He canted his body to face her, standing so close she couldn't help but smell him. She didn't know what the scent was. It wasn't any cologne that she could recognize. It was just him, she suspected. Just Connor-brilliant name for a signature cologne and he'd make a fortune off it.

"I like tight places," he purred with mischief in his eyes.

Not for the first time, Stacey wondered what it would be like to live with a man who was so confident. That inner surety enabled him to be such a shameless tease. It also made him different from all the other men she had ever dated. The others had been small men pretending to be big men. She'd always fallen for the shell, the illusion of stability. Until she had Justin. Then she learned to find strength within herself, because someone else depended on her.

She inched by Connor and went to the trunk where she pulled out her backpack. Evading him when he tried to take it from her, Stacey jogged to the porch and cautioned, "Watch out for the second stair. That's the one with the rot."

"Got it."

When she pulled open the wooden-framed screen door, he was right there with her, his hand catching the edge and holding it ajar while she unlocked the two deadbolts and door lock.

"Isn't it safe out here?" he asked, delaying entering the house after her because he was scanning the front yard and the quiet street beyond.

"Yes. But my scaredy-cat sensibilities take over after dark."

He nodded as if he understood. Stacey suspected he sympathized, but she doubted he had ever been scared of anything. He was too steady, too assured. She imagined that resoluteness came from growing up in a family so dedicated to dangerous military service. They all expected to die, so they didn't fear danger in the same way others did.

He stepped into her living room behind her and the screen door swung shut with a loud squeak followed by a louder bang. Connor scowled at it. "Your door's broken."

"Technically, it's the little arm thingy that doesn't work, not the door."

"Whatever. It's busted."

"Nah, it needs adjustment. Make yourself comfortable." Stacey headed down the hallway to the laundry room, where she pulled her cat hair-covered clothes out of her backpack and tossed them in the washing machine.

A moment later Connor called after her, "Your son is a handsome boy."

Stacey blew out her breath and headed back toward the living room. Connor was half-way down the hall, looking at the multitude of framed pictures that lined the length. It was a small space and he hogged all of it, the top of his head nearly reaching the low ceiling.

"Thanks. I think so." She found him studying a Polaroid of the two of them at the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby. Justin had been nearly of a height with her, and with his medium brown hair and dark eyes he didn't really look related to her at all.

"That was taken a couple years ago," she explained. "He's dropped out of Cub Scouts since then. Said it was something a boy should do with his dad."

Connor reached over and stroked his hand down the length of her spine. It was a gesture of comfort, much like the kiss he'd given her the night before, and it was a source of consolation, but it was something else, too. And she couldn't let it be something else. She couldn't allow him to become a crutch she looked toward or depended on, because he wasn't going to be around forever.

She'd made the same mistake so many times-looking for strength outside of herself. She refused to do it again.

"I'll go start on the pie," she said before passing him and heading into the kitchen. It took him a while to join her, and when he did he wore an odd expression.

"You alright?" she asked, turning off the water she had running to wash the apples. "All the family stuff freaking you out? Want me to take you home?"

"Aidan's house isn't home." He leaned against the jamb of the archway that connected the breakfast nook with the kitchen. There was no formal dining room, which worked because she didn't need one.

He watched her intently, a brooding and overwhelming presence in her tiny kitchen. "Am I supposed to freak out because you have a child?"

His arms crossed his chest in a now familiar gesture, emphasizing his mouthwatering biceps. He dominated her thoughts, making it impossible to avoid being highly aware of him. A larger-than-life personality housed in a larger-than-life body. It was too much. He was too much.

"I don't know." She shook out the excess water from the colander. "You came in here looking funny."

"It's been a rough couple days."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"I do, actually."

"Okay. Shoot." She dug into one of the lower cabinets for her apple peeler.

"I can't."

Stacey straightened and hid her unreasonable feeling of hurt and disappointment with a caustic, "Of course not."

"You wouldn't believe me."

"I'll have to take your word for it." She met his gaze and held it. "Since I've got nothing else to go on."

They both waited a long moment. She sensed the conflict in him, the need to say something important, but she couldn't figure out what it would be.

So she made her best guess. "You're not going to be living in the Valley full-time, are you?"

He frowned. "I have to travel a lot."

"Okay." She sighed. "You're not going to ask me to be exclusive when you're in town, but single when you're not, right? Please don't."

"I'm not an asshole, Stacey," he said with quiet dignity. "Can you raise the bar a little when you think about me?"

Connor watched Stacey fidget nervously and inwardly kicked himself. He was bungling this all to hell, but he didn't know how to fix it.

He wanted to be with her.

It was as simple and as complicated as that.

She sighed audibly. "I'm sorry." She tossed her hands up. "I just don't know what you're doing here. Why you're looking at me like that. What I'm supposed to do or say."

I'm here because I couldn't let you go home alone when there are freaks out there. I'm looking at you like this because I've been in your room and I touched the blankets on your bed that keep you warm. I want you to say that you want me there. With you.

With an impatient hand, she pushed the mass of dark curls back from her face. He knew she wanted promises and stability. Perhaps not promises of forever, but he couldn't even guarantee her anything beyond this moment. He might be on a plane tonight with no clue when he would be back. The best way to keep her safe was by stopping the danger before it reached her.

Aidan was right. Connor knew he was the worst possible choice for her, but that didn't silence the part of him that insisted she was his to take care of.

He straightened. "Do you have tools?"

Busy work. That's what he needed. Something to occupy him physically while his brain worked to sort out his dilemma. Otherwise, he'd be all over her in a minute, coaxing and seducing her into the tumble he so desperately wanted. Face to face. Her legs wrapped around his hips. Her nails in his back.

"Only the basics." Her green eyes gave so much away. He wondered if she knew that. "They're in a yellow metal bucket just inside the door."

"I'll get to work."

"Thank you."

Gratitude. He heard it in her voice and the primitive part of his psyche wanted to howl in victory. She needed something and he could provide it.

Mine.

Connor had never felt even the slightest bit possessive about a lover in his life. But then he hadn't felt even the slightest bit like himself since he'd met Stacey.

He caught up the bucket handle, pushed open the screen door, and stepped out onto the porch. There was a good bit of distance from the house to the street. A wide expanse of lawn took over from the flower beds and ran all the way to the chain link fence.

It was a cute house. Quaint and charming. It was a home that suited Stacey and revealed another side of her. He wanted to stay for dinner and another movie. He wanted to love her body again, the right way. The long way. All night. He wanted to wake up with her wiggling her delightful ass against his cock. Only this time they'd both be naked. He could anchor her leg on his hip and push into her from behind-

The door slammed shut behind him.

"That's got to go," he growled, turning to glare at the offending object.

Connor set down the tools and got to work. He forcibly pushed thoughts of Elders and Nightmares from his mind. He had only this single day with Stacey and though he'd come here because he feared for her traveling alone, he now intended to spend the hours with her indulging as if there were no tomorrow.

Because, for them, there wasn't.

Chapter 9

"There!"

Pushing to his feet, Connor stood on the now repaired step and jumped up and down. It bore the abuse beautifully.

"Yum," Stacey purred.

Glancing up as the screen door opened, he watched her step outside. "Hi."

"Hi back."

Connor knew that look she had in her eyes. Other women had been giving it to him for ages. It was the first time he'd gotten it from Stacey, though, and coupled with the unconscious licking of her lips it heated his blood.

"Sweetheart," he purred, "you look ready to eat me alive."

"Have you been out here shirtless the whole time?" she asked, a bit breathlessly. She'd put her hair up into adorable pigtails and was carrying two glasses filled with reddish liquid on ice. For some reason, the girlish hairstyle made him hot as hell. There was nothing immature about Stacey, but the look brought to mind some role-playing that he'd love to indulge in with her.

"The last half hour or so."