“I’ll walk with you to your door.” He climbed out of the car and circled its hood.
When was the last time someone had helped her from a car?
Darius matched his pace to hers as they braved the lowering temperatures to cross the parking lot. What was happening to her? She’d never been that interested in sex before. But now, every time she was around the reporter, she had an out-of-body experience. Her mind went blank and her tongue separated itself from her thoughts. She had to get herself together. She was a responsible adult, not a domesticated animal in heat.
Peyton fished her keys from her purse. “Thank you for driving me home.” There, that sounded very civilized.
“You’re welcome.” He stood aside so she could precede him up the ornate black metal staircase.
“I’d planned to drive myself.” Peyton led him up the steps. “I’ve been in Trinity Falls for five months now. It’s time I learned my way around. But people have been very insistent on carpooling with me.” Was she babbling?
“They want to make it easier for me to take you home.” Darius’s tone was wry.
She paused halfway up the stairs, frowning at him over her shoulder. “Why do you think this has anything to do with you?”
Darius arched a brow. “Vaughn brought you to the Sequoia game. But I brought you home.”
“You insisted on driving me back.”
“Jack and Audra brought you to Ken’s retirement banquet, but I’m the one escorting you to your door.”
Jackson and Audra hadn’t seemed surprised to be relieved of chauffeur duty. “So you think this is all part of their plan to get us together?”
“I do.”
Peyton continued up the steps. His body of evidence was growing. Perhaps he had a point. How did she feel about being the target of her new neighbors’ elaborate matchmaking scheme with one of the most eligible, attractive, and sexy bachelors in town?
As her students would say, it was totally cool.
“Just because they’re trying to get us together doesn’t mean we have to fall in with their plans.” Peyton unlocked her apartment door.
“I’m beginning to think their idea has merit.”
Surprised, Peyton looked up at Darius and found herself captured by his kiss. His mouth settled on hers. He didn’t touch her in any other way. His lips molded and caressed hers in a gentle invitation to a deeper intimacy. His tongue traced her shape in a vivid reminder of the pleasure they’d felt before—and that they could experience again, if it’s what she wanted. It was.
Peyton twined her arms around his neck and pressed her body to his. The impediments of their coats frustrated her. Without breaking their kiss, Peyton lowered her arms to unbutton her coat. She stumbled a step or two as Darius walked her backward. Her apartment door slammed shut with an explosive bang.
Startled, Peyton jumped back. She stared at Darius, struggling for her bearings. His angular features were hard with desire. His midnight eyes burned with need.
“I’m sorry.” His voice was rough and husky. “I kicked the door shut. I didn’t want to put on a show for your neighbors.”
Peyton’s eyes shifted from Darius to the door and back. She crossed the room. Her hands hovered over the locks. What am I doing? Is this what I want? She’d ended her engagement. What was holding her back? Peyton turned the locks, then faced Darius again.
“Good call.” She didn’t recognize her voice. But gazing into the heat of Darius’s dark eyes, she felt a familiar need.
Darius Knight was a dangerous man. With the sound of his voice, the look in his eyes, the touch of his hands, he could make her want things she’d never wanted before. Do things she’d never otherwise considered. What was it about him? What was it about her with him?
Holding her gaze, Darius raised his hands to unbutton his black wool topcoat and take it off. Peyton was distracted by the broad expanse of his muscled shoulders molded beneath his garnet turtleneck sweater. Navy corduroy pants clothed his lean hips and long legs. Darius turned to lay his coat on the back of her silver love seat. When he faced her again, there was a question in his eyes. Aware he was watching her every move, Peyton opened her coat. She let the weight of it fall from her shoulders and pool on the floor.
Darius’s eyes glowed. His gaze roamed her pink sweater and ankle-length skirt as though he could see through them. Her body hummed with a strange, deepening desire.
Darius closed the distance between them. “You’re so beautiful.”
“You’re the beautiful one.” Peyton rose up on her toes.
Darius lowered his head to meet her. When their lips touched, it was like an electric current arcing through her. Peyton’s body shook. Darius tightened his arms around her. She dove into his kiss, exploring him, seeking him, teasing him with her tongue. She wanted to know him, his touch, his taste, his scent. She slid her hands up and over his sweater, feeling the hard muscles beneath. Peyton was drowning in sensation, on the verge of losing control.
Darius’s head was spinning. Desire, raw and restless, swelled within him. Peyton was warm and responsive in his arms, feeding his need. He drank her gasps, swelled with her moans, and burned under her touch. Her taste, sweet and spicy, made him light-headed. Darius swayed on his feet.