“Have I broken one to you yet, Amber?”

“No,” she said slowly, but she sounded slightly reassured. “I have to go.”

His heart twisted, a feeling he was beginning to associate with her. “Good night, Amber,” he whispered.

DAX FOUND Amber at what he now knew to be her favorite lunch spot. He grinned at her bowl of strawberry yogurt. “Are you going to let me watch you eat that?”

She stopped licking her spoon and eyed him over the bowl with an interesting mix of pleasure and wariness. The wariness he expected because it had been four days since he’d sought her out.

The pleasure was a nice surprise.

“No,” she finally said.

Ignoring that, because whether she wanted to admit it or not, she was crazy about him, he swiveled a chair around and straddled it. Leaning forward, he took in her cool, sedate, navy blue suit. “I don’t suppose I can convince you to spill again so that you could lose the uptight clothes.”

Surprising him, she laughed. “Actually, I thought of you this morning when I put this on.”

“Yeah?” For some reason, that gave him ridiculous pleasure. So did the thought of her standing, fresh out of a shower, naked, thinking of him.

Her voice was low. “I thought of it as my armor.”

“Against?”

She played with the yogurt now. “Sometimes you give me a certain look and it makes me feel…funny.”

He gave her one of those looks now and the air sizzled between them.

“That’s the one,” she said a bit shakily, pointing at him with her spoon. “That’s it right there.”

“Do you feel funny now?”

“A little, yeah.”

“Me, too.” He heard the rough arousal in his voice and couldn’t stop himself. “And it has nothing to do with the clothes you wear.” He leaned close. “You could put on real armor and it wouldn’t matter one damn bit.”

Her eyes closed briefly, and he knew he didn’t mistake that quick flash of helpless desire on her face before she carefully masked it and rose. “I have work.”

He touched her arm, stilled her. “You can believe in me, Amber. Believe in yourself enough to see it.”

“I’m trying, Dax. Whatever you think of me, I want you to know that.”

He rose, too, and skimmed his fingers over her cheek. “I know you’ve had no one to trust with yourself before, but I promise you, I’m different.”

And then, because they were in the crowded café, and because neither of them were quite steady, he stepped back. “Think about it.”

AMBER WANTED to do nothing but think about it. As she entered her office, her mind whirled. She moved toward her desk and the mountain of work waiting for her.

Halfway there, the earth rumbled beneath her feet. For a second she allowed herself to believe it was her overly active imagination.

It wasn’t. The earthquake was short and quick, and absolutely terrifying.

There had been many this year, and she remembered each and every one of them because they’d brought on a heart-stopping panic she couldn’t control.

A normal reaction for someone who’d been through what she had, she assured herself, gripping her desk, prepared to dive under it if necessary.

“It’s okay,” she said out loud as she waited, tense and frozen. “Just an aftershock.” She knew they could occur for years after a main quake. The knowledge didn’t help. Many people in the area had been terrorized by the aftershocks, not just her. It was normal.

Normal.

She told herself all of this, repeatedly, but she still forgot to breathe and her chest hurt. Her vision spotted.

And though it was over long before she even fully registered it, she remained there, rigid, heart drumming, palms damp, shaking like a leaf.

The door to her office opened and shut, and suddenly Dax was standing there, saying her name in that deep, wonderful voice.

“I came the second I felt it,” he said. “I was still on the street. I thought-I didn’t know how you would feel-Dammit, I hate those things!” he exclaimed, taking her arms in his strong, reassuring hands. “Are you all right?”

“Certainly.” But she clung to his big, welcoming body. Just for a moment, she told herself. She’d allow herself to lean on him for just a moment. “I’m fine.”

“Don’t.” With a gentleness that was so tender, so sweet it hurt, he curled a strand of her hair behind her ear. “Don’t fake being strong for me.”

“It was just an aftershock. Hardly even big enough to register on the scale.”

“It registered on my scale,” came his gruff reply, and for the first time she heard his breathlessness, felt the quiver in his own muscles, and realized he felt the fear, too.

She gave herself permission to hold him for another moment.

“It’s okay,” he whispered, gathering her tighter, absorbing her weight with ease. “We’re okay.”

“Taylor,” she said, lifting her head. Urgency overcame her. “I want to call-”

“We will. Soon as I can remember my mother’s phone number. We’ll go get her together, okay? Amber, just hold onto me for a second.”

We’ll go get her.

We’ll.

Together.

For some reason, the words softened her as nothing else could have and she let out a lungful of air, burying her face in the wonderful spot of his neck that seemed meant for her. “Don’t be afraid,” she told him. “I have a big, tough desk. It’ll hold.”

He laughed, as she had meant for him to, and somehow that softened her even more so that her arms wrapped even tighter around him.

“We’re both shaking like leaves,” he muttered, sinking with her to the floor. “I really hate earthquakes.”

“Just for the record here,” she wondered. “Who’s comforting who?”

“I’m not sure, just don’t let go.”

She didn’t. They sat huddled on the floor in each other’s arms like two little children. Her legs were entwined with his, her skirt high on her thighs. His hands were on her back, slowly running up and down in a reassuring gesture that hadn’t been anything but sincerely comforting, until his hands slipped beneath her jacket to the silk of her blouse.

The embrace shifted, became charged with erotic awareness, and Amber lifted her head to stare at him, into his warm eyes, then at his mouth, the one she suddenly wanted on hers. The shattering, shocking truth was, she wanted that more than she wanted her own next breath.

Dax groaned and closed his eyes. “Don’t look at me like that, it’s dangerous to my health.”

For the life of her, she couldn’t remember why she’d wanted to hold him at arm’s length, couldn’t remember why she was trying so hard to resist this magnetic pull she felt whenever she was with him.

Hell, she was starting to have that pull even when she wasn’t with him.

Her arms were already around his neck, it took little movement to have her fingers fisted in his hair so that she could tug him closer, then closer still so that their mouths were a fraction of an inch apart.

“Amber.” The sound of her name on his lips, spoken in that husky voice, made her heart tip on its side.

She closed the distance between them, let her eyes drift closed. Her lips parted and she felt his warm breath mingle with hers.

Her office door opened.

“Oh, excuse me,” came Nancy’s shocked voice.

Professionalism kept her from gawking, though Amber was certain she wanted to. After all, how often did she see her boss sprawled on the floor in a man’s arms?

“I’m sorry,” Nancy murmured.

Amber groaned when the door shut. She pushed away from Dax.

He let out a frustrated sigh. “I’m betting from the look on your face that what just happened is worse than the aftershock.”

“I’ve worked hard to make sure everyone here respects me and the work I do. And in a matter of seconds, I’ve just ruined that image.”

“Well that’s pure bull.”

Amber stared at him. “That’s easy for you to say. You’re a man, working in a man’s world. You’re not judged by your appearance, or who you sleep with.”

“Neither are you.”

“It’s different here. It’s highly competitive. One nasty rumor and I could be ruined.”

“I see. And being caught in my arms equals a nasty rumor. Flattering.”

She winced at his unusually chilly voice. “I didn’t mean to insult you.”

“That’s the hard part, because I know it.”

THAT NIGHT when Dax brought Taylor home to Amber, he made no attempt to draw her into conversation. He didn’t even come in, but stood at the doorway, silently and solemnly holding Taylor close for a long moment. Arms tight around the chubby little baby, he closed his eyes and hugged her tight.

Then he lifted her high, smiled at her squeal of delight and kissed her goodbye. “I love you, baby,” he whispered, and his smile was a heart-wrenching mixture of sweetness and sorrow.

All that emotion both shocked and humbled Amber to her toes. “Do you want to come in?”

He shook his head, and as if to prove his point, remained on the step as she took the diaper bag from him. He was careful not to touch her. Though she had no right to feel that way, it hurt.

She knew he was going to work. She’d seen the news. There was a fire raging in a downtown apartment building. It was filled with hundreds of trapped, terrified people, and though he rarely fought the actual fires these days, he would be on the scene. His job required it.

But she knew his distant attitude had nothing to do with that fire and everything to do with her. “Be careful tonight.”

“Always.” With one last, loving touch to Taylor’s chubby cheek, he turned away.

“Dax.”

Slowly he turned, but she didn’t know what to say, how to reach him. How to make him understand.

How could she, when she didn’t understand herself? “Nothing,” she whispered, and then he was gone.