LITMIR.BIZ

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and she badly wanted to lean against the edge of the bed for support?

      “I noticed,” he admitted, his eyes darkening.

      She licked her lips, reminded herself to breathe. “How did you get in here?” It made no sense. Hadn’t he been outside at the party when she’d entered the screen porch? And while she’d left the door unlocked on the way out earlier, she’d flipped the lock when coming back in.

      He lifted his hand, showing her a small key.

      She gaped. “Where did you get that?”

      “From Anna. I locked myself out of my apartment.”

      All the breath left her lungs as she suddenly realized who he was. Not some random, lost party guest. Not a drunk who might forget this night ever happened. Not a handsome stranger she would never have to see again. No. She’d just come face-to-coochie with her new next-door neighbor.

      “You’re 1B,” she whispered.

      “Excuse me?”

      “The new tenant across the hall in 1B.”

      He slowly nodded. “Yeah. I moved in today. And, uh, am I to understand that you’re 1A?”

      “Yes.”

      He hesitated a long moment.

      “Well, uh … nice to meet you?”

      The guy had just been kneeling face-level with her—fortunately neatly trimmed—va-jay-jay and all he could manage was nice to meet you? Where the hell was the sorry I was creeping in your closet and spying on you naked?

      “Seriously? That’s all you’ve got?”

      A slow, lazy grin tugged at his lips and he glanced down at her robe-covered body. “Uh, really nice to meet you?”

      She reached for the vase again.

      He held a hand up, palm out. “Sorry. But, I mean, you gotta admit, that first meeting is going to be hard to top.” He glanced at her thong, still lying on the floor between them. His stare grew a little more heated. “Not to mention bottom.”

      She growled. Literally. “Just how long were you watching?”

      “Long enough to wonder if you’re dating a eunuch.”

      “What?”

      “Hey, only a guy with no balls wouldn’t like the way you looked in that thong.”

      Her face reddened and she was torn between thanking him or kicking him. Not only had he seen her—lots of her—but he’d obviously heard her talking to herself. Hopefully he hadn’t arrived in time to hear her ask the pretend Dimitri in the mirror if he was into anything naughty and kinky.

       Hmm. Wonder if 1B is?

      She swallowed the lump in her throat, wishing her brain would stop tossing out these sexy curveballs. She was on the straight-and-narrow, nice-guy-and-a-future path, please-her-father-and-show-him-she-could-do-his-job path. She didn’t need any distractions, physically or mentally.

      “What were you doing, anyway? Going through your underwear wardrobe, trying to figure out what to wear to entice him?”

      “That’s none of your business.”

      He ignored her. “Because, honey, just saying yes would be enough enticement for any heterosexual guy on the planet.”

      Pleasure curled in her when she noted his sincerity. But she crushed it out, remembering she didn’t like this man who’d spied on her and gotten two eyes full of her private parts. Not to mention she’d sworn off hot men and this one was so on fire he should have a smoke detector strapped around his chest.

      Offering her a sheepish grin, he added, “Look, I’m really sorry I spied on you. I wasn’t there for more than a minute. To be honest, I was caught off guard. I just didn’t know what to do.”

      “Going back out the way you came in would have been good.”

      “I thought this was my apartment. But I was going to leave anyway. Then I, uh, opened my eyes and saw you drop your pants.”

      He’d closed his eyes? Cute.

      Well, cute until she thought about what he’d opened them to see. She glanced down at her thong, lying there between them, a small green circle that looked like a Go sign. Grabbing at the flimsy material with her toes, she yanked back the thong, hiding it beneath the folds of her robe.

      His lips twitched.

      “And instead of leaving, you decided to introduce yourself?” she snapped, more flustered than before.

      “Instinct. I just wanted to stop you.”

      “From doing what? Changing my underwear?”

      “I thought you were in my bedroom, remember?”

      “Okay, still, what was the big emergency? Were you afraid I was going to leap on your bed and roll around naked, and you wanted to make sure I didn’t dirty your sheets?”

      That image hit both of them, her words hanging there in the empty air. She suddenly pictured rolling around in the sheets with this man, getting hot, sweaty, dirty. Doing all kinds of wild things that had never even crossed her mind when she’d begun planning a seduction for tonight. Because, deep down, when she’d voiced that pretty/sexy/kinky question to the invisible Dimitri, she’d already known the answer—pretty. Soft, sweet and romantic, that was Dimitri’s style. He was a missionary guy all the way, she’d bet her last dollar on it.

      One B? Well, he looked like he’d be up for about anything.

      It all came back to that camel-in-the-desert question—was she looking for a canteen or an oasis?

      She breathed deeper, willing her heart to slow down. It wasn’t as if she could lie down and drink from the delicious waters of this particular oasis—she didn’t even know this guy!

      He, meanwhile, lifted a hand and rubbed his lightly grizzled jaw. She heard the faint rasp of it and suddenly had the image of those unshaven cheeks brushing against her skin. His eyes gleamed as he glanced at her bed—prettily rumpled, the comforter turned down, the pink sheets soft and inviting. She trembled, remembering that ten minutes ago she’d been imagining asking Dimitri to share that bed. Right now, though, she was practically thinking, Dimitri? Who’s Dimitri?

      “I wasn’t really thinking,” he finally admitted. “I guess I just didn’t want to be the kind of guy who’d watch something like that and then skulk away like some kind of pervert.”

      “So you lunge out and terrify me instead?”

      “You didn’t look that terrified, and I didn’t lunge.”

      “I was scared to death, and that was some serious lunging.”

      “I had my hands up to try to block the view.”

      “You should have watched where you were going, then maybe you wouldn’t have tripped and landed at my feet.”

      Those lips quirked into a grin. “My intentions were good.”

      “The results weren’t.”

      “Says you.” He shrugged. “Hey, there are only so many things I can apologize for, and landing at the feet of a beautiful, nearly naked woman ain’t one of them.”

      He was staring again. Not at the bed this time, but at her. His dark eyes traveled from her bare throat, down to the V in her robe, then farther. As if he liked what he’d seen, and wanted to see a whole lot more.

      She reached out and grabbed the edge of her dresser, willing her legs to stop shaking.

      “Did I really terrify you?” he asked, his voice lowering to a thick whisper. “I am sorry about that.”

      “My

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