Rules of Attraction by Susan Crosby Page A

mother had ordered him to his room until they were gone. He’d refused. Then they wouldn’t let him be there while they searched his own bedroom. No one had told him why. Not even his mother.
    He wouldn’t leave Claire in the dark like that. What he found, he would share.
    He put two chairs side by side and invited her to sit. She moved like a whisper, taking a seat beside him then linking her hands together in her lap, her knuckles white.
    â€œIt’s better to know than to wonder,” he said.
    â€œI guess.”
    â€œTrust me. It is.” He gave her hands a brief squeeze, being careful not to linger. “Ready?”
    She nodded.
    He loaded the first CD-ROM and ran it through his virus-detection program. Claire moved closer, trying to see the screen along with him. Her shoulder pressed against his arm, but she didn’t pull away. Nor did he.
    He turned toward her. She raised her gaze to his. The need to kiss her rushed through him. He couldn’t, of course. Shouldn’t. It was way too soon. They barely knew each other. She would be embarrassed and pull away. It would make them uncomfortable with each other.
    He looked at her mouth. Full lips, parted just slightly.
    Couldn’t . He looked away, tried to focus on the screen. Shouldn’t.
    She moved just far enough that she wasn’t touching him anymore, but close enough for him to still feel heat rising from her.
    â€œClaire,” he said.
    â€œWhat?” Her voice was pitched a little higher than usual.
    Emotion, but which emotion? Hell. He was over-thinking it. There really wasn’t anything to consider. He couldn’t kiss her.
    Shouldn’t.
    He was known for his patience, for recognizing the time for action and the time to wait.
    But he’d wanted to kiss her since she’d threatened to sic her dog on him. She was gutsy. He liked that. Likewhen she’d told Santos she wasn’t required to answer his questions. Her haughty tone had turned him on, especially coming from the girl-next-door package.
    What the hell. He cupped her face, waited two seconds for her to object, then he kissed her. He felt her breath stop, then she took a long, slow breath and kissed him back, a throaty little moan rising from her as her hands pressed against his chest then slid higher. Before she wrapped her arms around his neck he pulled back.
    He wasn’t going to apologize for something she apparently wanted as much as he did. Except that he had rules, and he’d just broken one. “Okay,” he said after a minute. “We got that out of the way.”
    She leaned her cheek against his arm, but not before he saw her smile.
    â€œWhat?” he asked.
    â€œYou. You’re funny.”
    He was? He couldn’t remember anyone thinking he was funny. Not ever. He angled his head enough to see her face. “If you say so.”
    She smiled for a second longer then looked as if she was trying to suppress it, like she knew something he didn’t know. “Shall we get this over with?” she asked, pointing to the computer.
    Apparently she hadn’t been as involved as he’d thought, or as needy as he’d been, if she could switch gears that fast. Or maybe she was too nervous about what they would find on the CDs. He wanted to assure her that life would still go on. Instead he scanned the names Jenn had given the folders. They looked like—
    â€œMusic,” Claire said. “They’re all song titles.”
    He opened one. A song with a hard beat and indecipherable lyrics blasted them from the tiny computer speakers. He felt Claire’s relief.
    â€œShe probably downloaded them illegally, so she hid them,” he said, opening another song, then another. He would go through all of them to make sure. The next CD was the same.
    They sorted through the paperwork—receipts from her spending spree of the past two months, including her expensive car and credit card statements, lists