The Darkest Corner (Gravediggers #1)(44)

"How long is this going to take?" she asked hotly. "About a hundred people are going to be walking in the door in the next half hour to pay their respects to Mrs. Schriever, and it sounds like a demolition derby up here."

"It'll take a couple of weeks." He remembered the time frame for the mission and then added, "Maybe longer." Like several months, he added silently. Because though he could do the work, he wasn't a contractor.

"How much longer?" she asked, eyes narrowed.

"Maybe four weeks."

"My bathroom is going to be a disaster area for a month?" Her voice was hoarse with the restraint she was showing. "So for the next month I'm supposed to haul all my stuff to the first floor to shower? That's super-convenient."

The sarcasm wasn't lost on him, but he played along anyway. "I think so. You'll be right there by the coffeemaker, and after you do an embalming you can walk straight into the shower so you're not trailing that smell all over the house."

"The smell is part of the job," she said primly. "And it dissipates."

"Right," he said and then changed the subject. "I'll get the guys to give me a hand up here when they're not doing anything else. All you need to do is pick the tiles and fixtures. It's going to look great."

Her mouth opened and closed a couple of times, but no more words came out. "Are you saying the smell doesn't dissipate?" she asked, going back to the other topic.

"I'm teasing. Of course it dissipates. The smell of you drives me crazy. Lemons and sunshine. Tess, I've got to tell you something," he said, taking a step toward her.



       
         
       
        

"Is it that you can have everything in here put back together by midnight tonight?" she asked.

"No."

"Then I don't want to hear it."

He grinned and she narrowed her eyes in warning as he took another step closer. "You should probably watch your blood pressure. It can't be good for your health to repress all that anger."

She took a deep breath. And then another. He was surprised fire didn't shoot from her nostrils. He took another step closer, but she was concentrating so hard on breathing he wasn't sure she noticed.

"I don't think I started having blood pressure problems until you decided to kiss me," she said. "Then it ramped up pretty good. Why did you do that again?"

"Because I couldn't stay away from you any longer," he rasped. "I can't stop thinking about kissing you."

Her eyes widened and she looked up as he took another step closer. "You can't?"

"Maybe if I kiss you again I'll be able to stop."

She nodded. "I'm a scientist," she said.

He paused and looked at her with confusion. "Okay." And then he started to lean down to take her lips.

"I just mean I like experiments. And it's like an experiment to see if you'll want to kiss me again after you kiss me one more time. I talk a lot when I'm nervous, by the way."

"I've noticed that. Let me help." He leaned down and took her mouth before she could say anything else.

He was almost positive she'd stopped breathing. Hell, he wasn't sure he was still breathing. He nipped at her bottom lip and her mouth opened with a gasp. And he devoured. His tongue swept into her mouth and tangled with hers, the taste of her dark and rich and intoxicating. And this time he put his hands on her.

Blood rushed through his veins and his heart hammered in his chest. He knew what it was to want a woman. But he'd never known what it felt like to need a woman. Not just any woman. Only Tess. She'd bewitched him, and one kiss would never be enough.

When he finally pulled back, Tess's eyelids blinked open and she looked a bit dazed. Her breaths came in rapid pants and her pulse fluttered at the base of her throat.

She hadn't let go of him. He hoped she never would.

"Did it work?" she whispered.

"Did what work?"

"The experiment. Do you still want to kiss me?"

"No," he told her.

Her head jerked up in surprise, but he tightened his arms around her before she could pull away.

"I want to do more than kiss you." He kissed the corner of her mouth and then kissed his way down her jawline and to her neck. "I want to strip you out of that ugly jacket and see where these freckles go." 

"You think my jacket is ugly?" she asked.

"Hideous. It covers up that beautiful body."

She snorted out a laugh. "I'm built like a boy."

"I've been a boy. I can tell you with certainty I never looked like you do."