Strong and Sexy (Sky High Air #2)(19)

He studied her for a long moment. Her eyes were haunted, her mouth grim. “You don’t believe that.”

She lifted a shoulder, and he sighed. “So what’s your plan? Go to work in your pj’s?”

Again she lifted a shoulder.

“I can’t just leave you here, Dani.”

“Yes, you can.”

“Is there someone you could call to come stay with you?”

“No.”

“You’re the queen of no’s tonight, you know that?”

She let out a self-deprecating laugh. “I just…I don’t like to lean on people.”

“Trust me. I get that. Hell, I live that. But you shouldn’t be alone. Not tonight.”

Turning to him, she flashed those wide, gorgeous dark eyes, filled with…ah, hell, hurt. “Because I’m crazy?”

Crazy beautiful. “I didn’t say that.”

“If you could please just take me to the zoo, I’ll handle it from there.”

“Dani—”

“Please.”

She had a strand of hair stuck to her jaw, another along her throat, curling down to her collarbone. She had a drop of water on her nose, and as he watched, it fell to a breast.

Her T-shirt, white and thin, was really quite sheer. He was certain he should tell her, or at least reach in and close her coat.

Be the gentleman.

But he didn’t say a word, which undoubtedly made him a jerk. She’d been right not to want to go out with him.

“Shayne?”

“Yeah.” He shook his head at himself. “Yeah, I’ll take you to your work.”

“Thank you.”

He put the Porsche back in gear and pulled away. “So what do you do at the zoo?”

“I’m a mammal keeper.”

He arched a brow, surprised. “As in feed the bears?”

“Feed, clean, monitor…and not just the bears. Today I was with the elephants. Tomorrow I’ll be with the primates.”

“You’re not quite dressed for that.”

“I have things to change into there.”

Good. Great. He didn’t care because look at him, he was keeping his distance. “But we really should check out your apartment.”

“No. I imagined it. I know that now. I’m sorry.”

She was lying, but what could he do? Distance. Repeating that, he pulled out of the lot.

The highway was deserted, and as he drove into the dark, stormy night he told himself he was doing the right thing, and that he would not, repeat not try to change her mind regarding getting involved, because getting involved would lead to things, things like more kissing, and that would be a bad, very, very bad way of maintaining his distance.



Dani let out a relieved breath and leaned back into the soft, toasty interior of Shayne’s car. The heated leather crinkled around her, pulling her in, and she let out a shuddery sigh that undoubtedly gave away her relief and lingering fear. Going still, she glanced at him.

Looking unruffled and perfectly at ease as he drove, as if he could be modeling for a car ad, Shayne cut his eyes to hers.

He remained quietly calm, which she greatly admired. She wanted to be quietly calm. And he smelled good. How she could notice such a thing was beyond her, but he smelled yummy and looked even yummier with that hair tousled just enough that she wanted to run her fingers through it.

“You’re staring at me,” he murmured.

A short, mirthless laugh escaped her. “Sorry.”

What he did next surprised her. He reached out and took her hand in his.

She stared down at their entwined fingers, his long and tanned, work-roughened. And warm. So wonderfully warm. She pictured them gliding over the parts of her that were chilled, imagined how that would feel, and shivered again.

“You really should have let me go up there,” he said, cranking up the heat.

“No, it’s all right.”

“Or called the police.”

“If I’d called the police the two times you’d wanted me to tonight, I’d probably be at the station being held for a psych eval.”

His silence was his agreement, and she sighed again. The rain had picked up even more, if that was possible, and when a large truck came at them, splashing copious amounts of water across the windshield, Shayne let go of her hand to put both of his on the steering wheel, fighting the slick road and wind.

Feeling frozen from the inside out, she slipped her hands into her coat pockets— And went still as stone.

Oh, God. “S—Shayne?”

Still fighting the road, he didn’t glance over. “Yeah?”

Heart kicking into full gear, she slowly pulled out what she’d found…

A gun.

Cool to the touch, surprisingly lightweight, it gleamed in her hand. As if it being lightweight was her biggest worry. Unable to believe she hadn’t felt it in her pocket, she just stared at it. “Um, Shayne?”

He glanced over and executed a double take. “Jesus.” He jerked the car to the side of the road with a squeal of tires. “What the f*ck is that?”

She held it in the air between them as if it were a ticking bomb. “A g-gun?”

“Why are you holding a gun, Dani?”

“I don’t know!”