Ryanne Corey - The Secret Millionaire

Why not?

“This is so strange,” Anna said softly, her voice unnaturally husky. “When I stop and think—”

“The sad end to all waking dreams—thinking. Why do we have to stop and think? Haven’t you ever wanted to do anything risky?” Even as he spoke, Zack’s pulse continued to accelerate. He wondered if she had any idea of the beguiling, bewitching picture she made. Her small face was draped with gold and honey-colored hair that curled in looping question marks over her shoulders. So sweet.

Her beautiful eyes remained solemn. “Are you telling me you’re risky?”

“Some people think so.” His body moved infinitesimally closer to hers, drawn by something he couldn’t see or explain. She was a hypnotizing contradiction of darkness and light, uncertainty and daring. With all his experience, Zack felt like a newborn, amazed that a situation that had begun so innocently could feel so sharply, aggressively sexual.

Thoughtfully she tilted her head to one side, unable to stem her curiosity about this man. “Should I be careful, then?”

“No. Please, no.” His hand slipped beneath her hair, warm on the delicate nape of her neck. Even as he lowered his face to hers, he was aware of an uncharacteristic trembling in his body. He saw her eyes grow wider, brighter, the dark rings of her irises visibly expanding. Then her face blurred, his attention fiercely riveted on her parted lips. The first tentative touch of his mouth on hers was the merest caress, a fluttering, barely there butterfly kiss. Still, the resulting shiver that coursed through his body was hard and unexpected. He heard the sharp intake of her breath, and a stark urgency flared to life within him. Whatever was happening here was happening to them both.

And he wanted more.

The second kiss went much deeper and demanded far more than the featherlight touch of butterfly wings. Zack slanted his head to capture her lips fully, his palms framing her face while he drank with a hunger that startled even him. At the same time Anna’s hands closed over fistfuls of his T-shirt, clinging for dear life. She could feel steel in his muscles.

The fact that Zack was a virtual stranger sharpened the fiery sensations sparkling through her like champagne bubbles. And the way he made magic with his warm lips and cool tongue added the most delicious, sinfully wicked pleasure. She felt a curling heat deep in her stomach, a connection to this man and this moment that somehow went beyond a simple kiss. In an instant she somehow knew she had changed, never to be quite the same again.

When Anna finally pulled back from the kiss, she was feeling light-headed and weak all over. Her eyes had an endless depth as she studied his expression, hot and hectic with emotion. Like a dreamer she raised her hand to smooth back his hair, the silky strands flowing like cool water through her fingers. So soft, like she was playing with clouds. Her body had transformed into warm butter, barely holding its shape. One more second in his arms and she would have been pooled around his feet on the floor.

“I wonder why I did that,” she said hoarsely.

“I know why I did,” Zack replied, sounding a bit hoarse himself. “Do you have any idea what you do to a man? What just looking at you does to me?”

At that, she shook her head and smiled faintly. Obviously her own incredible looks didn’t figure whatsoever in her value system. “You don’t need to flatter me. For the moment there’s no competition.”

“I wasn’t trying to—”

And then the real world tapped them on the shoulder.

From out in the hallway a door slammed, followed by a loud commotion of male voices. Zack said a four-letter word, then closed his eyes and took a heavy, sustaining breath. It was hard to go from sensual to sensible in the space of three seconds.

“We are about to be rescued,” he growled, his eyes still closed tight. “And in my opinion the timing really sucks.”

Anna was both relieved and disappointed. This was her safety hatch, her opportunity to run from this beguiling stranger before things got out of control. This was why she had allowed herself to be carried away, knowing that nothing about this night was real. She tried to smile, but she was overwhelmed by the confusing emotions shuddering through her. She dropped her hands awkwardly to her sides and stepped away from him. The air between them felt instantly cool, the fluorescent lights harsher and the atmosphere thick and uncomfortable. “I guess we should be grateful for the interruption. We’re a very bad influence on each other.”

The voices grew louder. Zack’s eyes flew from Anna to the door and back to Anna again. “The last thing I am is grateful. Look, this whole thing wasn’t—”

The door flew open, framing two uniformed policemen and an amazingly short, triple-chinned man who had “Owner of Appleton’s General Store” stamped all over him. Before either policeman had time to speak, he marched into the storeroom, obviously emboldened by his gun-toting companions. “Ha! I knew something fishy was going on the moment I spotted the car and the Jeep parked out front. What the devil do you think you’re doing, breaking into my store?”

Zack scowled at him, feeling an overwhelming urge to pop the blowhard in the nose. However, since he was an officer of the law, he shoved his hands in his pockets and contented himself with speaking his mind. “I don’t like you.”

The man turned red, puffing out his barrel chest. “What? As a criminal, you are in no position to like or dislike anyone. In case you haven’t noticed, you and your partner in crime have been apprehended.”

Zack wasn’t impressed. “Oh, put a cork in it. We’re trying to break out of your store, buddy, not into it. We made the mistake of visiting the bathrooms around closing time and got locked in. You should have a sign posted at that door at the top of the stairs: Run Like Hell if the Clock Strikes Ten.”

Looking acutely uncomfortable, one of the policemen politely cleared his throat. “Like I told you upstairs, Dad, I think you might be overreacting.”

“Dad?” Zack asked incredulously. “This guy is your father?”

The young man nodded almost shamefacedly. “I’m afraid so. I mean, yes.”

“Afraid?” the owner spouted, turning his indignant gaze on his son. “Afraid? Are you trying to say you’re not proud to call me father? Is that what you’re trying to say?”

The second policeman raised a calming hand. “Now, let’s all cool down. Nothing has been disturbed upstairs, and these people would hardly leave their getaway vehicles in full view in the parking lot for any passerby to see. I’m sure this is nothing more than an unfortunate accident, Dad.”

“Dad?” Zack blurted again, his eyes growing wider by the second. “Good Lord, is everyone in this town an Appleton? If we were criminals, we’d be in big trouble here. Talk about having the cards stacked against you.”

Anna’s shoulders jumped with a half-born giggle, which was quickly stifled by her hand. She couldn’t help it; she had a vivid imagination and this whole scene had the feel of a Three Stooges movie. Curly and Moe were bumbling policemen, and Larry was the befuddled villain.

“We don’t get many criminal types through here, anyway,” son number one replied with a regretful sigh. “Being a cop in Providence can be kind of boring, actually. Still, hope on and hope ever, as our captain says. Are you both all right?”

The older man again took offense. “I don’t believe you! You’re asking these trespassers if they’re all right? You’re supposed to be the law around here, damn it! Why aren’t you arresting them? Do I have to slap the cuffs on them myself?”