Free The Wrong Man by Delaney Diamond

Shawna in her own vehicle, so when her friend was ready to go, she made up an excuse to stay behind. Shawna sent her a warning look, but she didn’t say much else before she and Ryan left.
    Talia helped with the clean up, clearing dishes, tied up trash bags, and did whatever she could to delay her departure. When the last of the stragglers had gone, she went into the kitchen and wiped down the counters. Covered leftovers were put away in the refrigerator and then she focused on washing pots, pans, and utensils while Tomas finished up outside.
    She had put away the last of the dishes and was wiping her hands on a towel when she sensed him behind her. She turned to see him leaning against the doorjamb with a Corona in his hand, watching. He did that a lot. Observing, paying attention to people as if turning things over in his mind. As she was the only one there, she was the focus of his watchful gaze. How long he’d been standing in the doorway, she had no idea.
    Seconds dragged by and neither of them made a sound.
    He walked slowly toward her, and the closer he came, the louder her heart beat. Now she was about to execute her plan of seduction, she became extremely nervous. Her mouth dried and butterflies filled her stomach. An irrational need to bolt surged through her, but she suppressed it. She hadn’t stayed behind only to succumb to nerves.
    “All done in here,” she said in her brightest voice, but it sounded false and nervous.
    “Thank you for your help. You didn’t have to wash the dishes.”
    She shrugged. “I wanted to.”
    He tipped the beer toward her, but she declined his offer with a shake of her head. He upturned the bottle and chugged the remnants, the entire time keeping his eyes on her. His Adam’s apple bobbed once, twice as he swallowed. Even when he set the empty bottle on the counter he didn’t take his eyes from her.
    He tilted his head to the side. “Why are you still here, Talia?”
    She swallowed and had the distinct feeling that because she was out of practice, she was unprepared for what was to come. She seldom felt out of her depth, but he was so big, so virile, so unapologetically male. “I wanted to help you.”
    He studied her with an intense, probing look. “Just being helpful?”
    “Yes,” she whispered.
    “I didn’t think you knew how to do household chores.”
    “I didn’t have to growing up. We always had hired help…” He raised his brows, and she realized how pretentious she sounded. “I do know how to clean up,” she insisted, a defensive note to her voice. “I just don’t have to because—”
    “Because you have someone else to do it.”
    His gaze skipped to the front of her dress, doing that thing he did, undressing her with his eyes so she felt naked. He was so brazen about it; it was obvious he didn’t give a damn if she noticed. Her breasts suddenly became heavy, as if weighted down with a foreign substance.
    He came closer, invading her personal space. The temperature in the room rose to scorching as his focus moved to her mouth. “You have nice lips.”
    She felt like a gazelle being stalked by a lion, waiting, wondering when it would pounce. Lust coiled in her loins as high voltage electricity surrounded them, and her nipples throbbed and jutted against her dress. It had been a long time since she’d felt sexual in any kind of way. She laughed to ease the tension, her heart fluttering like the violent flap of a bird’s wings.
    “You should see pictures of me as a child. I had to grow into these lips.” She touched her fingers to her mouth.
    The corners of his lips didn’t budge, not even a fraction. “I’m going to kiss you,” he said calmly. “Do you have a problem with that?”
    She couldn’t move, could hardly breathe. Helplessly frozen as if bound by ropes. What breaths she did take were filled with the scent of him. “No.”
    It’s what she’d been hoping for, what she’d wanted, why she’d stayed behind under the pretense of being