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His comment coaxed another laugh and a one-shouldered shrug, which did incredible things to the low neckline of her blouse, which in turn did incredible things to his breathing. She had a nice laugh—warm, throaty, sexy. Hell, she turned simple breathing into a sexy experience.
“Tiny Mite the Attack Dog was funny.” Her husky voice stroked through him, firing all those impulses inside that hadn’t fired in a long time—perhaps ever. He and Mia had shared a healthy sexual relationship but he’d never experienced this kind of reaction to a woman before. And it wasn’t just because he’d seen her naked. She exuded an innate sensuality that brought to mind sweat-slicked bodies and hot, sticky sex.
Inside her house, the phone rang. She stepped away.
“I’ll try and keep Gigi in my yard.”
“Don’t worry about it.” She winked at him. Deliberately. Provocatively. “And I’ll let you in on a secret. Even bad girls like to laugh.”
He didn’t think he’d forget it anytime soon.
INVITING NIALL Fortson over for dinner was the neighborly thing to do, she reasoned as she rubbed fresh, pungent garlic and black pepper over two thick steaks. It had nothing to do with his sense of humor, his chocolate brown eyes or the heat tremors he’d set off with a single handshake. Well, maybe it had a little to do with that, but mostly it was a matter of being neighborly. She knew all about moving into a neighborhood without a friendly welcome. It was the pits.
The man traveled light, she’d give him that. It was a small moving van and it hadn’t taken him long to unload. He’d carried in a Nautilus machine with apparent ease when she’d returned from the grocery store earlier, which explained his nicely muscled shoulders and arms.
She washed and dried her hands. She was being weird and neurotic to be so nervous about inviting him into her space. For sweet pity’s sake, it was a house, not some inner sanctum. Before she could change her mind again and weenie out, she slipped out the back door. Tammy crossed the yard to his front door and rang the bell.
Sharp, staccato barking erupted on the opposite side of the door. “It’s me. From next door.”
Surprisingly, the barking stopped. Within seconds Niall opened the door, a towel in one hand. “Hi.” A welcoming smile lit his eyes and set off an internal heat wave. “I just got out of the shower,” he added with a charming note of self-consciousness.
That visual image left her nearly breathless. She didn’t have to close her eyes to imagine hot water sluicing over his bare, male, hair-roughened body. Droplets of water clinging to his broad chest, the flat planes of his belly, the jutting line of his…
She’d been good way too long. She’d focused on her business and her house. Now she was in close proximity to a decent man and she felt like a nymphomaniac turned loose on a football team. Overwrought, oversexed and out of control.
She tried to focus. Where were they? Oh, yeah. Him. Just out of the shower.
“I see.” Damp footprints glistened against the dark hardwood floor. Niall’s wet hair stuck up as if he’d just toweled it. He’d traded in jeans and a T-shirt for a pair of sweats and a T-shirt. There was a disquieting intimacy and eroticism in his bare feet, with their masculine sprinkling of hair. There was also something inherently sexy in his tousled hair, the scent of male deodorant and warm, damp skin. “Is this a bad time?” she managed to ask.
“No. Not at all.” Gigi danced around Tammy’s legs. “Back off, Gigi,” he ordered with a shake of his head. He glanced at Tammy, his brown eyes full of laughing apology. “She likes you. Unfortunately, Gigi is obnoxious around anyone who is the object of her affections.”
“She’s fine.” Tammy found the little dog’s outgoing cuteness disconcerting—she didn’t ever want to feel attachment to an animal again—but not obnoxious.
Niall stood aside. “Come in if you’re not afraid of the boxes and the beasts.”
Tammy stepped into his house, past his male, fresh-showered scent. “I came over to offer dinner. Nothing fancy. Just steak, salad and potato.”
“How fast can I say yes?”
For an instant she thought he might scoop her up and kiss her, he looked so excited at the prospect of food. And there were worse things that could happen. He had a nice firm mouth and that intriguing scar on his upper lip.
She’d been pretty sure Niall wouldn’t turn down her invitation to a hot meal. Exactly what kind of invitation would he turn down, if any?
“That was fast enough. Why don’t you come over in about half an hour? We can wash down some chips and salsa with cold beers before dinner.”
“Cold beer?” Niall looked like he’d died and gone to heaven.
“Yep.” And if he looked any sexier, with his tousled hair and hint of a five o’clock shadow darkening his jaw, she couldn’t be held accountable for her actions.
“Hot salsa?” His voice held a ragged edge.
She swallowed hard, her breath as ragged as his tone. The connection between food and sex had never been so achingly apparent. “It’s the only way I like it. The hotter, the better.”
“I’ll be over as soon as I change and clean up a bit. I need to find my razor.” He ran a hand along his jaw and offered a rueful smile.
“You’re fine.” Unshaven and undressed would be even finer.
“It’ll get better once I unpack.”
She’d been so caught up in Niall she hadn’t paid any attention to the house. Now she openly looked around. To the left of the door, the Nautilus machine sat in the middle of the dining room beneath a wrought-iron chandelier. In the den, to her right, a worn bookcase stood sentinel to an equally worn sofa, a scarred coffee table, a floor lamp that reminded her of the one at Pops’s house, and half a dozen moving boxes. He owned some butt-ugly furniture, that was for sure.
“You travel pretty light.”
Niall shrugged and his expression tightened. He jerked a thumb toward the den. “This was stuff from my days in vet school.”
Hmmm. She’d bet a dollar to a donut the ex in Oklahoma was parked on a much better-looking sofa.
“I’d offer you a tour, but I’m sure you’ve seen the house before.”
“Actually, I’ve never been inside. An older couple lived here before. They moved out a few months after I moved in. I’ve lived next door for less than a year.” She didn’t mention it had taken almost the whole seven months she’d lived in the house for the neighbors to accept her. Tammy wasn’t sure whether they’d been disappointed or relieved when time had proven she was just another home owner, not a wild orgy hostess. The fact of the matter was, Tammy was a bit of a loner. Olivia was her only visitor, except for the time her brother Marty had stopped in to borrow twenty bucks to buy a bottle of booze.
“Then how about the grand tour?” Without waiting for an answer, he started. “To your left is the former dining room, now known as the workout room.” She chuckled at his very guylike grin. “To your right is the den. The one-eared tabby on the back of the sofa is Tex. The orange cat peering between the boxes is Lolita.” When she heard her name, the marmalade cat limped from her hiding spot and leaped to the sofa to join Tex—pretty agile for a cat with only three legs.
“Hi, Tex. Hi, Lolita.” Tex returned her greeting with a basilisk stare and Lolita yawned daintily. They were the most pathetic-looking cats she’d ever seen. Niall Fortson seemed to have a soft spot for rejects.
“They stay indoors, so they won’t rush your yard the way Gigi did,” he explained with a smile as he ushered her down the hall to a doorway at the end. His fingers rested lightly against the small of her back and awareness whispered along her nerve endings. “Prepare yourself.” He looked at her with a hint of consternation. “Too bad you don’t have any shades with you.” He threw open the door. “Behold the kitchen.”
Beautiful sunny walls embraced turquoise countertops and appliances. It reminded her of a Mexican plaza on a warm afternoon. “Awesome. I love it.”
“You do?” His expression verged on comical. Obviously that wasn’t his take.
“Of course. How could anyone ever be depressed in such a great room?” She couldn’t frown in this room even if she wanted to. “Doesn’t it make you want to smile when you walk in?”
“Uh…” Apparently not.
Tammy pressed on, caught up in the room’s potential. “Some orange—well, really more like tangerine—curtains with the yellow and turquoise in them would tie everything together. Maybe toss in a splash of lime green. Funky but fun, in a happy kind of way.”
If that didn’t scare the bejezus out of him, nothing would. Men freaked when women made suggestions about their space, place or person. Jerry had nearly lost his mind when she’d vetoed hanging a mounted deer head in their bedroom—like she wanted a dead Bambi eyeballing her when she was trying to sleep or do other things. Niall looked a tad bemused, much like when he’d seen her naked earlier. “Orange?”
“Hmm. Tangerine. Trust me. I’ve been into this decorating thing lately.” She’d had a blast with her own house, discovering a sense of style she never knew she possessed.
“Okay. I can use all the help I can get.” He looked around the room, as if he could actually see it taking on a new appeal. “Funky but fun.”
Tammy leaned against the counter and laughed. “You’ve never done funky before?”
Niall ran a hand over his hair which did nothing to smooth it down. “No. But I wouldn’t mind giving it a try. I wanted a fresh start.” He glanced at the turquoise refrigerator and shook his head. “It’s definitely funky compared to matching cherry cabinetry.”
“It sounds hideously traditional and conservative.” Tammy would take the wild, bold beauty of this room over matching cherry any day.
Niall laughed. “I wouldn’t call it hideous, but it was conservative, except for the price tag. I’ll try to remember tangerine with yellow and turquoise.”
“Just go into Bergman’s and look a little lost. Women will fall all over themselves to help you.”
“I can certainly manage to look lost. That won’t be a problem. I’m not sure about the falling all over themselves business.” On some men, the modesty would’ve been calculated. Niall actually seemed clueless that the single women of Colthersville would be on him like white on rice.
“Trust me on this. I’m sure and I’m a woman.”
“I noticed.” The husky note in his voice and the look in his eyes trailed heat through her.
Awareness arced between them. She eased her tongue along her dry bottom lip and he clenched his jaw. A whine and a scratch at the back door eased the tension of a man and a woman in close quarters and brought them back to two neighbors chatting in the kitchen. Niall opened the door.
“I know where the clinic is, but other than that I’m clueless. What and where is Bergman’s?” he asked as the Big Dog lumbered in and ambled over to sniff Tammy.
Time for her to go. She didn’t trust Big Dog with his crotch-sniffing and enormous jaws. No one could ever accuse Niall of being a shallow pet owner—he hadn’t chosen his animals based on beauty, that was for sure.
She headed back down the hall toward the front door. “It’s the local everything store. Just watch out for Henrietta Williams, the owner. She’s a woman with a mission—finding a husband for her daughter Candy.”
Niall followed, his masculine scent of soap and deodorant teasing her from behind. “And what would be so bad about that?”
He had to ask? “You could wake up and find yourself married before you knew what hit you.”
He reached around her, close enough that she felt his body heat, and opened the door for her. “I’m ready to settle down.”
Tammy stepped out onto the porch, away from temptation. He was sexy, single…and looking to get married?
What a shame.
3
NIALL TOOK the long way to Tammy’s via the sidewalk rather than across the yard. Despite the warmth of the day, the temperature had plummeted when the sun disappeared. Between the crisp air and the colorful Christmas decorations on the houses, it felt and looked like late November.
Multicolored lights blinked on a Christmas tree in Tammy’s front window. A plastic nativity set glowed on her front lawn. He wasn’t sure whether he was the luckiest or the unluckiest sod in the world to be living next door to Tammy Cooper. She was sexy, flirty and simply being around her threw him seriously off balance. Niall didn’t do off-kilter. He expected things to be a certain way and they usually were.
His stomach rumbled as he knocked on the front door. He was starving. A fast-food lunch snagged from a drive-thru along the way had been a long time ago. He’d accept a meal from Genghis Khan.
Tammy opened the door with a smile that did dangerous things to his pulse.
“Hi, come on in.”
She looked and smelled a whole lot better than Genghis. She’d changed into a black shirt and pants that hugged her feminine curves. Bracelets encircled half the length between her wrist and forearm. Her scent, an exotic blend of spices, tantalized him. A harem girl fantasy popped into his tired, overwrought brain and refused to budge. Her wearing only those bracelets and a bunch of veils. Smooth gold skin. Navel ring. Her exotic fragrance.
Niall stepped inside and her arm brushed against his. Heat sizzled though him at the brief contact. What kind of heat would an intentional caress generate? Maybe he was simply tired and hungry but she blew his composure to hell. He turned to face her as she closed the door behind him. “I brought a six-pack of beer. Unfortunately, it’s warm, but I didn’t want to show up empty-handed.”
She took the package. “You didn’t have to do that, but thanks.”
Niall looked around the room, convinced that was a better plan than gawking at her.
If his kitchen was happy, her house was nearly ecstatic. From outside, it looked like the other neighborhood houses, but inside it was bright and bold. Yellow-gold walls and furniture in a mix of reds, purples and bright blues created a room that was comfortable and inviting without being fussy. “This is great.”
For a moment he glimpsed something akin to insecurity in her eyes—as if she’d been nervous about his response to her house. Quick as a flash it was gone and she smiled, obviously pleased by his response. “Yeah. I like it. Sort of vintage meets eclectic. I’m still working on it, but it’s been fun. That’s one of the great things about living alone. You only have to please yourself.” She arched her brow. “I bet Mia never let you keep your workout equipment in the dining room.”
Niall grinned at the thought of his Nautilus machine sandwiched between Ethan Allen dining room pieces. “How’d you know?”
“Woman’s intuition.” Her slow smile spiraled heat through him. “Come on. If you don’t mind hanging out in the kitchen. You can put a dent in the chips and salsa while I make the salad. You must be ravenous.”
“I wouldn’t turn food down. Thanks for inviting me over. Something smells good.” His stomach growled as backup.
“Bread and baked potatoes. The steaks will only take a minute.” He followed her, mesmerized by the sway of her hips and the curve of her back. She pointed to a small hallway to the right. “Bathroom and two bedrooms over there. This is really more of a cottage than a house but it’s mine.” The note of pride in her declaration was unmistakable. “And here’s the kitchen.”
At least a dozen flickering candles, of various shapes and sizes, casts shadows on the walls, creating a cozy intimacy in the galley kitchen despite the regular lighting over the sink. From the wax puddles, Niall surmised Tammy was into a candlelit kitchen, guest or no guest. Vintage Al Green crooned from a cabinet-mounted CD player. Lots of atmosphere. Very sexy. Very relaxing. “Very nice.”
“Thanks. Have a seat and I’ll get you something to drink. How about one of those beers you drooled over earlier?”
“I’m holding you to it.” Niall settled on a stool at a tile-topped island that doubled as a table in the compact kitchen. A large bowl of chips, salsa and guacamole sat in the middle of the island.
“One beer coming up.” She opened the fridge and bent forward, molding her black slacks across her heart-shaped bottom and damn near giving him a heart attack. “Help yourself to the chips and salsa. Be careful with the salsa. It’s hot.”
“That’s what you said earlier. I’m sure I can handle it.” He stared at the smooth expanse of skin bared by her shirt riding up above the waist of her pants, not nearly as confident he could handle himself around her.
She straightened, two beer bottles in hand and a smile lighting face. “Ah, a man after my own heart.”
She pulled a couple of frosty mugs from the freezer and opened the bottles. “How do you like it? Head or no head?”
Holy mother of Christ. His earlier harem girl fantasy supplied a mental image that left him happy to be seated. It promised to be one long night if he continued to read sexual meaning into her every utterance. “Head, please.”
She offered another slow, sexy smile that sizzled through him. “Coming right up.”
Yeah, he was.
“I like head, as well. There you are.” She carefully placed the beer on the tile in front of him.
“Thanks.”
She sat across from him. Her foot skimmed his calf, sending heat spiraling through him. “Sorry,” she murmured as she shifted.
The moment pulsed with a sensuality that left him breathless. Her scent. The candles. The music. Her touch. Her provocative comments.
“Please. Have some.”
He gave way to temptation and sampled what was in front of him. “Good chips and salsa.” Hot enough to keep him awake but not incendiary. He took a long pull of beer, relishing the cold bite of hops and foam against his tongue and throat. “Ahh, just the thing at the end of a move.”
“Why Colthersville?” she asked. Niall noticed her upper lip was slightly larger than her lower lip, giving her mouth a sensuous pout.
“I grew up a Navy brat. Sixteen different schools from kindergarten to high school. Of all the places we lived, I liked the south the best—the people, the weather, the food. Plus I spent my summers in a small town, Raeburn, with my grandparents. I knew from the time I was a kid, small-town life was for me. When I heard Dr. Schill was selling his practice, I went for it. Colthersville seems like a nice place to settle down and raise a family.”
Slightly embarrassed, Niall realized he’d just offered a long-winded soliloquy of his life. And that was probably more information than she wanted or needed. She was too easy to talk to. “What about you? You said you’d only lived here a couple of months?”
Tammy sipped her beer. White flecks of foam clung to her upper lip. She swiped her tongue along the full line of her mouth, devastating his concentration and composure. “My roots run deep in Colthersville. I was born and raised here. I only bought this house eight months ago. I’d been living with Pops after Earl and I split up.”
