Lover Uncloaked (Stealth Guardians #1) by Tina Folsom Page A

it. Warmth spread in her body, making her instantly feel better despite her throbbing ankle.
    When she bent toward the table to set her glass down, Aiden took it from her, his fingers brushing against hers in the process. She caught him looking at her at the same time. His gaze was intense, his dark eyes seeming even darker than when he’d returned from the bar with the towel in hand. Odd, how a person’s eye color could change like that.
    At the same time, she was unable to break the contact. Her mouth went dry as her gaze fell onto his parted lips. She’d never felt so aware of another person. He was right there, yet too far away to touch him, while he could put his hand on her leg at any time if he wanted to. Would he? She shook off the errant thought. What was wrong with her? Clearly, the shock of nearly being run over by a car had scrambled her mind. Otherwise why would she suddenly fantasize about kissing a stranger?
    And why was her heart beating faster, her chest heaving and her tongue snaking out to moisten her dry lips? As if anticipating a mouthwatering treat. Her stomach clenched in concert with her breaths, likewise expecting something delicious. Her palms felt sweaty, but she refrained from wiping them on her pants, not wanting to draw attention to their traitorous state. If she didn’t know any better she’d say she was behaving like a high school girl who’d just seen the quarterback of her football team stepping out of the locker room in nothing but a towel wrapped around his hips.
    Aiden was fully dressed, yet he had the same effect on her. Her reaction to him was unusual for her. She’d never been one to see any appeal in a one-night stand, but with this man, she would throw caution to the wind, just the once.
    “Thank you again,” she said quickly, not wanting the silence between them to stretch even longer and turn to awkwardness. It was bad enough that she was drooling all over him. As if she’d never been out with a handsome man.
    Handsome? Make that sinfully gorgeous , she amended.
    His dark hair was short and straight. By the looks of it, it was thick, and she was sure she could confirm her assumption if only she could thread her fingers through it. Maybe at the same time, she could test how soft his lips were and what it felt like to rub her fingers over the scar above his brow or over the stubbles that graced his chin.
    “It looks like you’re getting your color back.”
    He glanced at her cheeks, and she realized how flushed she felt. Was she blushing? At her age, she should be past such sophomoric reactions, but a quick peek to catch her reflection in the window revealed that her face looked indeed a little red.
    She found a scapegoat very quickly and had no problem passing blame. “The whiskey.” Leila pointed to the glass on the table. “I’m not used to it.”
    “I should have asked you if you wanted something else, but considering the shock you had, I figured whiskey would do the trick. Always helps me.” Aiden took a sip from his glass, clearly savoring the taste before swallowing.
    “Yes, the shock,” Leila agreed hastily.
    Her hand was still shaking when she smoothed a strand of hair behind her ear that had loosened from her ponytail, but she already felt better. The ice had a numbing effect on her ankle. Unfortunately, the handsomeness of her companion had reduced her brain’s speech center to producing only simple, short sentences. She couldn’t allow this to continue. It was ridiculous. She was a doctor, an intelligent woman and more than capable of speaking to a handsome man in complex sentences. She just had to pull herself together, be her usual confident self again.
    “I was working late,” she mumbled then cleared her throat to lend her voice more strength. It worked. “Well, I work late most nights.” What else would she do? She had practically no social life.
    “You shouldn’t walk home alone at night. There are all kinds of things that can