Karen Kendall - Midnight Touch

They exited the elevator and walked to her apartment, where she unlocked the door and held it open. “You’re sure that Gracious is house-trained?”

“Positive. She even has a litter box. She’ll also go outdoors, though. She’s happier outside during the day, but unless she has her baby pool it’s just too hot right now.”

“Baby pool?”

He nodded. “Pigs don’t sweat, and they overheat very easily. So my neighbor always has one of those kiddie pools going for her. You’ll need to take her for regular walks, twice a day minimum.”

“Wendell will just love this.” Kate smirked.

Alejandro handed her the pig’s leash while he hauled a bag of food and a large plastic under-bed storage container into her condo. “I’ll have to go back down for the litter. I left it in the car.” He took a moment to look around. “Nice place, Kate. But what do you sit on?”

“The floor. I’ll get around to furniture one of these days.”

“Where do you study? Do you pull a chair up to the stove?”

“I read and work on my laptop in bed.”

His eyes gleamed, and suddenly she had an image of his lean, muscular body and smooth brown skin against her cool white sheets. The moisture disappeared from her mouth; it felt filled with sand.

She rejected the image. She was here in Miami to get an MBA and figure out who Just Kate was, not to party naked with a dangerously attractive, highly unsuitable Peruvian man. She didn’t want to lose her identity to some guy before she even had a handle on it herself. Especially not a guy who was so smooth that he could probably talk her clothes into flying off her body by themselves.

Kate frowned and changed the subject, before she could reflect that partying naked with Alejandro could fit in quite nicely with that revolution she was planning—and might even lead straight to the table she wanted to dance on.

“Gracious is probably here illegally. I doubt the zoning in this building allows livestock, so I’ll use the freight elevator when I take her out and just hope nobody sees me.” Alejandro nodded. “I have a bag of toys for her. If she doesn’t have toys to play with, she’ll root, meaning you could find tiles or molding pried up.”

While he went to get the toys, the pig walked over to the window and stood looking out at the view. She sat down on her haunches.

Kate eyed her and went to the refrigerator to see if she had any acceptable piggy cuisine. Alejandro had said something about grapes, hadn’t he? She pulled out a bowl of seedless purple grapes and plucked a couple off the stem. Then she walked back into the living room and sat down a few feet from the animal.

“Look what I have, Miss Piggy. Would you like one?”

Gracious trotted over immediately and snuffled the grape out of her palm. She made happy little porcine noises as she consumed it, and Kate laughed. She scratched the pig’s head, surprised that she didn’t smell bad at all.

They’d made friends by the time Alejandro got back—the pig sat leaning into Kate’s thigh, her eyes closed as she savored having her ears rubbed.

“She’ll sleep with you if you let her,” he said. The gleam shot back into his eyes, as if to say that he would, too. “But if you don’t want her on your bed, you can just fold up a blanket on the floor for her.” He walked to the sliding glass door and looked out at Biscayne Bay.

“You have an amazing view.”

While he looked out at the water, she couldn’t help looking up at him. Up the length of those long, masculine legs to the certifiably fine ass and the casual cock of his hips. He was so close that she could smell the detergent he used to wash his jeans and the leather of his shoes. She caught a whiff of breezy aftershave, too.

Gracious seemed to understand and empathize with her appreciation of the man. She emitted a little squeal. Kate got up to get her another couple of grapes, and felt small next to Alejandro. He turned his head and looked down at her, his eyes black, enigmatic and beyond the outer boundaries of sexy. The adjective that leaped to mind was compelling.

If she didn’t look away from those eyes she was going to do something stupid. So she dropped her gaze to his chest again, the defined contours of muscle clearly visible under the black cotton. “Kate,” he said softly.

She leaped away, fixating on the first thing she saw, the shallow plastic box for the pig’s litter. “So what do you use to line this with?”

“A large trash bag.” He’d dropped some into the sack of litter, and now he pulled one out and shook it open for her.

“I can’t believe I’m resorting to these measures to get rid of my cousin,” she babbled.

He shrugged. “It does seem a little out of character. I mean, you had no problem telling Kurtz he was wrong. So why can’t you tell this cousin to go somewhere else?”

She picked at her ragged cuticles.

He watched her, seemed about to say something, and then looked away and shut his mouth.

“I don’t know. This is different. Wendell is a pain in the ass, but…he doesn’t really have anyone else. And he’s family.”

“You’ve hinted that you came down here to get away from your family.”

“Yes. Sometimes it’s harder than you might think.”

“You are close to them?”

She expelled a breath. “Close? I’m not sure how to answer that. We certainly fight a lot. We see each other a few times a year, since most of us have seats on the board, and everyone’s scheming and maneuvering to get their particular interests and projects green-lighted. So there are alliances…” She stopped. You’re talking too much, Kate. “It’s not exactly the Brady Bunch.”

Gracious started to turn circles and dig at the molding in a corner of the living room. “What is she doing?”

“Do you need to go out, little one?” Alejandro asked. He picked up the end of the leash and looked at Kate, tongue in cheek. “Señorita, would you care for a romantic stroll on the beach with Miss Piggy?”

“Sure, I’ll tag along.” Kate sent him a sidelong glance. “But you might want to liquor her up before you make any smooth moves on her.”

He raised an eyebrow and glanced sharply at her. “What are you implying, Kate?”

“Nothing.”

“I’ll have you know that my intentions—at least regarding Gracious—are purely honorable.”

ALEJANDRO THOUGHT KATE looked even more beautiful in knee-length, baggy khaki shorts—they were awful, but at least he could see her long, slim legs—with her hair flying around her face in the wind.

Gracious had a difficult time on the beach with her short little legs sinking into the sand, but she was able to sample various aperitifs: seaweed, driftwood, even a rotting fish. So she was happy enough.

They got some odd looks regarding the pig, but other than a couple of kids who ran up to pet her, nobody bothered them.

Alejo wanted to bother Kate, however, in the worst way. He wanted to kiss each of those arrogant cheekbones, taste her smart Yankee mouth, steal her breath away. But he did none of those things, contenting himself with teasing her and savoring the way she looked all wild and free and windblown.

“I see that you went to the most exclusive grocery store aisle for your new shoes, Kate.” He gestured to the rubber flip-flops on her feet.

“Yeah, I saved up and had them custom-made,” she said dryly. “Like them?”

“They’re gorgeous.” If ever a woman was in dire need of a pedicure and a manicure, it was Kate Spinney. But to say so crossed the line between teasing and just plain rude.

“They bring my total for shoes up to six pairs—the loafers, some cross-trainers, snow boots, ski boots and one pair of serviceable black pumps.”