaw.

  Good God, he was something to look at. “Why would you do that?”

  “Because I want to.”

  “Shayne, you don’t have to do this. You don’t have to baby-sit the crazy chick.”

  “It’s just a ride, Dani.”

  “Yes, but—”

  “Maybe we could talk about it in my car. In my dry car.” Without waiting for an answer, he slipped his fingers around her elbow again and steered her around, back toward the building.

  “I’m not going back in there.”

  “No.” His car was parked in the front row, a gleaming, fancy, gorgeous Porsche as sleek and sophisticated as the man who owned it. He fished through his pockets and found his keys, opening the passenger door for her.

  She glanced inside at the plush leather interior. “I’m too wet. I’ll ruin it.”

  He let out a soft huffing laugh that broke through her panic and scraped low in her belly. “Just get in.”

  “Shayne—”

  “It’s pouring rain, Dani.”

  “Yes, but . . .”

  When she trailed off, he leaned in, his mouth close to her ear. “Just a ride . . .”

  Just a ride . . . Only for her, it felt like more, a lot more. It felt like a great leap of faith. But he’d moved in, his body close enough to hers to share body heat. He wanted her to get in, but it felt, just a little, like going from one danger to another. And yet with one last long look into his eyes, she slid in.

  “You’re just going to leave the party?” she asked when he’d come around and slid behind the wheel.

  “Yes. Where to?”

  She gave him directions to her building in Burbank Hills, and he drove them into the gloomy, tempestuous night.

  “If when you get back, something’s happened—”

  He slid her a glance. “You mean like someone finding a dead body?”

  “I know what I saw, Shayne.”

  “If when I get back, something’s happened, I’ll call you.”

  “I left my coat.”

  “I’ll make sure you get it.” He made the turn onto her block and parked at the curb. She lived on a street right out of the turn of the century, but not the current one. The houses here were three-story Victorians dating to the early 1900s, all having been renovated into duplexes. Most had been redone many, many times, and though they were old and quaint—a polite word for small as a postage stamp—they possessed great character and had a good view of the city below.

  She’d lived here since college, and loved it. It was more home than anything had ever been before, that being because her mother had been fond of living off her husbands, and they’d moved around.

  A lot.

  But Dani wasn’t going down that particular memory trail tonight. Nope, all she wanted now was a mug of hot tea, a bathtub full of bubbles, and then bed.

  Alone.

  As soon as Shayne stopped the car, she reached for the door handle. “Thanks.” Then, before he could say a word, she scrambled out into the storm and shut the door.

  Behind her he turned off the Porsche.

  She hurried, going as fast as she could with one heel, but she heard the driver’s door open and then shut. She sped up, not wanting him to walk her to her door, not wanting to look into that face and see the mixture of wariness and pity.

  Because after all, she was crazy.

  But she wasn’t, damn it. She didn’t have an explanation for what she’d seen, but somehow, she’d figure it out—

  “Dani.”

  How he’d caught up so quickly, she’d never know. Probably those ridiculously long legs of his. Or her lack of a heel. “I’m fine. There’s no need for you to walk me up.”

  “Well, if it’s all the same to you, I’m going to anyway.”

  A stubborn gentleman. That would have made him all the more attractive if she wasn’t uncomfortably close to a breakdown and wanted to be alone to have it, thank you very much. But she remained silent until they took the steps to the second floor. There was a hallway here, and two apartments. A head popped out of the first one, and she was just spooked enough to nearly jump right out of her skin.

  Alan was a high-school geometry teacher who’d moved in a few weeks back, and Dani had done something completely out of character. She’d made him welcome brownies. He’d bought her a pizza and they’d watched a basketball game on her TV. He’d like her to go out with him in a more formal way, but something held her back. He was cute and funny and sweet, and she wasn’t sure what her problem was.

  He smiled when he saw her, that warm, kind smile—

  Which dimmed as he then took in Shayne, and then her disheveled state. “Dani? You okay?”

  She went with her standard. “I’m fine, thanks.” Well, other than the fact that she’d kissed a stranger in a closet, seen a murder, and was frozen solid as a Popsicle . . . she was fine. Fine, fine, fine.

  Her apartment was right next to Alan’s. At her door, she paused. Alan was still watching her. Shayne had moved in close behind her, also watching her. “Good night,” she said. To both of them.

  Only neither budged.

  “I can take it from here,” she assured them.