Rock Steady by Dawn Ryder Page B

lickable.
    “Are you getting evicted tomorrow?” he asked.
    She drew in a stiff breath and decided to roll with the facts. “Ted claimed my pay as rent due on my slot at his shop. So, I guess so.” She tried to shrug it off but felt like she didn’t quite pull it off. “Like you said, this place is a death trap. I’ll be well rid of it. I’m sure not going to go to work for Spike to keep it.”
    “Did you mean that?” He pointed toward Pony making her way up the block.
    She opened her hands, slightly confused. Okay, slightly dumbfounded, because he was there, messing with her thought processes again.
    She was pretty sure she liked that best about his personality.
    Glutton for punishment.
    “Yes, I mean it,” she confirmed. “It’s a no-brainer. I’ll go home first.”
    His lips curved. It was the real McCoy too, a genuine smile.
    “Why’d you leave last night?” he asked.
    She shrugged, but it was a chicken answer. He knew it, too. She saw the flicker in his eyes. Heat teased her cheeks, and she realized she was actually blushing.
    Brain-frying time.
    She ended up offering him a half bark of laughter. “I was worried I’d get caught in your gravitational pull and end up on a one-way trip into the sun. It would be a blast, no doubt, but I’d end up frying in the end.”
    He snorted at her.
    “What? You think I’m buttering up your ego? Like you don’t have scores of women flinging themselves at you? And not just the desperate ones. I Googled you on the train ride home. You tend to run with some tight girls. Why are you here? I mean, it’s not like you have to go chasing anyone.”
    “Aren’t you glad to see me?” His lips twisted into the cocksure grin she found far too irresistible.
    Oh yeah…undermining.
    She caught herself returning the grin. “I’m going to claim my fifth amendment right and refuse to answer that question on the grounds that it will incriminate me. And encourage you, which you definitely don’t need.”
    His eyes narrowed as his lips curved. For a moment, he basked in the glow of the amusement her comment had provided him.
    “Part of me was glad you took off last night,” he said.
    “Sure,” she said to cover her shock, deciding on a change of topic to keep from looking too lame. “Thank you for the car and strawberries. It was a blast of a show.”
    “You still left.”
    Jewel drew in a deep breath and decided to level. “I don’t do drunk tats, or vengeance ones, and I wanted to keep my memories of you in the area of ‘he’s an awesome dude, not a prick who’s trying to get into my pants.’”
    He contemplated her for a long moment, all hints of playfulness gone. A tingle touched her nape as she realized she was facing him. Just him, the person he kept locked behind a shield.
    “Okay. Fair enough. I do like to party.”
    “I’m not judging,” Jewel said.
    “Didn’t have to.” He reached through the bars and plucked the keys from her grip. “Everything you think shows on your face. That’s part of your allure. It was all I could do to resist kissing you last night when you looked at my mouth. But I wanted a bit more privacy for our first kiss.”
    “There isn’t going to be any kissing,” she told him flatly.
    He pushed the key into the lock and gave it a turn, completely ignoring her. The lock stuck, as usual. “Pony had one thing right. This place is an armpit.”
    The lock gave with a groan. Ramsey pulled the gate open and stepped inside. He was too large for the space.
    Or at least his persona was.
    Her belly tightened, the reaction surprising her. She was fascinated by how extreme it was.
    “I wanted to see that look on your face last night.” He slid a hand along her jawline, knowing exactly how to touch her. For a moment, she soaked it up, savoring it. The guy had talented fingers.
    But her belly growled, long and deep.
    He chuckled. “Come on, let’s get some chow.”
    He was up the stairs before she realized he still had her