Solitary Man(6)
Author: Carly Phillips

She glanced down at her too-thin body. Overwork and exhaustion had taken their toll. She shouldn’t care that he looked and found her lacking, but vanity won out. She more than cared… and didn’t appreciate the silent admission. “Thanks for the compliment,” she said wryly. “And here I thought I’ve never looked better.”

His eyes fell to her chest, then traced a heated path over the rest of her body and up again. Her br**sts tightened and swelled beneath his visual caress. “Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked, uncomfortable under his scrutiny.

“Ice cream and french fries isn’t exactly a typical combination.”

She shrugged. “Works for me. Can we go?”

“In a minute.”

“I don’t have a minute. It’s almost four in the morning and I have to work tomorrow night. That means I need a decent meal and sleep… not necessarily in that order.”

He braced his hands on his thighs and rose from his seat, crossing until he stood before her. His strong hand reached out and touched her cheek. The pad of his thumb stroked beneath her eye. “Looks to me like you haven’t been getting much of either. Sleep or food. But I’ll go along for now. French fries it is.”

She followed him toward the garage, her gaze taking in his broad shoulders, the narrowed waist and the way his denim jeans hugged his behind. Memories and need assailed her.

She didn’t want this pull toward him complicating the life she was just beginning to build. “And then we’ll go home?” she asked.

His gaze settled on hers, intense and serious. “Yes, Nikki. And then we’ll go home.”

* * *

Kevin watched as Nikki inhaled french fries and a burger, as if she hadn’t eaten in ages. He would have found the sight amusing, if he wasn’t so concerned.

“French fry?” she asked, holding the bag out toward him.

“No thanks.”

She shrugged. “That’s okay. More for me.”

He didn’t know whether to tell her not to overdo it or to let her make up for lost time. Before he could decide, she distracted him with a question.

“Tell me where you’ve been all this time,” she said in between bites.

“The Florida Keys.”

Her eyes grew wide, but the pain there was obvious. “I’m glad you were soaking up the sunshine.”

He had no difficulty reading her mind or the betrayal she obviously felt. “While you and Janine were grieving, you mean.”

She glanced down. “Whatever.”

Reaching out, he lifted her chin with his hand. “It’s not whatever, it’s important. The truth always is and I wasn’t out enjoying the sunshine, I was making myself scarce so you two could heal.” He drew a deep, painful breath. “And I was grieving myself.”

He wondered if she’d go that one step further and ask why he’d walked out on her, but she jerked her head out of his grasp. “Makes for a good story,” she muttered.

Realizing he’d been given a reprieve, he glanced down. A few more fries remained. “Eat up.”

“I’m not hungry anymore. I’d like to go home.”

“I’m always happy to oblige.”

The sun was just peeking over the horizon as Nikki entered Janine’s apartment building with Kevin following close behind. She walked down the long hallway leading to the apartment. The lingering odors of food and the musty scent that always permeated the air seemed stronger now. Her full stomach didn’t appreciate the mixture of smells and she swallowed a groan.

“Do you have your key?” Kevin asked.

“Of course.” She wanted to get away from him as soon as possible.

He’d sat across from her in the tight booth, and with little room beneath the table, his legs entwined with hers. Her body still vibrated from his heat and the strength of his muscles pressing against her. She fished through her pocket and withdrew the key her brother had given her long ago, then turned to place it in the lock. As soon as she got to the other side of that door, she’d be free of this insane pull that Kevin still had over her. Free of him. Unfortunately, Kevin had other ideas.

He plucked the key from her hand, taking control. She withheld a protest, knowing it would do no good, and waited for him to let her inside. Instead he turned toward her. Leaning back against the old chipped paint, his massive shoulders surrounded by the door frame, he loomed large before her.

Wall sconces provided the only source of light in the otherwise darkened hall. Not all of them worked, but the nearest one provided a backdrop for Kevin. The light shone on his raven-colored hair and illuminated his recently acquired tan, his skin, sun-kissed in the Florida Keys. Despite what she’d intimated, she believed that he was grieving too. She just had a hard time accepting his sudden return and intrusion into her life. It brought back even more painful memories. But intensity radiated from deep inside him, drawing her closer.

“Nikki.” His low voice should have sounded like a growl, yet somehow she heard it as a deep caress, an effort to soothe her pain.

Pain he’d helped cause, she reminded herself. “I should go inside.”

He nodded but didn’t move, blocking entry to her home. “In a minute. I have one more question.”

She curled her hands into tight fists and met his unwavering gaze. “Yes?”

“You had your one question; now I want mine. When you think about that night, what is it you remember most?”

He couldn’t have stunned her more if he’d announced her brother was still alive. They’d danced around this subject but neither one of them dared broach it directly. Not since her stupid comment earlier, the one he’d all but ignored.

The reminder now added an edge to the sexual tension she’d been trying to fight the entire evening. Alone in the dimly lit hall, the only noise the sound of their voices, all rational thought receded from her brain.

Her gaze never left his as she stepped forward. “You really want to know?”

“I wouldn’t have asked otherwise.”

She nodded and took two steps closer until she’d all but invaded his space. Having outmaneuvered herself, her body reacted in kind. A tight knot had settled in her stomach hours earlier and now unwound, sending sparks of desire throughout her body. She tingled from the inside out. From the pit of her stomach to her fingertips, energy and need surged through her… As if every fiber of her being recalled exactly what this man was capable of making her feel.