Free Whisper Falls by Toni Blake Page B

rooms, I’ll draw up some ideas for this one,” she finally replied, her voice still just as soft. Soft and . . . ready, he thought. She sounded like a woman who was as ready as he was.
    But then she turned and left the room, and he thought, Good . Since it hadn’t been twenty minutes earlier that he’d reminded himself he couldn’t get involved with this girl—no matter how cute and hot she might be.
    “What’s this door lead to?” she asked as he stepped out behind her—and as she reached to turn the knob to the only room in the house she hadn’t seen, he instinctively closed his hand around her wrist.
    “You can’t go in there.” And that time he knew it had come out too brusque. He could feel it in his throat and he could see it in her eyes.
    She drew back, both from the door and him. “Why not?”
    He had no good answer. It hadn’t occurred to him that she’d have reason to be anywhere other than the living room and kitchen, or that she’d be nosy enough to go opening doors in his house—but then they’d ended up coming in a different door than he’d expected, and he’d had to go saying he might want his bedroom done, and . . . hell, he hadn’t thought this through well enough. You’d think by now you’d be more careful about thinking shit through.
    “Just . . . storage. Room’s packed. You can’t even get in the door,” he lied. It was a fucking weak explanation, but it was all he had.
    And she just nodded, now looking wary, on her guard. So they were back to that, huh?
    Well, as much as he didn’t like it, maybe that was best in the long run. For both of them.
    T essa walked back down the hill—no easy feat in heels that wanted to sink into the soft spring earth beneath them. She didn’t glance back over her shoulder, but wondered if Lucky was watching her go. And she suffered the strange, sudden urge to run—to just get out of sight and into her own house as quickly as possible—so she could process all that had happened in privacy. She just wasn’t used to being around guys she found attractive anymore, let alone one that completely intimidated her, too—and it made her nervous, and now, eager to be alone so she could quit worrying about how she looked and how she acted and whether or not she was blushing like a maniac.
    So after she stepped in the back door and shut it behind her, she rested against it and let out a long breath, relieved to be back in her quiet little cocoon. Wow. She barely knew how to feel about him after today.
    For one thing, what the heck was inside that room he’d refused to let her see? She’d begun to feel pretty comfortable around him by that point—even if undeniably aroused, too—but the bite in his voice when he’d grabbed her arm had brought back to mind how little she knew about him and how many question marks surrounded his existence. And now there were new ones. Like what the hell was he hiding behind that door?
    She hugged her portfolio to her chest and bit her lip. What did bikers deal in illegally? Drugs? Guns? Oh boy. In either case—yikes! Her stomach churned at the very possibilities. Blegh.
    And that aside, there were other odd questions, too. Why did he of all people want a “homey” house? Was he planning on inviting the Romo clan over or something? And even if so, would someone re-do their home to suit their visitors? No, of course not. So what the hell was Lucky Romo’s secret? Or secrets —plural. Since she’d begun to have a feeling he possessed a lot of them.
    Lowering her portfolio to a table near the door, she moved to a window and peeked out the curtains, back up the hill. She saw nothing amiss at his house—but even just that view now, of the house, moved something inside her. It filled her with equal parts fascination and trepidation. Then she clenched her teeth lightly—that seemed like a bad combination.
    And all of Lucky’s secrets probably should be making her run madly in the other direction away from him,