Tap, tap, tap.
If her first step toward the door was measured, the second turned into a leap, and the third was a bound. She flung the door open so quickly—ripped it open, practically—that the strand of garlic she kept nailed there swung back and forth. And there he stood: the world’s most perfect man, grinning at her over the threshold, totally unperturbed.
“Hiya, Heather.”
Cody’s voice was smooth as honey. His clear blue eyes were honest and warm. His short blond hair mimicked golden fall sunlight, and the bulk of him—not too big, not too small—called to her like a warm bed on a cold and lonely night.
“Hi,” she managed.
All she could do for a second was stand and breathe and look. And even Cody—cool, collected Cody—seemed momentarily lost in time. He gulped and the gold-edged blue of his eyes flashed.
“Brought you some strawberries,” he murmured.
He held up a pint, but all she could do was stare at his lips.
“Some wine, too.” He said it shyly, like she might hit him over the head with it instead of fast-forwarding to an image of the two of them clinking glasses. Naked. In bed.
The man was a magician that way. All it took was a pint of juicy berries and a chilled bottle, and her mouth was watering for more than just the first bite.
“Perfect,” she whispered, stepping back to invite him in.
He was the only man who could come that close without spooking her since the attack a month ago. The attack she didn’t dare tell him about, because who would believe her crazy story about a bloodsucking man with fangs? A vamp—
“You good?” His eyes held hers the way his arms had held her a few nights ago, when she’d woken from the nightmare.
Caring. Concerned. Outraged. Only Cody could combine all those things the way he combined gentleness and sheer power.
“Good.” She nodded. With him around, how could she be any other way?
The second she rested her hands on his shoulders and reached up for a kiss, a little zing raced through her body. And when their lips met, a pinball machine lit up inside her as the zing ricocheted around inside. It bounced off her heart, all around her veins, down to her wiggling toes, then up again. Either the man was a champion kisser or they were made for each other.
We’re made for each other, his eyes assured her when he slowly pulled back.
“Did the schoolkids behave themselves today?” he asked.
“Fine,” she murmured, even though she couldn’t property recall anything just then. “How about your day?”
His eyes clouded a little. His shoulders stiffened, but he pulled a mask over it all and beamed. “Fine. Just fine.”
A lie, but one she was willing to let slip. Their nights together seemed as much of an escape from reality for him as they were for her, and they both needed to pretend a little bit.
“Missed you,” she whispered. A from-the-heart slip she didn’t have to energy to cover up. All the running she’d done lately—the worrying, the recurring nightmare—had sucked it all out of her.
He gathered her close and kissed her ear. “Every minute without you is a minute too long.”
She melted into his embrace. Melted into the next slow kiss, too—the kind with a thousand beautiful words packed into tiny movements of the lips. Words like, I missed you. I want you. Maybe even, I need you.
Which was crazy, because why would a cowboy like him need a city girl like her? He had a dozen fawning groupies. A smile that could melt the sun’s heart. A warrior’s honed body that would frighten any enemy away. If he had enemies, which she doubted. Twin Moon Ranch was full of strong, self-assured men and women who seemed to live by their own rules and at their own pace. It was as if the real world screeched to a stop at the ranch gate and let the inhabitants live in peace.
And there it was again, that pang in her heart. The wish for a home like his. A home with him…
He combed her long blond hair with his fingers, making her feel beautiful instead of a near-wreck. Up around the nape of her neck, around her ears. He ran his fingers to the ends of the last wispy strands, then started all over again.
“So beautiful,” he whispered, making her smile behind the kiss.
He scooped her hair back while her hands ran their own reconnaissance mission of the hard body that had held her close over the past few nights. He seemed constructed entirely of muscle, with one layer stacked over another in crisscrossing, interlocking planes.
So beautiful, she could have echoed if her lips weren’t so busy with his.
“Can you put this up?” he asked, gently pulling back from the kiss.
Her hair? Was it in the way? “Why?”
He grinned that mischievous, Huck Finn grin. “So I can take it down again.”
She laughed out loud, pulled a leather hair clip off a nearby shelf, and slowly gathered her hair up into a bun. The way Cody watched, she might have been treating him to a strip tease.