Playing Love's Odds (A Classic Sexy Romantic Suspense) by Alison Kent Page A

balanced to one side, Hannah crossed her arms over her chest. "Then we're in a no-win situation because I can accept nothing less."
    "Are you firing me?" he asked, accusation and something else—hope?—in his eyes.
    "No," she answered, knowing she walked a tight-rope strung between intuition and logic.
    "Why not?"
    Exasperated, she planted her hands on her hips to keep from grabbing him and shaking some sense into him. "Because I
do
trust you."
    "Even knowing I may not do the same?"
    "Yes."
    "That's your prerogative."
    "No, it's not." She rubbed at her temples and took a deep breath. "Don't you understand? I have no choice. What's the point of asking you to help if I don't trust you to do so?"
    "You can have faith that I'll do my job without trusting the person I am."
    "No, Logan. The two are the same, inseparable from one another. I trust you to do your job because of who you are."
    "Why?"
    "In the space of a few hours I've seen how you work. You've asked the right questions and drawn rational conclusions." She glanced to the ceiling and back again, collecting her thoughts. "I can't explain it any better, except to say it's in your eyes, in your expression, in your bearing. No matter how you try to hide behind your indifferent attitude, you exude confidence, confidence in yourself. And that says more than any words."
    The corner of his mouth twitched as he fought back a grin. She tossed her hands to the side in surrender, and asked, "Now will you answer a question for me?"
    He shrugged. "If I can."
    "What will it take for me to earn
your
trust?"
    She saw the devil-may-care attitude the minute he put it on. His grin leaned toward cocky, his eyes flickered bright. Her heart skipped a beat, her body heat skyrocketed, and this time she knew exactly why.
    "As a client or as a woman?" he tossed back.
    She pursed her lips to hide their trembling. "A client."
    "I told you. Just be straight with me."
    Unable to bridle an impulsive streak of recklessness, she asked, "And as a woman?"
    Frowning, he plucked the pewter elf off the table leg and bounced it in the palm of his hand. "Do you want me to see you as a woman, Hannah?"
    With her heart beating a choking pulse in her throat, she replied, "If I say yes?"
    He looked up sharply. "Say it."
    She only hesitated a second. "Yes."
    He stepped closer and took her hand. Closing her fingers around the elf, he folded his hand over hers. "I haven't had much opportunity in my life to trust. I don't think I know how." His gaze roamed over her face. He reached up to trail one finger down the side of her neck. "Do you think you can teach me?"
    Mesmerized by his smoky voice, spellbound by his whiskey-gold eyes, she ached to run her palm across his jaw, finger his lower lip. She wanted to find the source of the security that enfolded her like a blanket when she was with him, the basis of the fascination that made her think not of the damage to her home but of him and how he would taste, how he would feel.
    Instead, she took a safe step back, returned the elf to the table leg, and cradled her forehead in her hand, rubbing away the pressure. Contacting him to begin with had been a move of desperation. She wasn't about to open herself up, to risk being hurt, to risk losing what control she still held over her life.
    Bravely, she met his gaze. "At this point I'm too tired to do anything but go to bed and sleep for the next twelve hours."
    He refused to look away. The air in the room pulsed tight with sexual energy. Electricity hummed through her veins, over her skin, rousing her, inciting her to experience this man in every possible way. She clenched her fists at her sides.
    Finally, he expelled a gust of breath and cast a skeptical glance around the room. "You're going to sleep here?"
    Relieved that he hadn't pushed because she wasn't sure she wouldn't have given in, she groaned. "My bed's a wreck."
    "Your whole house is a wreck. Is there someone you can stay with tonight?"
    A wry grin stole across her