Jessie stepped into Nate’s garage and quietly closed the door behind her. She let out a heavy breath, hopeful that she’d managed to sneak out without waking him because he was a surprisingly light sleeper.

He continued to surprise her. He was so much more than a hot piece of ass with a sense of humor, a creative mind, and a portfolio. Their conversations were stimulating. Not frivolous bullshit, but core stuff.

She’d shared her dreams of starting a scholarship for girls as well as her crusade to work with battered women. He’d not only listened, but had asked questions no one else ever had. He’d also given her some insightful business advice. The man was whip smart, well-read, and well-traveled. She could talk to him about anything and everything.

Everything, but his past.

That seemed to be the only wall remaining between them. It made her think he’d been hurt—no, devastated—by something. Or someone.

She should be boneless after the last three nights with him. The man was insatiable. Yet instead of slogging through the last several days in a sleep-deprived fog, she hummed with an energy and a liquid sensuality that she’d never come close to experiencing.

The man sure as hell knew his way around a woman’s parts.

Hopefully he wouldn’t tire of her before the end of the week because that would not only be awkward, but it would also sting. Rejection never felt good. Didn’t matter if you were five years old on the playground or eighty-five with more battle scars than a gladiator.

Of course, now she could hide the hurt way better than when she was that sad girl on the see-saw.

Still. She needed some fresh air. She and Nate hadn’t been apart for more than a few hours—while he was doing paperwork in his office, or she was at class or checking on Scourge. Strangest of all, it had felt normal. Even while they were at work. He never embarrassed her in front of the staff or bent her over a table like she’d originally expected him to. When no one else was watching, the molten glances he leveled her way almost had her wishing he would. The man knew how to build anticipation.

And how to deliver.

Yeah, she could love him pretty effortlessly. And she still had four days with him to fulfill her contract.

How was she going to save face when he handed her a check and they went back to their boss-employee relationship? How could it not be awkward?

She shivered in the garage that shouldn’t really be called a garage. Her soft-soled boots whispered on the smooth, gray tiles. The walls were painted crimson and dark gray with floor-to-ceiling windows that faced the northern, heavily forested side of the garage. She was glad for all the windows because she had trouble locating the switch for the dozens of recessed lights. He’d given her a garage door opener the second day she was here, though she felt stupid parking her cheap POS in a room that probably cost more than her entire apartment building.

And there sat his beat up, black Chevy truck next to a cobalt blue, luxury sports car. The polarity in vehicles exemplified the twisting contrasts in the man himself. Two nights ago, he’d driven her to a five-star restaurant in the sports car. When they’d returned home, he’d promptly ushered her to the Chevy, and they’d topped off a three-hundred-dollar meal sitting on his tailgate eating Tastee Town ice cream.

One minute he was Mr. Heavy-Handed, Chest-Beating-Alpha, the next he was placating and boyishly sweet. He constantly took her off guard. And kept her interest. There were whole worlds in his head. More than once she’d caught him staring out the windows toward the woods, his expression painting a thousand different stories—all at once haunted, the next moment angry, and then morphing into that focused intensity that had made her breath catch over and over the last few days.

She shivered again as she slipped into her car and pushed the button on the garage door opener. Please stay asleep.

She was putting the car in reverse when the house door opened abruptly. Her heart spasmed to see Nate standing there illuminated by her headlights. Her body responded to his naked chest, the beautiful definition of his abs, those thick veins running down his strong forearms. His black-as-night hair was mussed like he’d woken and bolted from bed.

Our bed, he’d called it after she decided to spend the whole night sleeping beside him after ice cream on the tailgate.

Jessie’s hands tightened on the steering wheel, but neither he nor she moved. His feet were bare, his loose cotton pants sitting so low on his hips she could see his pelvic obliques. She’d showered those sexy indentations with attention mere hours ago. Yet it was his face that arrested her. His lower lip, fuller than ever above the slight cleft in his chin. Black brows slashed over dark, eloquent eyes that might make her sell her soul for one more night in his arms.

Right now he looked lost.

She couldn’t have stopped herself from putting the car in park, getting out, and walking the ten feet that separated them if the whole house was in flames and falling down around them. His hungry gaze followed her every step of the way.

When she reached out to touch his shoulder, he captured her hand and brought it to his lips, his eyes closing like her touch was the antidote to whatever pained him.

“What is it?” she asked.

His eyes slowly opened. “You were going to leave.”

The little boy inside the man.

Long ago, someone had abandoned him—physically or emotionally or both—leaving a wound that hadn’t healed. Her hypothesis was being reinforced the longer she spent with him. A rush of warmth spread through her, making her want to gather him in her arms and never let go.

And that was exactly why she needed to get some space.

“I didn’t want to wake you. You need sleep. If you hadn’t noticed, we were up rather late again last night.” She smiled and gave him a quick kiss hoping to ease his frown. “I left a note on the counter by the coffee pot.”

“Where are you going, and how long are you planning to be out?”

She stepped back. “You’re not my keeper, and I’m not a child, Nate.”

“Have I ever treated you like one?”

She sighed. “Other than now, no. But the night Em and Dante came over, I could swear you were trying to make me stay downstairs.”

“It didn’t work, did it?” He shook his head with what looked like disgust.

“Of course not. I have my own mind, you know.”

“Oh, I know.” He shifted closer to her. Close enough to wrap his arms around her if he wanted to.

“Do you mind?” She had to know if he respected her independence.

“Mind what?” One of his hands slid into her hair, his fingers cupping the back of her head to draw her in.

Her gaze fastened to his lips. “Mind that I mind. Er, that I have a mind.” Shit, did she? Not when he was doing this seduction thing. Oh, Lord, he was kissing the corners of her lips.

She loved that.

Stupid, stupid girl. She put her hands on his chest and locked her elbows, trying not to whimper at how good her palms felt against his warm flesh. “I have my own mind.”

“Didn’t we just go over that?”

She had no idea. Reset, Jessie. “I’m headed to the gym. After that I’m stopping at Mason’s to see Scourge, and then to my grandparents’ to take them out for breakfast.”

He held her gaze for a moment. “There’s a gym downstairs.”

“I know, but this will give me a chance to catch up with a few friends, too.” She had an insane urge to invite him to breakfast with her family, but that would be a mistake. The less she mixed Nate with her ‘real’ life, the easier it would be after their contract was over. Besides, she had a strong feeling that her grandparents would love him.

And then they’d ask about him for the next eight hundred years.

A small smile crept onto his face. He shoved his hands in the pockets of his lounge pants. She exhaled and returned his smile, glad that he seemed to realize she wasn’t abandoning him.

“I was thinking about The Scourge yesterday. Why don’t you bring him back home with you?” he said.

“What? No.”

“Why not?”

She wrung her hands. “What if he chews your furniture? Or pukes on your expensive rugs? Or drinks from the toilet? Oh man, no way.”

He laughed. “If that little scrapper can drink from the toilet without falling in, I’ll grill him a steak every night for a month.” He drew the back of a finger down the side of her face. “If it would make you happy, bring The Scourge home when you return.”

The Scourge. Her baby. Her throat felt unaccountably achy. She blinked at her shoes until the feeling passed. Guess it was her week for a fairy tale. “Alright. Thank you.”

He brushed his lips across hers so fleetingly she brought her fingers up to touch them. He watched her fingers, his nostrils flaring slightly. His pupils expanded as his gaze dropped to her breasts, which were bundled under multiple layers at the moment, thank God.

If you touch him when he has that look in his eyes, you know you won’t make it to Gramma’s until suppertime.

She blew out a breath, hoping her raging hormones would diffuse. “I guess I—uh, we’ll see you later then?” She turned away and put one foot in front of the other toward her car.

“Do you have any requests for lunch?” he called out.

“I have so enjoyed your cooking, but you’re not my personal chef, you know.”

His lips curved again, and really, she would love for those lips to be all the sustenance she’d ever need.

“I love feeding you, Jess.”

Okay then. Should she fall into a puddle at his feet now or later? “Whatever you make, I’ll love it.” She opened her car door, climbed in and rolled down the window thinking a good swift run on the treadmill for an hour or four might take the edge off her libido.

He grabbed something she couldn’t see from a garage cabinet before approaching the car. Then he leaned on the car’s window jamb and captured her lips for a breath-stealing, open-mouthed kiss. Then he leaned in further to buckle her seat belt, whispering soft words in Latin as one of his arms reached behind her headrest. A fine grayish powder drifted onto her arms and legs, but as soon as she tried to brush it off, it wasn’t there anymore. “What was that?”

He glanced into the woods beyond the driveway, his eyebrows drawing down fiercely for a moment before he brought his gaze back to her. “You have your phone?”

“It looked like dust, but then it was gone. Did you see that?”

“No, I didn’t. Your phone?”

She put her foot on the break and her hand on the shifter. “Gotta go.”

“Jessie.”

She rolled her eyes. “Jeez. It’s in my bag, ogre.”

“Keep it with you at all times and call me if you need me. For anything.”

“Okay, sugar daddy.”

“I’m serious, Jessie. I’ve got your back. You know that, right?”

Did she? Like, did he mean for this week?

Well, duh, of course just this week. What the hell, Jess? “I’ll be fine. I should be back around eleven, maybe eleven thirty. You’re sure about Scourge?”

“I always mean what I say.”

Right. That was refreshing. And sometimes, unnerving.

She asked anyway. “What did you say as you buckled me in? That sexy Latin speak.”

He kissed her hard once more, then he straightened from her car and walked away. Before he entered the house his eyes met hers, and he answered. “I prayed that you’ll always come back to me.”

Then he closed the door without another word.