Something's wrong. I can feel it in the air as soon as I open the door from the garage and step into the kitchen.

Funny how fast I've gotten used to coming home to Dorthy. She's usually here in the kitchen, working on supper about the time I get back but today the kitchen is dark. The lights are off, the air isn't filled with the smell of cooking to make my stomach growl in anticipation. Dorthy isn't standing in front of the stove stirring a pot of something delicious or standing at the butcher block island chopping up stuff to add to whatever she's making, wearing my apron that's way too big for her and looking like an angel with her hair all tied up on her head.

My first thought is maybe Mel drove up and the two of them are off doing girl things but then I see the luggage across the way, waiting by the front door.

Something cold grips my heart. Dorthy's bags are packed up and sitting there like she's leaving and all I know is I gotta stop her.

"Oh, there you are," she comes around the corner and finds me rooted to the spot where I haven't even gotten the door closed behind me since coming into the house.

She's dressed up, wearing a long skirt and a nice blouse. Nothing fancy, just not the same simple stuff she's been wearing around the house. Her hair's all down, those big loopy curls falling around her shoulders and she's looking at me with those pretty blue eyes like she's surprised to see me standing in my own house.

"You leaving early?" I ask, nodding toward her luggage. I can't say much else because of the knot that's tightening my throat, threatening to cut off my air.

Dorthy turns her head toward the suitcases and then looks back at me. There's a look on her face I can't place as her shoulders lift in a little shrug.

"I don't really see any point in staying." Her voice is smaller than I think I've ever heard it, making her sound afraid. It makes my gut tighten and all I want to do is go to her and pull her into my arms so she'll be safe.

I don't like her answer. It's not what I want to hear but I can't say I'm surprised. All week we've been getting to know each other and getting along just fine, but I just don't think I'm what Dorthy's looking for.

Not sure what she is looking for, come to think of it. Her nieces that did all the interviewing and deciding for her-- they told me their aunt was a firecracker. That she'd had problems keeping a man because she scares them off. Maybe they took a look at me and figured I wouldn't scare easily.

Well hell, it ain't that Dorthy's something to be scared of. It's just that she doesn't give me a chance to be a man. She's so damn capable of doing everything on her own, she doesn't give me a chance to take care of her. Work's been hectic too, I haven't had a chance to spend as much time with her as I'd hoped to while she's here for her first time.

She's waiting for me to answer her and I'm not sure what she wants me to say. Not sure what I want to say is going to change her mind, but I know this is the only chance I'm going to get to tell her how much I wish things had gone different.

"So you already call someone?" I ask, leaving my boots by the door and heading toward the living room as casually as I can, trying not to let on that everything inside me is coming apart, "Or do you want me to fly you out in the morning?"

She follows me back out to the living room, watching me quietly while I fidget and try not to look like I'm pacing, even though that's about what it amounts to.

"You've been really busy, I can find another way to Anchorage."

She's looking at me like she expects me to be relieved. I can't give her that. I'm not relieved, I'm pissed and I'm trying my best not show it.

"Nah, we've been covering for a pilot at another outfit but he's back at work now so Rogue gave me the next few days off so..." so I could show my woman why she should stay, I decide not to add. "Look, Dot, if you don't want to stay with me any longer, I'll make sure you get home safe. We can leave first thing in the morning if that's what you want to do."

A weird look crosses her face, quickly replaced by a shadow that draws her brows down over her eyes as her fists land on her hips, "It's not that I don't want to stay, Barrett," she tells me in a low, cool voice, "I just don't see any point in it."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I feel bad about blowing my cool but I can't take it anymore. I'm out of patience, I'm out of time, and I'm out of my mind with wanting her.

"Isn't it obvious, Barrett?" I swear she's tapping her toe on the hardwood floor, "I don't know what you were expecting when Raven contacted you to let you know a match had been made, but it sure as hell wasn't me, was it?"

Her tone is all acid, it burns all right. But not as hot as my blood burns in my veins, not from anger but from pure need for this little spit of a woman who is standing in my living room giving me hell at the moment like she thinks she could take me in a fair fight.

Something inside me knows she could. Hopes she would. Hell I'd sure like to find out.

"No! No, Dorthy, you're right." I hate the way my voice is loud enough to fill up the mostly empty room. Most people cringe when I raise my voice for any reason so I've learned to keep it low. Right now it's bouncing off the pine paneling on the walls and reverberating off the glass sconces on the lights.

Dorthy doesn't even flinch. She takes a step toward me, one fist still on her hip and the other hand waving in the air, her own voice growing loud and shrill.

My cock throbs.

I never met a woman who got under my skin like her, and I never seen a woman who didn't cringe when she heard me yellin', especially when she's the one I was yelling at. But there's Dorthy, not only is she not cringing, she's coming closer to me like she's about to give me a piece of her mind and I don't doubt that's what she has planned.

What I want is a piece of her body though.

"You're damn right," I try to keep my voice level, but it's not working, "You're not what I expected. I never expected a girl as goddamn pretty as you are for starters. I didn't expect a woman who was gonna waltz into my damn life and make herself at home right away. A woman who could out cook, out split, and out shoot me. I thought I'd have to do a lot of hand holding and reassuring and coax my woman into gettin' comfortable with the way things are around here."

At least she doesn't look like she's planning on kneeing me in the balls anymore. This would be about the worst damn time for her to knee me in the fucking balls.

"I did, however, expect my people to find me a woman who wanted to fuck me."

Shit. I freeze where I'm standing and try to look like I just said that out loud on purpose. I ain't above talking dirty to a woman when the time is right for it, but right now isn't that time.

Dorthy's eyes widen, then narrow, "Are you saying you don't think I want to fuck you?"

I might be awkward about making first moves, but you don't need to hit me upside my head with a brick. I can see the way the color rises up in her face and the way her breasts rise and fall with her breathing, and I hear the way her voice goes all raspy as the coarse word leaves her pretty pink lips.

I realize this isn't the first time I've heard her voice take on that strangled tone or seen her blushing hard when she's lookin' at me. Shit. It's just the first time it's occurred to me that it might be more than nerves about getting to know a stranger.

"You're the one who hasn't touched me since we met, Barrett," she scolds, "You're the one who put me in the guest room."

She's a step closer to me now and it takes me a minute before I realize she's not the one that moved.

"Yeah well, you're the one that doesn't need me for anything," I point out, "You don't need my help, you don't need my advice. Everything I can do for you you can do better for yourself, Dorthy, what was supposed to give me the idea I was living up to your expectations?"

"Barrett, you're an idiot." She tells me firmly, "What do you think I expected from you?"

"I don't know. I thought all woman were looking for some alpha male character that could sweep them off their feet and take care of them. Treat 'em like a damn princess and make your life easy? That's what I was expecting! I got money in the bank and a good job and a nice house and you come up here and you don't need any of it."

She's another step closer to me, staring up at me with those blue eyes gone all dark and stormy. Her lips are parted and looking a shade deeper and she's breathing heavy through her mouth and I realize she's still not the one that took a step.

"I'm not looking for a husband to rescue me from anything, Barrett," her voice is barely more than a hoarse whisper, "I want a partner, not a prince."

"But Dorthy, you don't need a partner. You got everything handled all by yourself."

"Everything but the part where there's someone else to share it all with. My time, Barrett, my thoughts, my soul, my body--"

I don't know how she got so close to me that her lips are on mine, but I'm not about to take a step backwards now.