Heard. Understood. And regretted.
"I'm more concerned with my own self-control." The words tumbled out ahead of his better sense. Not really a surprise considering how he always seemed to lose his head around this leggy dynamo who could outrace most men and kept a sarcophagus in her living room.
Her jaw dropped wide, started to close then went slack again. A bracing sigh later, she answered, "I don't know what you're expecting to accomplish with a comment like that, but you made it clear the morning after Spike's wedding that you don't want me in your life, and you didn't do it in a particularly nice way. If you had a sister—"
"I do."
"You do?"
Her jaw went slack again, tempting him to kiss the surprise right off her face. Coming here had really been a mammothly stupid idea.
But before he could drag his sorry, horny butt out the door she continued, "Quit distracting me. My point is, if someone treated your sister the way you treated me, you would kick his ass."
"You're right." More than she could even know. He shoved away from the counter and her too-cute sarcophagus and idealistic too-young heart. "And since I don't want my ass kicked by your brother or father, it's best I don't stay here. I just had to see for myself that you're okay and make sure you're safe."
Did she have to look so damn conflicted? He was having a tough enough time resisting her when she told him to shut up with all that fire and spunk he knew she brought to bed with her.
She skirted around the sofa full of inviting green pillows that would spread perfectly along the carpet to make a downy lawn for all-night sex. "Good night then. Have a nice drive home."
"Fine, but you're not staying here, either."
Nikki stopped short. "Why do I feel the irrepressible urge to put my hands over my ears and shout, 'You're not the boss of me' ? Of course that would fit right in with your whole too-young-for-you mantra."
God, he liked her sense of humor. "You're good."
She snorted. "That compliment came about seven months too late."
"I meant at distracting me."
"Apparently not nearly good enough." She sagged to sit on the arm of the sofa. "Why are you so gung-ho on my not being alone?"
"With everything that happened with Owens, I'm concerned your balcony railing giving way might not have been an accident." He planted his boots deep in the plush carpet, the need to see her safe burning even stronger than the need to see her naked.
* * *
God, she hated being afraid of her own shadow.
But Carson's words kept rolling around in her head the next day as she parked her small truck in her parents' driveway. Late-afternoon sun dappled through the evergreens packing the yard surrounding the two-story white wood home.
She'd brushed aside Carson's concerns the night before, told him she would double bolt her door and think about what he'd said. She'd bristled out of pride and a need for independence.
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
About halfway through her PowerBar at lunch, she'd come to the conclusion that safety was too important. She wouldn't be one of those airheads in a horror movie who went walking in the dark woods at night even when half her friends had already been whacked by some psycho with a gas-powered garden tool.
So here she was with her truck and a suitcase full of clothes. She didn't need a reality check. She already knew. Bad crap was happening. Gary was very dead and she'd darn near died falling off her balcony. Even if it was an accident, she would have been more alert to her surroundings before this mess. Until she could get her life settled again, she needed to be extra careful.
Her mother was worried anyway and in need of extra help with her difficult pregnancy. Why not take her up on the standing offer to stay in the garage apartment?
She could still come and go as she pleased, but would have her brother nearby. Sure sometimes he'd been a wormy little pest who once dumped all her makeup into the sewer. But now that he'd shot up to six foot four inches, he made a fairly decent crime deterrent.
And she sure had plenty of time on her hands to help her mom repaint the new nursery.
Her principal had suggested she take a weeklong vacation. Suggested being a loose way of putting it. She suspected a parent or two had complained after getting wind of what happened the night Gary died. Whatever had happened.
Gossip could be hell. As much as she wanted to dig her heels in, she could see the principal's resolve. Pissing off her boss now wouldn't be wise.
Her whole life was crashing down around her. She needed control over something. At least she could still tutor her at-risk high schoolers or she would go nuts.