Janie had earned almost two thousand for the art department; half of that came from Rafe’s now protesting checkbook. She’d also, because of the painting Rafe now owned, earned an honorable mention.
“The judges were blind. You should have won the award,” was Rafe’s comment.
“The competition was fierce. The program has a lot of talented artists enrolled.”
“Yes, but first place went to a watercolor of weirdly colored horses.”
She stopped hustling about, picking up bid sheets, broken pencils and such. The look she shot him then was priceless, and for the first time in his life, he realized he’d said exactly the right thing to a female.
At exactly the right moment.
The Arizona moon glittered in a blue velvet sky. The slight breeze seemed to nudge him closer to Janie. Close enough so that he could bend down and kiss her.
So he did.
His fingers cupped her cheeks gently, tilting her face upward as his lips met hers, hesitantly at first, but then claiming ownership and something else, something that spread warmth right to his heart and made him want.
If someone hadn’t dropped an easel right behind them, he’d have explored more, touched more, gotten lost in the feel of her lips on his. If someone hadn’t dropped an easel right behind them, he’d have had to admit that he wanted her, like he’d never wanted before.
And that was exactly why Janie was dangerous.
* * *
AS A LAB ASSISTANT, Janie had taken whatever classes Adobe Hills had offered her. Thus, both classes she’d helped in were evening classes. Even her tutoring stint was in the late afternoon. But now suddenly Janie was on campus during prime time, and the days were different. There was a liveliness to the campus that was missing during the evening.
Today, her return to campus, she’d dressed with a little more care than she had as the lab assistant. After all, it was her first time as the actual instructor. Surely there was no other reason.
And her disappointment that, instead of Rafe, one of Nathan’s police officers was her escort around campus had nothing to do with Rafe not seeing her on what she considered a big day.
Though he’d promised he’d be here as soon as he finished in court. Maybe he’d be at the door when she ended her class. He could take her out for ice cream or something, to celebrate.
Her ultimate goal was not to be a teacher, but it would look good on her résumé. Just this morning she’d sent off her virtual portfolio to the search committee in South Africa. She hoped they were wowed by it. An honorable mention from the John Tompkins Exhibit at the University of Arizona was something to be proud of.
Funny, she’d spent the whole weekend not thinking about the award but instead about the sight of Rafe carrying her painting to his SUV.
And the fire in his eyes that said he wanted to carry her to the SUV.
Since moving to Scorpion Ridge, she’d had a few dates here and there. For a while, Adam had seemed like the perfect guy for her. And he was—the perfect guy friend. For a while, Georgia had talked about her son, but Janie had only joked about enjoying her single state.
She’d even, at Katie’s insistence, gone out with Rafe well over a year ago. Janie had only done it to appease her sister and prove to Katie that a cop would never be the perfect male, and she hadn’t been disappointed when he didn’t call for a second date.