Paula Graves - Forbidden Temptation

“How about you?” Daniel asked. “Do you feel safer?”

She cocked her head. “I don’t know. I’m glad he agreed to speak, though. Women in this neighborhood need to know how to even the playing field between them and the killer.”

Daniel didn’t think a single talk from a cop was enough to make the women of Southside any safer, but he understood Rose’s need to do something constructive to make sense of the loss she’d experienced. “There are more things that can be done. Self-defense courses-”

“I’m giving that serious thought.”

“I know a guy who runs a dojo near here.” Daniel had made it to black belt under the tutelage of Tommy Kim; the guy was great at what he did and he was particularly good at teaching women how to not only protect themselves but to increase their awareness of their surroundings. “I’ll see if he’s interested in doing a basic self-protection course for women.”

The hint of a smile faded from Rose’s face. “I wonder if any of this will make any difference.”

“Can’t hurt,” Daniel pointed out. “If a little more awareness and a few well-aimed kicks saves a woman, then we’re ahead of where we are today. And then maybe we’ll have a description of Orion.”

“You and Detective Carter seem to know each other. Have you met before? Before you came to town, I mean.”

Daniel nodded, not sure how much he was willing to share about his past with Rose. “I grew up around this neighborhood. Dated his sister in college. He was just a teenager then.”

“You’re from Birmingham, then?”

“Born and raised. How about you?”

“I just moved here a few months ago. I grew up east of here in a little dot on the map called Willow Grove.”

He’d heard of it, but he’d never been there. “What brought you to Birmingham?”

“Business. There just wasn’t enough of it in Willow Grove.” Rose’s voice was light enough, but he saw a flicker of sadness in her eyes that suggested her decision to relocate wasn’t quite as simple as her brief explanation implied.

There was little about Rose Browning that was simple.

“Sure I can’t give you a ride home? Your neighbor doesn’t seem inclined to leave anytime soon.”

“I’ll catch a ride with Melissa if I can find her.”

“I’m pretty sure she left just a few minutes ago.”

Rose’s brow furrowed. “Damn.”

“No trouble to drive you home,” he assured her.

She cocked her head slightly, her pale brown eyes narrowing as she looked at him with a hint of curiosity. “Do you consider me a suspect or something?”

Not a suspect, exactly. But she knew something she wasn’t telling. “Maybe I just like you.”

She made a soft sound that might have been a huff of laughter. “I don’t think that’s it.”

“Well, I do like you,” he said firmly, surprised to find that it was the truth.

“You think I know something about your killer.”

“Do you?” he countered.

“Only what I hear in the news or read in the paper.”

Once again, he was certain there was something she wasn’t telling him. But Rose had already proved to be very good at keeping her own counsel.

Maybe she just needed an incentive to spill what she knew. “If you’ll let me take you home, maybe I’ll tell you a few things you don’t know about the killer.”

Curiosity flitted across her composed face. She pushed to her feet. “Okay, I’ll tell my neighbor I’m leaving.”

Daniel watched her go, his gaze lingering on the curve of her hips swaying gracefully as she crossed to speak to her friend. Yeah, he liked her, all right.

Maybe a little too much.

The veils had disappeared, Rose reminded herself, tamping down the dread that had weighted her down for most of the evening. Once Frank Carter had started talking, the veils had begun to fade from the faces of the people around her. By the time she and Daniel left the library, she hadn’t seen any death veils at all.

What did that mean? That he’d decided against killing again so soon? Or that he’d chosen a victim; one she hadn’t seen as she was leaving the meeting?

“Warm enough?” Daniel fiddled with the car heater.

“I’m fine,” she lied. She wasn’t fine. She felt shaky and out of control, as if she were skating along the edge of an endless abyss every second she spent with Daniel.

She was attracted to him. Hard to deny it, given the way her arm still tingled where he’d held it as he’d helped her into the passenger seat of his Jeep or the way her heart was pounding like a drum line in her chest. Just the thought of his storm-cloud eyes watching her was enough to make her shiver.

But there were a lot of attractive men in the world. Hormones alone dictated that she’d find some of them tempting. She’d spent a lot of years ignoring those temptations, armed with the certainty that, when she finally met the right man for her, the evidence would be written all over his face and hers.

God, what she’d give to have those true-love veils back.

She felt as if she were flying blind, helpless to know whether the man who made her toes tingle and her breath catch in her chest was going to make her the happiest woman on earth or shatter her heart into a thousand bleeding pieces.

She’d had no idea just how much she’d depended on the true-love veils until she’d lost them.

Daniel pulled the Jeep up the steep drive at the front of her house and cut the engine. He gazed forward through the windshield at her garage door, his profile limned with golden light from the streetlamps. “Want me to come in and take a look around to make sure the place is secure?”

Pride urged her to tell him she’d be fine, but good sense won out. No point in taking stupid risks. If Daniel Hartman wanted to make sure she was alone, safely locked behind sturdy dead bolts, she’d be foolish to refuse the offer. “Sure. I’d appreciate that.”

At the front door, he held out his hand for her keys. She passed them over, her fingers brushing his. A now familiar jolt of energy darted up her arm.

He unlocked the dead bolt and opened the door, keeping her behind him until he’d turned on the lights, setting the foyer awash with warm gold light from the overhead chandelier. He locked the door behind them and moved from the narrow foyer into the living room, turning on the lamps and giving the room a thorough walk-through.

They moved from room to room, repeating the ritual, then climbed the polished stairs to the second floor and started the process all over again. They ended their tour in the bedroom at the end of the hall, the one Rose had chosen for herself because of the tall windows offering a stunning view of the Birmingham city skyline.

Daniel paused in front of the windows, moving aside the curtain panels to get a better look at the view. On impulse, Rose reached for the light switch, plunging them into darkness alleviated only by the city lights. Daniel turned his head, his profile visible only in silhouette.

“The view’s easier to see with the lights off,” she said.

“I’d forgotten what a pretty sight Birmingham can be at night,” Daniel murmured as she joined him by the window.

“I love it on a rainy night, when the water fractures all the lights into a thousand little diamonds.” Without planning to, Rose moved close enough to Daniel that his arm brushed hers. She breathed deeply, taking in his clean, masculine scent, the tug of attraction setting her nerve endings on fire.

He turned toward her, his head dipping closer. “Why did you really turn off the lights?”

She took a shaky breath, her heart hammering. Why had she turned off the lights? To set up a moment like this? To feel his hand on her face, his breath stir her hair? “Why did you really want to come in?” she responded, her voice raspy and low. She wished she could see the expression in his eyes.