feeling it too. Finally. “But?”
“But I want you. I have since the first time we met.”
He remembered that day. He saw her ad in the local phone book and called, asking her to meet him at his latest project. When she stepped out of the car that day, he thought the summer heat was making him delusional because there was no way a woman that beautiful and sexy could have walked into his life without a band of gold on her finger.
“I remember,” he said, lifting her hair. He kissed her neck, tentatively at first, but when a soft sigh escaped her lips, he slid in closer, closing the gap between them. “You looked incredible in that blue dress with those strappy sandals…” Growling low in his throat, he remembered having to position his clipboard in front of him to hide his reaction to her. “You made me crazy.”
“You weren’t the only one,” she said, tipping her head back. “I took one look at you and I forgot my own name. I was so sure you would think I was just wasting your time, that I didn’t know what the hell I was doing. I was trying so hard to make a good impression, and I just got so tongue-tied.”
He fisted his hand in her hair and pulled her head back, forcing her to look at him. “I’d never felt that before,” he whispered. “Hell, I’ve been attracted to lots of women over the years, but something was different about you, something that told me you could be the woman I’d been waiting on.”
She tried to look away, but he settled his hands on either side of her neck, forcing her to look him in the eye. “I know you feel it, too. This thing between us isn’t going to go away, honey. If anything, it’s just getting stronger every damn day.”
Her eyes fell to his lips as she settled her hands on his shoulders. “I know that, but I have nothing to offer you, Shane. I mean, like I said, my life is a mess. Between trying to build my business and take care of Tommy, I…”
He kissed her softly, effectively silencing her. “How about just letting me take care of you?” That’s all he wanted, to be her rock when she needed an anchor.
She closed her eyes and said, “No, I can’t let you do that.”
“Open your eyes,” he said quietly. He wasn’t going to let her run away or hide from him again. They were going to have this out, and he wasn’t leaving this house until she agreed to give him a chance to prove to her how amazing they could be together.
She opened her eyes and looked at him. “Don’t you see how dangerous leaning on you, depending on you, would be for me?”
He knew it would probably be the biggest risk she’d ever taken, but he’d cut his right arm off before he’d let her down. “I’m worth the risk,” he whispered. “Just let me prove it to you.”
“Don’t you think I want to believe you?” she said, trying to pull back. “Damn it, would you just let me go?”
“No,” he said, forcing her to look at him. “If I let you go, you’re never going to let me back in. We made progress here tonight. You started to trust me. I’m not going to let you retreat again, no matter what you say.” He knew he was taking a hard line and it could backfire, but he had to risk it all or he would gain nothing.
“What happens if I trust you, if I come to depend on you, and you leave me?” She shuddered in his arms. “I know what it’s like to be alone, but I don’t know what it’s like to have a partner. I’m not even sure I want to know.”
“You’ve never had a serious relationship?”
She looked at the buttons lining the center of his shirt. “No, never. I never had time for a relationship. I worked two or three jobs, went to night school, and then tried to build my business.”
Tipping her chin, he asked, “Honey, how old are you?” He’d never thought to ask before. It never seemed to matter.
“Twenty-five.”
He would have guessed she was in her early thirties, as he was. Not because she looked it, but because she seemed so mature,