by Lori Wilde
Her heart catapulted into her throat.
No! No! He couldn’t be stealing that red Corvette. Not right before her very eyes.
But it seemed that he was.
In less than a minute, he had the door open, then he quickly glanced around again before climbing inside. He bent his head low over the dash so that she could barely see the top of his head.
She watched cop shows. She knew he was hot-wiring that car.
“For shame, Jonah Stevenson,” she lectured. “Haven’t you learned anything from your stint in community service?”
Apparently not.
The Corvette roared to life, a puff of exhaust shooting from the tailpipe. He slipped the car into gear and pulled out of the parking lot.
Oh! He was getting away.
Edie tossed the binoculars onto the seat beside her, started her own engine, and took off after him.
She gunned the Toyota, whizzed past a minivan filled with startled nuns, then changed lanes and slid in behind Jonah, careful to keep two cars sandwiched between them.
They sped along at seventy in a fifty-five-mile-per-hour zone.
Going so fast set Edie’s teeth on edge. She obeyed the laws of the land. She didn’t speed; she didn’t litter, and she certainly didn’t steal cars.
She did like helping her fellow man, and if saving Jonah from himself meant a measly traffic violation, then she would accept responsibility for her actions.
Just when she was thrilling to life in the fast lane, Jonah took the Jameson Heights exit ramp and pulled into the driveway of a white-frame house, circa 1950s, with green shutters. No lights shone through the blinds.
Edie pulled over to the curb where she was, three houses down from him, and parked.
What was he doing here? Whose house was this? She feared the answers. Mostly, she feared what dark things she might discover about this mysterious man.
He got out of his car, walked up the steps, reached in his pocket for a key, opened the door, and went inside.
Did he live here?
Hmm.
Had he stolen this car only to bring it home?
Edie frowned and felt let down. What had she expected? That he would take it to a chop shop? Drive to the Mexican border? Meet Carl Dawson somewhere in a clandestine exchange of car for cash?
Yes. Yes. And yes.
Maybe he was stopping off to pick up something and would be on his way in a few minutes.
A light came on in the house.
Edie put the binoculars to her eyes. She couldn’t see much from this distance. Through the half-opened curtains, she spotted a couch and caught a glimpse of a flat-screen TV mounted on the wall.
A shadow passed in front of the window.
Jonah.
And he’d taken his shirt off.
His bare chest glistened in the muted lighting. It looked as if he was heading for the shower.
Edie inhaled sharply and almost choked on her breath. She coughed and gasped. Even from this distance, the man had the power to disrupt her oxygen supply.
Resolutely, she turned her mind and her eyes away from the sight of his naked torso. As Edie sat pondering what to do next, she glanced in her rearview mirror. A patrol car rolled slowly down the road toward her.
Her heart scaled her throat.
Don’t panic. Don’t assume anything, Edie told herself, but her palms were suddenly sweating enough to fill a ten-gallon bucket.
And in her heart, she knew. Someone had reported the red Corvette stolen. Someone had seen Jonah stealing it from Carmichael’s parking lot.
The police were onto him!
The car inched closer, cruising past Edie. The driver was a Dwayne Johnson look-alike, his gaze trained on Jonah’s house.
On the red Corvette.
Edie’s pulse leaped. She had to warn Jonah.
She stumbled from the Toyota, then raced down the property line of the house beside her and into the backyard. She couldn’t let the patrolman see her.
Darn! There was a six-foot privacy fence between this house and the one next door.
Edie drew a deep breath and got a running start at the fence. Someone inside the house pushed open the sliding glass door and yelled at her, but she was already over the fence and into the yard next door.
She was still two houses away from Jonah, separated this time by a chain-link fence and a really big German shepherd lying on the back porch.
The animal lifted his head and uttered a low, menacing growl.
She yelped and sprinted away.
The dog charged.
The chain-link fence clanked nosily as her feet found toe holes.
The dog lurched.
Edie squealed and felt teeth sink into her rear end.
She heard a loud ripping noise just as she pulled free and tumbled over the fence.
Chapter Seven
She fell and scraped her palms, but she didn’t take time to assess her wounds. Thankfully, this last house had no fence. She could see Jonah’s backyard from here.
Her breath came in short, quick gasps. She turned her head toward the street and saw that the patrol car had pulled to a stop beside Jonah’s house.
Hurry. Hurry.
On winged feet, she flew up the stone steps and pounded on Jonah’s back door with both fists.
“Jonah, Jonah,” she shouted. “Get out here, now.”
He didn’t answer.
Oh, no! Had the cop already taken him away?
She pounded again. Harder this time. “Jonah!”
The back door jerked open.
Edie tumbled inward to see Jonah standing dripping wet and totally naked save for the narrow strip of towel wrapped around his waist.
His eyes widened. A smile curled at the corner of his lips. “Edie? What are you doing here?”
The front doorbell rang.
It had to be The Rock lookalike.
And Jonah was nearly naked in thirty-degree weather. Oh, no!
She grabbed his hand and tugged him out the back door. Never mind his undressed state. She would get him to the car and crank up the heater to warm him. She’d take him to her house. They could talk and decide how to extricate him from this mess.
“You’ve got to get out of here. Now.”
“Wait. Slow down. What’s going on? I just got out of the shower.” He looked perplexed.
Despite her urgency, Edie couldn’t help noticing how the terry cloth towel clung damply to his tanned, muscular body, nor could she keep her eyes from tracing the whorl patterns of dark chest hairs. Heck, even his long bare toes were cute.
Stop this, Edie. You can’t let physical attraction derail you. Forget Jonah’s good looks. Remember that he’s your dissertation project. Professionals don’t get personally involved with their subjects.
“What’s going on?” he repeated, dragging her back to the present moment.
“A policeman is at your front door. You’re about to be arrested.” She kept yanking on his arm. “Come with me. My car’s parked out front. We’ll have to go the back way, and I can tell you from experience that German shepherd in house number two is a real meanie. If we hurry, I can get you out of this. At least for the time being.”
He stared at her as if she’d stepped off a spaceship.
Maybe she’d been talking too fast, and he hadn’t understood.
The doorbell pealed again.
“Excuse me, Edie.” He turned and started back into the house.
“No!” She clung to him like super glue. “Not unless you want to go to jail.”
“Go to jail?” His eyes were laughing, but he kept his mouth perfectly straight. He thought she was joking. “For what?”
“For stealing that red Corvette parked in your front driveway.”
Jonah’s mouth twitched, then he tossed his head back, and the sound of laughter rolled from him like gathering thunder.
Edie frowned. “What’s so funny?”
“That’s my car.”
“Don’t
you lie to me, Jonah Stevenson. I saw you break into it. I saw you hot-wire the thing in the parking lot.”
He wiped tears from his eyes with the back of a hand and chuckled that much harder.
Edie sank her hands on her hips. She didn’t understand this man. Not one bit. “You won’t be laughing when that Dwayne Johnson look-alike cop on your front step has you in handcuffs. This is serious.”
“That’s my neighbor Charlie. Come on in. Close the door. Have a seat. I’ll be right back.” Jonah twisted the towel tighter around his waist, then padded down the hall to the front door.
Confused, Edie stepped inside and pulled the door shut behind her. It wasn’t a figment of her imagination. She had seen Jonah break into that car.
She heard muted male voices in the hallway.
Edie tiptoed forward and tilted her head, hoping to overhear them.
The front door clicked closed.
Footsteps sounded.
Edie darted back to the kitchen table and plunked into a chair. “Yeow!”
She shot to her feet, her hand at her backside. Her pants were ripped, her skin nipped. That German shepherd had nicked her, and she’d been so intent on warning Jonah, she hadn’t even noticed.
“What’s wrong?” Jonah’s tall frame filled the doorway. “Are you all right?”
She swallowed. Hard. Her gaze traveled from his broad shoulders, down his impeccable chest to where the dark hairs on his belly disappeared into a V where he kept his towel closed with a mere thumb and forefinger.
Sucking in a deep breath, Edie realized only that thin scrap of terry cloth stood between her and glory. If Jonah’s fingers were to slip...
“What did Charlie want?” she asked, moistening her lips with the tip of her tongue.
A smile tugged his mouth upward. “To invite me to his Christmas party.”
“Oh.”
“I heard you cry out in pain just now,” Jonah said. “Is something wrong?”
Edie fingered her torn pants. “I had a run-in with your neighbor’s German shepherd.”
One eyebrow shot up on his forehead. “Snookums?”
“Two houses over.” She poked a thumb in the direction she’d come from. “I think he won the argument.”
“Let me see.”
Edie’s gaze flicked to his towel once more. “Maybe you better put on some clothes first.”
“Yeah,” he said, and darn if his voice didn’t sound husky. “I’ll be right back.”
“Take your time.”
He wasn’t gone for long, but it didn’t take many minutes for Edie to feel foolish. In her mind’s eye she retraced her steps, relived her mistakes.
She dropped her face into her hands. He probably thought she was nuttier than a pecan tree at harvest time.
Then she realized she was missing a prime opportunity to get to know him better and glanced around.
His kitchen was tidy. There were no dirty dishes in the sink nor toast crumbs on the counter like at her place. The color scheme was masculine: black and white and chrome. There was a black-and-white checkerboard pattern on the tile floor, a black countertop, white cabinets, and chrome appliances.
Getting up, she opened the refrigerator door as quietly as she could and took stock. One can of beer, ketchup, and a carton of Chinese takeout. That was it.
Nosily, she opened the carton of Chinese food. Lo mein. Her favorite.
“Hungry?” Jonah asked. “I can call for a pizza if you want.”
“No.” She shook her head and put the lo mein back on the shelf. “I’ve got to go.” Before she did something totally idiotic like jeopardize her dissertation.
He wore blue jeans and a Dallas Cowboys sweatshirt. In his hand he held a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, antibiotic ointment, and a box of adhesive bandages. “Let’s take a look at that wound.”
“This is humiliating.” Edie turned and favored him with a view of her backside.
Jonah stepped closer and squatted level with her fanny. “The pants are goners, I’m afraid.”
She felt his fingers touching her skin through the tear. Closing her eyes, she fought back her natural feminine responses to being touched by a man she found very handsome by reminding herself repeatedly that she was a psychologist. Jonah needed her help. She would not compromise either her case study or his future mental health for the sake of a little physical attraction.
“The bite’s not bad. Hardly any blood at all. Snookums barely broke the skin, but I imagine you’re going to have a bruise in the morning. Good thing I know the dog’s had his shots.”
“Good thing,” Edie echoed.
“Could you bend over the table so I can doctor this?”
“Uh, sure.”
“This might sting.”
The hydrogen peroxide was cool, countering the sudden heat in the room. Next came the ointment, then the bandage. It seemed an eternity before he said, “There. All done.”
She straightened and spun away from him as quickly as she could. “Thank you.”
“No. Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Risking life and limb to warn me.”
“You’re not angry that I thought you were stealing another car?” She peeked at him.
His eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled. “A natural mistake. What impresses me is that you cared enough to follow me home and then risk your skinny jeans for my sake.”
She shrugged, feeling guilty. She couldn’t tell him ulterior motives had possessed her to shadow him.
“I’d hate to see you get into any more trouble,” she said. That was certainly true. No lie there.
He took a step toward her. “I’m not a project, Edie.”
Project? Had he guessed that she was using him as a case study? But how could he know that?
She laughed nervously. “I never said you were.”
“I can see it in your eyes. You’re like my Aunt Polly, just like my old girlfriend. You take one look at me and see a ‘fixer-upper.’ Well, I’m not some run-down house, lady. I’m a man.” He took another step. The floor creaked beneath his weight. “With both strengths and flaws.”
“I never...”
“Shh.” He raised a finger and pressed it against her lips. “I’ve seen a lot of life. A lot of ugly things I pray you’ll never see.”
Edie gulped.
“Your bright, optimistic outlook on the world is one of the things I like about you. But, Edie, you’ve been too sheltered. Yes, maybe you spent your life helping out at homeless shelters and counseling addicts, but it’s always been secondhand. You could perch a safe distance away and give out advice without having to get your hands dirty.”
“I resent that.” Her temper flared. Who was he to judge her?
“Come on, admit it. You’ve never done anything bad, have you? You don’t break the rules. You never came in late after your parents’ curfew. You’ve probably never even gotten a parking ticket.”
“Well, Mr. Smarty Pants, you’d be wrong. I did something bad once.”
“Oh?” He smirked, irritating her even more. Just because she didn’t lie and cheat and steal didn’t mean she hadn’t lived. “What terrible crime did you commit?”
“I forgot to return a library book. They sent me a notice that said if I didn’t pay for it, they were going to issue a warrant for my arrest.”
Jonah threw his head back and laughed at her for the third time that evening. Long. And hard.
Edie bristled. “It wasn’t funny!”
“I’m sure it wasn’t to you. And I’m also sure you burned rubber getting to the library as fast as you could to pay that fine.”
“You’re not being fair.”
“No, Edie, you’re the one who’s not being fair. Until you’ve walked a mile in my shoes, don’t assume anything about me, and don’t try to save me, okay?”
She stared at him. He was right. The outside world hadn’t really touched her. Because of her parents and their occupation, because of her own chosen fi
eld, she’d always been the one to give advice, to lend a helping hand.
But in all honesty, did she really know what she was talking about? Who was she to give him advice? She’d never been poor, never gone without food, never lived without a roof over her head. Never been abused or mistreated.
“Before you’re ever going to relate to your patients, before you can ever really understand people, you’re going to have to take a walk on the wild side, Edie Preston.”
“A walk on the wild side?”
“Face your temptations. Acknowledge your demons.”
This didn’t seem the time to point out she had no demons. No temptations.
Except the one standing in front of her.
She studied him. This sexy, dangerous man with a steel jaw and the ability to excite her like no other.
Chapter Eight
Jonah took a step toward her.
Edie backed up until she bumped flush against the kitchen wall, her eyes widening.
He had one goal on his mind.
Kiss those lips. Kiss her silly. Scare her off. Make her go away. Before she interfered in his investigation. Before she interfered in his life.
Already, she’d come too close. Following him, warning him about the cops, trying to psychoanalyze him.
The woman was nothing but trouble. She looked at him with bright, admiring eyes. She saw him as a knight in slightly dented armor. Armor that she aimed to polish to a high shine.
He’d seen the look. Once a crusader, always a crusader. He couldn’t change her any more than she could change him. Not that he even wanted to change her. Her earnestness, sincerity, and concern for others captivated him, but being attracted to a woman like Edie and living with one were two very different things indeed.
One way or the other he had to get rid of her, and kissing her seemed the most pleasant method to send her scampering away.
“I could teach you to walk on the wild side,” he murmured, coming closer and resting his forearm on the wall above her head.
If his most forward moves didn’t make her run for the hills, nothing would.
Edie blinked.
He lowered his head along with his voice and never took his eyes from hers. “I’d enjoy teaching you.”
