She blinked in surprise. “What?”
Ryne smirked, seemingly cool, and unaffected by their encounter. “Okay, so you’re a trespasser, a stalker, have suicidal tendencies, and you’re a sex maniac.”
“Sex maniac!”
He nodded. “You’re the one that kissed me.”
“But you said...” Mel sputtered, unable to finish the sentence, she was so enraged.
“I said something tangible would be nice to go with the thank you. It could have been a cup of coffee or a handshake. You just assumed it was a kiss.”
Mel narrowed her eyes and glared.
“You also disturbed the peace this morning.” He folded his arms and gave her a look that was reminiscent of the one given her by the police last time she’d been caught speeding. “That was your horn, wasn’t it?”
“Ooh!” Not even realizing what she was doing, Mel stamped her foot in frustration and Ryne burst out laughing. She gave him an ‘I wish you would drop dead’ look and turned to leave only to find herself jerked back when he grabbed her arm.
“Hey! Where do you think you’re going?” He’d stopped laughing, but was still smiling.
Mel tugged on her arm and spoke through clenched teeth. “I’m leaving before I do something I’ll regret.”
“Really? So you don’t regret anything you’ve done up to this point, like trespassing, or stalking me, or kissing me?”
It took Mel a moment to figure out that he was implying she’d enjoyed kissing him. For a brief second, she considered denying it, but figured he’d somehow or other twist that around, too. Instead she switched to one of his other accusations. “I’m not stalking you.”
“No? You scaled my gate on Saturday. You parked outside my place on Sunday—my friend, Bryan, told me about that one—and today you’ve sat in the diner across from where I work and watched every move I made. Sorry, honey. That’s stalking.”
“I was not watching every move you made.”
“Correction. You couldn’t see inside the building but every time I stepped out, I could feel you watching me.”
“You were only out once.” Mel folded her arms and affected a pout, staring blindly at the building behind him, rather than looking at his irritating—but oh so handsome—face. After a brief moment she winced, realizing she’d just given herself away. If she hadn’t been watching him, how would she have known he only came out once? Damn! If he was paying attention—and she was sure he was—he’d have the goods on her!
“Stalker.” He taunted back. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. His hands were casually tucked in his back pockets and he had a look of infinite patience on his face, as if he’d wait forever until she conceded.
Mel exhaled gustily and ran her hands through her hair, pushing it away from her warm face; their verbal sparring was causing her to feel hot and flushed. “All right. I was sort of...stalking you.”
Ryne grinned happily. “See? That wasn’t so hard to admit. You know, I’ve never had a stalker before.”
“Really?” She was surprised that someone with his amazingly good looks had never been followed around by a woman.
“Nope.” He headed inside the service station and she hurried after him, intrigued. “Most women take one look at me and just openly throw themselves at my feet.”
Mel snorted and rolled her eyes. “Not conceited much, are you?”
Now inside the building, Ryne turned to face her, leaning against a workbench. “I prefer to call it having a healthy self-esteem.” When she raised an eyebrow at him, he just laughed. “So, Melody Greene, aka stalker girl, I hear you want to interview me.” He suddenly looked serious and it took Mel a moment to switch gears and organize her thoughts.
“Um...yeah... I mean, yes... Yes, of course. I do want to interview you.”
“Why?”
The coldness of his eyes sent a shiver down her spine and Mel had to wonder where the man she’d just been talking to had gone. Eyes that cold could belong to a murderer. Maybe he was responsible for that missing sales clerk! No, she’d already decided that wasn’t a plausible theory. Still feeling a bit nervous, she licked her lips and gave a carefully worded answer. “Well, I’m trying to write a paper on up and coming artists and I’ve seen some of your work and thought it was good. Really good.”
Ryne didn’t say anything. He just gave her a considering look, as if trying to decide whether or not he believed her. Abruptly he stood up, his movement bringing him into her personal space. She stepped back and swallowed. Something about him seemed threatening, over-powering, and she found herself staring at the ground, unable to meet his eyes. What sounded like a rather satisfied rumble came from his chest and she dared to glance up at him. He was still staring at her, but it wasn’t so scary now. It was more a look of interest, as if he found her puzzling, but fascinating. Mel swallowed and cleared her throat.