Free Who You Least Expect by Lydia Rowan Page A

could do about it.
    Or maybe there was.
    On impulse, she drove past her own house and went to his. She pulled into his driveway, put the car in park, and waited. But it didn’t take long for indecision to hit her. This was crazy, and as much as she wanted him, she wasn’t going to continue to throw herself at him and be turned away. She had her pride to consider after all.
    As the seconds passed, she realized that this whole situation was actually pretty damned embarrassing, and the longer she sat, the worse and worse the idea seemed. She reached for the gearshift, determined to peel out of here as soon as she could and hope that none of his neighbors had noticed her car in the driveway, a near impossibility in Thornehill Springs, but she needed to cling to something.
    In a few short minutes she was safely back in her own driveway, her heart pounding furiously as she thought about the horror she would have felt if Cody had found her there, to make no mention of how she’d have felt if he’d again sent her away. Physical attraction was one thing, but something about Cody Sommers made her lose herself, and she needed to get herself back in check. Resolved to get herself back in hand, she exhaled, her heart slowing. As she prepared to exit the car, she again caught sight of the chip in her nail polish, and it again distracted her as it had several times during the evening. She needed to get that filled in and decided she’d try to repair it tonight just in case her technician couldn’t see her first thing in the morning.
    Lights, blindingly bright, filled her rearview mirror, and her heart started to pound. There was no way she could leave now, and though a million thoughts rushed through her head, they were all a jumbled tangle, and she couldn’t latch onto one even marginally probable explanation for his presence here. She caught sight of the approaching person that could only be him, and when her mind clicked with the expected recognition, the beat of her heart shifted from fear to embarrassment to arousal in one pulse.
    “You going to run me over, Ms. Bishop?” Cody said, leaning down to look inside her car window, gaze going to her hand, which tightly gripped the gearshift.
    “I considered it,” she said, putting the car in park again, cutting off the engine, and then turning to face him.
    “Is there a reason you’re here, Sommers?” she asked, hand clenched tight around the keys.
    “I take it you’re not planning to invite me in?” he said.
    “No,” she said, the tempo of her heart increasing. “I’ve done all the asking I plan to do.”
    He said nothing and instead reached into the window and down, his fingers resting atop hers. Then he turned his hand and her car flared to life.
    “My house. Ten minutes. You know the way.”
    Without waiting for her to respond, he turned and walked back to his car with those military-precise strides and was pulling out of her driveway in a flash. She kept her gaze glued to the rearview mirror and watched as he disappeared down the road, the already frantic pulse of her heart ratcheting up even further. She’d intended to toss the ball back into his court, but he’d effectively parried it back into hers. The offer was dressed up as a challenge and left her powerless to resist.
    She got out of the car to stand on shaky legs, having decided that the walk would do her good. The excitement that thrummed through her was so intense it was almost unbearable, and she hoped that the fresh air and bit of extra time would help her calm herself.
    ••••
    It didn’t and when she lifted her hand to knock on Cody’s door, it shook. She dropped it quickly and clenched her fist tight, using the heartbeat between the knock and Cody opening the door to school her features to the extent possible. Cody stood, his body filling the door frame, his hand on the knob. Her gaze immediately found his and her breath caught in her throat. No one had ever looked at her with such naked and