A Better Man(43)

Ziggy lifted his big head and looked at her like she'd gone off the deep end.

"He drives me crazy, Zigs."

Her dog responded with a little whine.

"Seriously over-­the-­edge crazy." She peeked out the window again but he was gone. "I don't know what he expects from me."

Throughout her entire life she'd left spontaneity at the door. With the exception of her rotten marriage, everything in her control had been planned to within an inch of her life.

Jordan knocked her carefully laid plans and her logical thinking askew.

She'd always made valiant efforts to blend into the background and remain as invisible as she could. To keep her head on straight and move forward through life as quietly and as unassumingly as possible. She didn't live with high expectations. And she no longer dared to dream.

Big, flashy dreams were dangerous. For her, happy and content were enough.

Jordan, on the other hand, didn't ask. He took. He didn't back off. Didn't blink. He just forged ahead like a steamroller. Granted, his forcefulness was nonthreatening. But still, like those dreams, he was dangerous.

When he'd had her trapped between him and the door, heat had radiated off him that had nothing to do with the temperature in the room. It had been pure sexual masculinity and she'd wanted to lose herself in him. Wrap herself around him and climb him like a tree. Unwrap him like a present and touch all those hard, sexy muscles with her hands and, dear God, her tongue. For the first time in longer than she could remember, she desired a man.

Sweet baby Jesus.

One thing was certain.

Locking the deadbolt and securing herself inside her home was going to be a lot easier than securing her heart against Jordan Kincade.

On the way home, Jordan put his cell phone to good use. By the time he was driving up the hill toward his parents' house he'd put things for his date with Lucy in motion. She might be expecting popcorn and a movie, but Jordan wanted to give her much more. And if all went according to plan, she'd be completely surprised.

He knew it was late, but he'd spotted Nicole's little Sonata in the driveway and he didn't want to miss an opportunity to let her know that, despite her ambivalence or wishful thinking, he was still here.

A light drizzle beaded on the sleeves of his jacket as he tested the front door to the house and found it unlocked. For the first time in years he let himself in without feeling like he needed an invitation.



       
         
       
        

With the exception of the glow from the big-­screen TV in the family room, the house was dark and quiet. Before he headed in that direction, he glanced toward the stairs and wondered why his teenage sister would be locked up in her room on a Friday night.

Or maybe she wasn't.

Maybe she'd gone out with friends and had left her car there. He hadn't considered that before he'd come inside.

Trying to cope with the eerie absence of his mom and dad, he kept walking. In the family room he found Declan stretched out on the sofa, legs crossed at the ankles, with a huge bowl of popcorn balanced on his flat stomach. Surprisingly Mr. GQ was dressed in a T-­shirt and cargo shorts. On the big-­screen TV, Joe Fox-­aka Tom Hanks-­was writing an e-­mail to Shopgirl.

"I always knew you were a sentimental sap."

Declan jerked upright and popcorn flew from the bowl. He turned to Jordan with a murderous glare. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Jordan chuckled. "Hoping to stay hidden long enough to see you weep into your hankie. Guess my cover's blown now."

"Great." Dec started picking up the popcorn kernels and tossing them back in the bowl. "Now I'll have to make a new batch."

"Dude. I just caught you watching You've Got Mail without a girl in the room and you're worried about the popcorn?"

"I had a girl on the phone while I was watching. Does that count?"

"Depends on the girl."

"Brooke Hastings."

"Your assistant?"

Dec nodded.

"Were you having phone sex?"

"With Brooke?"

"No, with the neighbor down the road." Jordan sighed. "Yes with Brooke."

"She's my assistant."

"And hot as hell."

The brief silence told Jordan that his brother hadn't considered his assistant in that way. But he damn well should. The long-­legged blonde had a beach bod, brains that went on all day, and a bubbly personality that said she could easily be a kid sister, best friend, mom of the year, or the hottest thing between the sheets ever. She was every man's dream. Except apparently Declan's.

Stupid ass.