Just This Once, Contemporary Romance (Last Frontier Lodge #3) by J.H. Croix Page B

helpfulness. “I know. That’s the only reason I’m not fussing at you about it.” She stood and draped her jacket over her arm. “Ready?”

    ***
    Aidan steered the car carefully through the rainy night. It hadn’t been raining when they went into the restaurant, but the rain fell steadily now. When he came to a stoplight, he glanced over at Becca. Her hair was damp from their dash to his car. She was twirling a lock of it around her finger, a habit she’d had as long as he’d known her. He thought he’d done a damn good job at keeping the tone light during dinner. In some ways, it was easy because Becca was easy to be around. She was bright, funny and loved to debate just about any issue. Her idealistic heart tended to ride on her sleeve for all the world to see. He still recalled how Gage had described her before Aidan had met her. Gage spoke of his family often when they were on missions. Becca was the sibling he spoke of when tension ran high on the team. “Becca and her bleeding heart never back down, so we won’t either.” That was a statement Aidan heard time and again.
    Then, he’d met Becca and though he was almost knocked sideways by his attraction to her, he saw why Gage thought of her at difficult moments. She was the kind of person who kept fighting for what she thought was right no matter what. At the moment, her passion was working in the rather thankless job of a public prosecutor on the cases that rarely got much attention.
    In the shadowed light in the car, his eyes traced her profile—the arch of her delicate brow, the angle of her cheekbone and its curve down to her full, sensuous lips. Lust jolted through him, and he took a sharp breath. Becca’s head whipped in his direction, her eyes slamming into his. In the quiet, his heart pounded so hard, it wouldn’t have surprised him if she could hear it. Her pulse fluttered in her neck. He was startled out of the thick of the moment when a car horn blared at him from behind.
    Becca jumped in her seat. “Oh!”
    Even that little moment endeared her to him. He had to get a grip. He swung his eyes back to the road and drove through the intersection. The remaining moments on the way to her apartment were quiet. Heavy desire pounded through his veins. Ever since her proposal over the weekend, he’d told himself over and over and over again that he had to let her drive this. Because if he took charge…all bets were off. He knew, without a doubt, if he came on too strong with Becca, he’d scare her off. It was hard enough to navigate his physical desire, but holding the reins on his emotions was the bigger challenge.
    When he turned onto her street, Becca directed him to her parking garage. He turned the engine off and climbed out automatically. Force of habit had him holding her door before he thought twice. Her blue eyes blinked up at him. She stood, clutching her purse and jacket. He closed the door and waited. He sensed she wanted to say something. Her silky brown hair fell away from her face when she looked up. She bit her lip, her eyes bouncing away and back again.
    “About what I said the other night.”
    Her voice was clear, her gaze direct. His pulse lunged. He took a steadying breath before replying. “What about it?”
    “How about tonight?”
    Three words, her voice lilting with the question, and heat surged through his body. He was going to have to call upon every ounce of discipline he had to get through this without losing control.
    “Tonight?”  
    The woman he’d wanted more than anyone was standing there waiting for him to agree to make love to her tonight, and he was terrified simply because he might not be able to keep a lid on his feelings after this. He didn’t know what that might mean for them. When it came to women and just about everything in life, he was confident. When it came to Becca, there was too much on the line.
    She nodded and bit her lip again. His eyes went right to her mouth where her teeth dented her