Free High Stakes Seduction by Lori Wilde Page A

methods work for other people.”
    Her agreement surprised him. He would have supposed she’d be unconventional about parenthood. “You’re pretty balanced, Eva St. George, you know that?”
    “All those years of yoga,” she joked.
    “Why yoga?” he asked, pausing to take a lick of his ice cream. “What’s the appeal?”
    “I’m attracted to the discipline.”
    “Oh?”
    “Yeah, growing up I didn’t have much of it.”
    “That nomad thing you were talking about.”
    She nodded. “My mother had wanderlust and a kid. It’s not the best combination in the world. What about you?”
    “My family moved around a lot, too.”
    “What’s the story there?”
    “Military.”
    “Ah, that explains a lot.”
    “It does?”
    “Explains why you’re so self-possessed. Most military brats I’ve known vanquish their social neurosis at a young age, if they ever had one. I think it’s more than just moving around. I mean my mom moved around but I never felt comfortable in one place for very long. Not until San Diego. Military people seem to have the ability to just pick up and go and make the best of whatever situation they land in. It always took me forever to settle in and make friends and then, poof…” She snapped her fingers. “Angie would be up and gone again.”
    “Angie?”
    “My mom. She’s only eighteen years older than I am and she likes for me to call her Angie.”
    “She sounds like an interesting person.”
    Eva tossed the remainder of her ice cream cone in a nearby trash bin. “She used to be pretty avant-garde. Now, she’s a normal mom.”
    “Why the change?”
    “My stepfather. He’s the anchor to her bobbing sailboat. They’re good for each other. He keeps her grounded, she keeps him from being such a stick-in-the-mud.”
    Eva stopped walking. They’d arrived at their apartment complex. He could just leave things as they were, say good-night and hightail it to his apartment. Or he could gallantly offer to walk her to her door, as he would have under any other circumstances.
    “Well,” she said. “That was entertaining.”
    “C’mon, I’ll walk you to your door.”
    “I’m perfectly okay to climb the steps on my own.”
    “I know you are. I just want to make sure you get home safely.”
    “You live just across the courtyard.”
    He took her elbow and for a moment he thought she was going to jerk away from him, but instead, he felt her relax into his grip.
    “Okay,” she said. “Fine. If you get your jollies over being a gentleman, I’m not opposed to being walked to my front door.”
    “Good.” He guided her up the cement walkway lined with long stem red flowers that swayed in the breeze.
    Their sneakers made muted sounds that echoed softly throughout the courtyard. A few people were in the pool, laughing and talking, but no one was near the staircase leading up to Eva’s apartment. They reached her door. She inserted her key, opened the door, and then stepped over the threshold. She turned around, paused.
    Adam had an irresistible urge to kiss her, but he would not. He had to draw the line somewhere. He had to—
    Before he could even finish the thought, Eva leaned over and planted a quick kiss on his cheek. “Good night, Adam Mancuso, you odd man, you.” Then she shut the door.
    A hundred different feelings, none of which he could rationalize or fully identify, rushed over him. Chagrin, longing, desire, foolishness, disappointment, relief.
    He turned and hurried down the stairs. Strangely, it seemed wings were attached to his shoes and he didn’t even register the journey from her door to his. Her lip print was branded on his cheek, his skin tingling from where she’d touched him. He hadn’t been this befuddled since high school. What the hell was going on? He was a Navy officer in the ONI. He wasn’t some nerdy geek infatuated with the prom queen. He had to get control of himself. This had to stop.
    Fully expecting to be taunted and teased by Rogers—he knew his