He narrowed his eyes and looked at her. “Don’t you dare twist that ticket around to be my fault.”

Again, her laughter floated around him, warming him even though he preferred to hold on to his irritation. If he was irritated, she couldn’t turn him on. Right?

Wrong.

“You know, you never talked about yourself,” she said, tipping her head back to look up at the incredible sky. “You grew up here.”

“At south shore.”

“Any brothers or sisters?”

“No.”

“Do you get home often?”

“No.” He tried not to tense, but it was impossible. He hated talking about his past.

She studied him thoughtfully. “So talkative.”

She was beautiful in the moonlight. Soft, sincere. And she wanted to know him. How many people in his life had really wanted to know him?

How many had he let know him?

He clasped his arms around his knees, ignored the shaft of pain in his ankle and stared into the most amazing night he’d seen in a while. “I grew up with my mother, she worked at one of the lower-class hotels. Cleaning, cooking, whatever kind of work she could find, when she could find it. I never knew my father, she said she didn’t, either.”

“It must have been rough,” she said quietly.

Rough about summed it up, but he shrugged. “We lived day to day, sometimes with her friends, sometimes out of her car. I hated it then, and I hate remembering it now.”

Her gaze was luminous, filled with the compassion he didn’t want, and other things he did want. “You’ve come so far, done so much for yourself. It’s a miracle.”

“For a street rat, yeah.”

“Summer and I grew up here in Incline, and had a house right on the lake. We had a tennis court, an indoor swimming pool, servants, everything we could want.”

“Sounds nice.”

“Everything except parents.” She smiled when he looked at her. “They traveled extensively, they were rarely home. Sometimes I used to have nightmares that they’d forgotten us, that they’d never come home again. We’d worry about what would happen if the servants ran out of money, if they’d take off and just leave us alone to fend for ourselves.”

He shook his head, angry for the two helpless, little children they’d been. “What happened?”

“One day my parents really didn’t come home. Their plane crashed somewhere in Europe, where they’d been vacationing.”

“Becca…God. What a nightmare.”

She shrugged. “I’d just turned eighteen. Summer was only sixteen, but they let her stay with me because I’d always been so-” She broke off, let out a self-deprecating smile. “Good. Responsible. We turned out fine,” she said softly.

Fine. There was that word she so resented, and he thought now, finally, he could really understand why. “So…we’re both fine?”

With a smile, she turned to him. “Yeah.” Her humor faded a bit as she held his gaze, replaced with nerves and awe and something else, something he couldn’t quite name. “Actually, I feel very fine right now,” she whispered. “Right here, with you.”

She was pressed to his side, held there by his own arm. He could feel the heat of her skin beneath her clothes. Her hair smelled wonderful and he shifted just a bit closer still, more relaxed and comfortable than he could remember ever being.

He considered kissing her senseless, he knew he could do it. Considered taking that adventure right now. It’d be incredible, with only the sounds of the water and the moonlight for company.

Making his move, he slowly drew her in his arms and looked at her mouth, which trembled open.

He leaned closer, all sorts of hot thoughts tumbling though his head. Hot thoughts and light-

Light?

Bright, glaring light. “What the-” Turning, he shielded Becca.

A cop stood there, wielding his flashlight. He sighed, loudly, at the sight of them. “You guys are too old for this necking at the lake stuff,” he said grumpily. “Take it to a hotel, will ya?”

8

“I DON’T WANT TO HAVE TO write you up,” the cop said when neither of them moved.

Becca let out a laugh at that. She clamped her hand over her mouth and blinked her huge eyes up at the officer.

“Everything okay?” he asked her, frowning, shining the light in her face for a moment. She nodded, but he didn’t relax. “Let me see your identification please,” he said to Kent, who inwardly groaned, but reached into his pocket.

“You wouldn’t believe the evening we’ve had,” Becca told him.

“Try me.”

“Well, first Kent hurt his ankle trying to show me how to rock climb, then I got a ticket in his car-”

“You got a ticket? This evening?”

“Just a little one. And getting another would sort of ruin our plans.”

The cop studied Kent’s driver’s license. “What plans, ma’am?”

“Another adventure.” She looked at Kent and smiled. It wasn’t a casual, oh-let’s-go-eat-sushi smile either. No, it was the mother of all smiles, a cat-in-cream smile.

“An adventure,” the officer repeated doubtfully, dividing an annoyed look between the two of them. “And would this include anything illegal?”

“Absolutely not,” Becca said sweetly, with contrasting fire in her gaze.

Kent’s heart stopped. Desire flooded him.

The policeman sighed in annoyance. “Just make sure you go home first, could you? I don’t know what you people see in these woods. It’s damn cold out here.”

“You’ve never been in love,” Becca decided.

No, Kent thought. Not love. Never love.

Vaguely he heard Becca answer another question before they were left alone, but he couldn’t concentrate on any of that now.

He’d only offered an adventure, nothing else, he assured himself. He hadn’t led her on.

Not on purpose anyway.

“Whew, that was close,” she whispered with a smile, moving close again. Happiness shimmered from her. “This must be what it’s like to be a lust-struck teenager. I think I like it.”

Her eyes were shiny with excitement. Just excitement, he told himself, but that was a lie, too. There was more in her gaze, much more, and he felt his heart crack.

Dammit!

He’d known this would happen, that his fondness for her as a friend would war with the part of him that lusted after her. They hadn’t even done anything more than kiss, and already he was feeling responsible for her, worried that he was going to hurt her.

He wasn’t even aware of moving back away from her until she sighed, a wealth of sudden sadness in the sound. “You have that panicked look on your face,” she said quietly. “The one that Cookie told me about. She said it’s the look you had last summer when your girlfriend brought up the price of diamonds.”

“She wasn’t my girlfriend.”

Wrong answer. Becca’s face blanked, all emotion cleanly wiped away. “Oh, would you look at that?” she said, glancing at her watch. “It’s late. I’m sorry.” She rose gracefully. “I’ll walk.”

“No, you won’t.” He managed to hobble after her and after a brief hesitation, he handed her his keys.

“What if I get another ticket?” she asked coolly.

“You won’t.” He held the driver’s door open when she would have shut it on his face. “Becca…I’m sorry.”

She looked straight ahead through the windshield. “Nothing to be sorry for. You’ve changed your mind. You can’t handle it. No biggee.” Disturbingly distant, she put the key in the ignition. “Get in, Kent. I’ll drive you home and walk from there.”

“And then what?”

“Then you leave me alone.”

Leave her alone. Was he really supposed to be able to do that?

Hunkering down, ignoring the pain in his ankle, he leaned into the car, putting a fist on either side of her hips, caging her in so that she had no choice but to look at him. “Becca-”

She simply started the car and put it in gear. “Better get in,” she said casually, revving the engine. “I know how fond of your toes you are.”


AT SIERRA LAB’S weekly staff meeting, everyone currently involved in a project read off their latest progress.

Becca was up.

She had the most erotic voice, Kent thought, lost in it like a stupid lovesick fool.

Around a table laden with donuts, bagels, croissants and various juices sat Dennis, Jed and two of Kent’s other lab techs, Sally and Tiki.

Despite himself, Becca continued to hold Kent’s attention. Her eyes were intent, her body leaned forward toward the others as she spoke.

She loved her job and it showed.

She was upset with Kent and that showed, too.

She hadn’t spoken to him all morning, despite his repeated attempts to get her to talk. He’d asked, as he’d trailed her down the hallway, if she was okay.

Yes.

That was all, just yes.

He asked if she was mad at him.

No.

She wasn’t mad. She wasn’t anything, but late for their meeting, and could he please remember they were at work and not on their own personal time?

Dammit, I’m the boss, he’d called after her as she’d rushed down the hall, away from him, hips gently swinging, skirt flying, legs flashing.

Frustrated, he’d followed her into the meeting.

Her hair shone under the lights and so did her green eyes. Kent sat there morosely and lost the train of what she was saying. Instead he tapped his pencil against his thigh and wondered yet again how he’d never noticed her eyes before, when they intrigued him so much now, and knew it was because she no longer wore her glasses.

“I liked those glasses,” he muttered.

“I’m sorry, Kent…what?”

Startled from his sulk, he looked up to find everyone looking at him. Everyone except Becca. Great. “Nothing.”

Jed took the floor next and Kent quickly lost track of his project too, as he stared at Becca. The new Becca. He liked her all pretty and polished, anyone would. She was beautiful.