Hot as Hell by Helenkay Dimon

doorway. He knew he had to stand in her path or risk having her stalk inside and leave him on the porch.
    “Anyone could wander in there,” Noah said in the calmest voice he could muster.
    “Do not yell at me.”
    So much for thinking he was in control of the situation. “You’re lucky I’m not shaking some sense into you.”
    She snorted. “Oh, please.”
    As usual, she took his threat for what it was. Empty. Thanks to her stubborn streak, getting her attention usually resulted in putting her on the defensive. But he needed to make his point. If she planned to keep the door open for anyone to enter, then he would be awake on her floor instead of trying to sleep back in his room.
    “Since your family runs a security firm and makes a living telling businesspeople how to protect their information and people, I would think something as simple as locking a door would be obvious to you.”
    “We’re not in San Diego.”
    “What, there’s no crime in Utah?”
    “Look around you.” She swept her arm across the quiet landscape. “There’s nothing out here. Unless a coyote is in there taking a nap on the bed, I’m fine.”
    “Until it pounces on you and rips your throat out.” The images running through his mind filled his stomach with an icy dread.
    “Stop lecturing me.”
    He rubbed both hands over his face as he tried to figure out the best way to get through to her. “You are so frustrating.”
    “Whatever you say, Mr. Charm .”
    “You lock your door at home in La Jolla despite the fact you live in a gated condo complex where there’s barely any crime.”
    “Of course I do.”
    Her ready agreement made him nervous. With anyone else he would have thought he won the argument. Not with Lexy. She always moved one way when he expected her to move another.
    “Then what’s the problem here?” he asked.
    “I forgot.”
    His mind went blank. “You…?”
    “Forgot to lock the door.” She crossed her arms over her stomach. “Humans do forget things sometimes.”
    She had him to the point where he did not even know what they were arguing about anymore. “So you know you should lock the door?”
    She peeked inside the dark room. “I’m not an idiot.”
    “Then why are you fighting me about this?”
    “Couldn’t help myself. You get bossy and my innate need to fight surfaces and takes over.”
    He blew out the breath he had been holding. “In other words, you didn’t want to admit you made a mistake.”
    “That doesn’t sound like me.”
    “Of course not.” He grabbed her arm when she started to walk into the room.
    “What’s wrong now?” she asked.
    “What do you think you’re doing?”
    “Going to bed.” She brought her face to within inches of his. “Alone.”
    “Not until I check the room.”
    She nibbled on her bottom lip. “You promised to stay outside unless I invited you in.”
    “Implied in that promise was the condition you would act rational and lock your damn door. You didn’t, so I’m coming in to check everything out.”
    “What are you going to do if you come face-to-face with that coyote?”
    “Tell him to find another room.”
    She glanced into the dark room then looked at him. “All right. You have your invitation. Five minutes.”
    “This will take two.”
    “Because you’re a recon expert now?”
    While he did not find his past all that relevant to their future, after the divorce issue came up he had made a silent promise never to lie outright to Lexy. With his varied history and her snotty remarks, keeping that vow got harder each day.
    “Sort of,” he mumbled hoping she would not hear him.
    When all signs of amusement disappeared from her face, he knew she had. “You have got to be kidding.”
    “Technically recon is not the right term.”
    “Is there anything about your past I do know?”
    “That I proposed, you accepted, then you got bitchy and broke it off.”
    “Do your room check before I kick you.” She pointed at him. “And if I kick, I’m