"Here." He shrugged out of his jacket, shuffling the bottle from hand to hand. "Put this on."
The cooling breeze helped him. Some. Not nearly enough.
Slowly, Julia slid one arm at a time into his coat. She tucked the collar tight under her chin with two hands and burrowed into the leather with a sensuous sigh. "Ahhh. It's still warm from you."
Where the hell had she put his second beer?
Oh, yeah. In his hand.
He picked hers up from the porch and passed it to her. "Here. You'll sleep better."
"Are you having trouble sleeping, Zach?"
Hell, yes. "No."
"Well, I am." She wasn't smiling anymore. The Eve look slid away and left Julia. Open.
Honest. And straightforward as always. "Kiss me."
The woman was giving him whiplash. "What?"
"Kiss me. Because it's a beautiful night and we're all alone on our porch."
If it sounded too good to be true, it was, and this sounded beyond too good. "Julia, there's no need to put on a show. Sure somebody might stroll by, but this little domestic scene will say enough to satisfy the gossip hounds."
"Zach, you make me crazy sometimes."
"The feeling's a hundred-percent mutual."
"Good." She rose up on her knees, pressing her body flush against him.
His arm locked around her waist to keep her from pitching off the glider.
"Kiss me because I want you to," she whispered the caramel-tinged invitation against his mouth. "You told me all I had to do was let you know, and you wouldn't turn me away."
She slipped a finger into the waistband of his jeans, inching his T-shirt up and out.
He gripped her hand, his stomach going taut against the soft temptation of her fingers. If he could keep her talking, maybe he could stop himself from making a Texas-sized mistake. "I'm not turning you down, Jules. Just wondering about the big turnaround."
"No turnaround at all. I've always wanted you. I wasn't ready then and now I am. We could go inside and I'll prove it to you." She shook her hand free and tunneled under his shirt, fingernails scoring lightly against his stomach. "Or I can show you over there in the playhouse."
Her words blasted away the last of his restraints. Forget questioning what had changed her mind. He would dodge those land mines later. For now, he would take her to bed and do his determined best to show her how un-freakin'-believable he knew it could be between them.
Zach scooped Julia up and headed for the door.
Julia locked her arms around Zach's neck and eyed the door. Only three more steps to the total forgetfulness she knew Zach would give her.
She didn't doubt for a minute that he could deliver. The intensity of his gaze told her flat-out. She would be the lucky recipient of Zach Dawson's meticulous, determined, totally intense attention. He toed the door open, tucking sideways before kicking it shut.
Julia secured her hold on his shoulders. "I should tell you to put me down before you hurt yourself."
"You're kidding, right?" he answered, never breaking stride. "You don't weigh half as much as Bronco."
"Bronco? Thanks, I think." She laughed and loved the sound. She needed this, fun and Zach. "You carried Bronco?'
Zach charged down the hall, stopping outside the computer room. She wasn't about to question the locale. The daybed might be small, but there wasn't a baby in there.
He bent to grab the doorknob. "Fireman's carry during an emergency exercise. Fire drill from a plane."