SHIFT EXCHANGE

Chapter 15

Her thoughts were cloudy and hard to capture. How could a man kiss like that? Kara's whole body was on fire. From the tips of her toes to the tip of her nose. Her chest was heaving as if she'd just jogged around the block.

Worse yet, he knew what kind of affect he'd had on her. He stood staring at her confused face with a satisfied smirk perched on those oh so wonderful lips.

Kara became aware of her nothing short of scandalous position on the edge of the counter with her body crushed against his. Slowly she let down her legs. She leaned forward and rested her head against his chest while she puzzled out her thoughts.

I didn't help her thinking process at all that he immediately rested his warm, prickly cheek against her hair and chuckled deep in his chest.

"What's so funny?" She murmured.

 "Life." He chuckled again. "You have no idea how many times I told myself I couldn't have this, but for the life of me, I can't think of a single reason why now that I have you here in my arms."

Kara sighed in understanding. "Me too. I told myself it wasn't professional, that we needed to keep that barrier in place." She leaned back and looked up at his face. "Can we do this? Keep things separate?"

"I think we are both grown adults and professionals. We owe it to ourselves to see where this goes. I'm willing if you are." He stared down at her intently with a hopeful look on his face.

Kara studied the dark blue of his eyes and the tiny lines in the creases beside them. Her eyes followed the strong lines of his face down to those mind scrambling lips. "I definitely want to try."

"We'll go slow." He kissed her forehead. "And we'll keep it private." He kissed her nose. "And I need to go home or I'm going to break the first promise I made." He kissed her softly on the lips and pulled away from her.

Kara shivered a little at the sudden loss of his body heat. She crossed her arms across her body. "Slow and low key. Right." She could feel her body still trying to normalize and shunt her raging hormones back to their rightful places. The sexily rumpled male leaned against her kitchen island across from her was making it very hard. "I'll walk you to your truck."

He offered her his hand and laced her fingers with his. Kara slid off the counter and followed him to the door. Her heart raced and her cheeks heated. Part of her felt like a teenager again.

When they reached the door he unlaced his fingers and slid his hand up her arm to cup her cheek.

"Goodnight. I'll call you tomorrow." He kissed her softly and turned away. Kara sat at the door and watched as he descended her porch steps and his boots crunched on the gravel of her driveway. He gave her one last look before he climbed into the cab of his pickup and started the engine.

Kara closed the door and locked it. She watched as his tail lights turned onto the highway headed toward town. She felt slightly deflated. She'd been enjoying her solitary evening until he'd arrived. Then, she'd more than enjoyed his company. The house now felt empty and quiet.

She cleaned up the small mess in the kitchen. Her eyes kept returning to the space on her counter where he'd kissed her. Her mind replayed the moment and sensations as she went about the small tasks.  

She opened the fridge to put away a bottle of dressing and was stopped in her tracks by the small carton of cream on the shelf. It hadn't been there before. She knew because she'd searched for cream just before he'd arrived and been disappointed to find herself without. It was written at the bottom of her grocery list.

There was only one person who could have brought it.

It was a small gesture. Most people would consider it insignificant, but something about the small white carton struck her. A sweet, considerate man lived within that sexy Greek god body. Not for the first time, Kara had a real moment of concern for the safety of her heart.