Devastate Me novel Chapter 5

"No guess. I like to know who I live next to. I do a background check on everyone who moves to this neighborhood."

"Well, that doesn't sound suspicious or paranoid at all."

"It's not what you think. I work in security, remember? I'm sort of the neighborhood watch in these parts. We don't get a lot of crime, but there have been some nasty break-ins, and the police haven't caught whoever's been doing it. A couple of the homeowners were home, and one ended up in the hospital. So I try to keep tabs on those who are most vulnerable, to help make sure they stay safe."

"Oh, that makes sense."

"So, why Havensport?" he asked.

"I just wanted to get away," she replied. "There's nothing wrong with that." She ate another piece of steak.

"Well... Whatever reason you ran away, don't let life force you to hide."

"I'm not running," she protested.

Colt acted like he didn't hear her. "And for God's sake, don't make friends with the housewives in the neighborhood. Miranda and her husband are nice, but the rest..." He scowled as he trailed off.

"I heard you have quite the fan club."

"Fan club." He grimaced. "They need a goddamn hobby or better yet, jobs."

Ophelia smirked. "I think you're it."

"I wish they would just leave me the hell alone."

"Sorry. You're too handsome for that, so you might as well get used to it. Or maybe work it to your advantage."

Colt's brow furrowed. He obviously was not following her.

"You know, offer gardening services? Strip club rules, look but don't touch? You could make a mint."

She couldn't resist teasing him. She wanted to see him smile.

"Or maybe I'll mow my damn yard naked and charge admission for the show." He grinned darkly, as though the idea brought him a little too much joy.

Ophelia shook her head. "The logistics wouldn't work. Too many people could watch from their windows for free. Maybe if you did it as a fundraiser. If they raise X amount of money, you do the yard work naked."

"I'm sure the HOA would have something to say about that."

She looked so damn sweet, so vulnerable in that moment that all of Colt's instincts just flew out the window. She turned, a hand resting on his doorknob, but he caught her other arm, gently spinning her around and pulling her toward him. She was so small and curvy. She fit right against him as he cupped the back of her head. His hand buried itself in her dark hair, which tumbled in loose waves down her shoulders. It felt like silk, and he groaned inside as it slid against his skin, tickling him.

She stared up at him with those doe-brown eyes of hers, framed by thick sooty lashes, her pale-pink lips parted. He knew he was a goner.

He lowered his head to hers, his blood pounding in his ears. Her lashes fluttered closed, and she melted in his arms in the most wonderful way. They were drawn together like a pair of stars circling each other as gravity pulled them in for a cosmic explosion.

Colt's mouth covered hers in a gentle, searching kiss that Ophelia answered. Her hands clutched his shoulders and then slid up around his neck. A new urgency drove him as she opened her lips to his and he slipped his tongue inside, deepening the kiss. She tasted sweet, and she kissed so perfectly, a tender eagerness in her that made him feel like a teenager in the back of his dad's old Buick, trying to get to first base.

She tasted innocent, but she wasn't inexperienced. She met him kiss for kiss, leaving his body on fire with a growing hunger for more. He answered her with a savage intensity, drinking in as much of her as he could, his hands roaming over her, exploring her, the flare of her hips, the curve of her spine, and the feel of her shoulders and face as he touched her wherever he could.

A dreamy intimacy cloaked him as he made love to her mouth, showing her what he desperately wanted to do to her body. He wanted to spend hours with her in bed on Sunday mornings, kissing every inch of her after he'd given her such sweet pleasure that she would never want to leave.

He clutched her to him a moment longer before he heard Noah bark. Their mouths parted, the spell broken. He still held her hips, their bodies touching as they gazed at each other in shocked silence. Her lips were swollen and wet, and her eyes glowed with desire, but he could see she was coming back to her senses, like he was.

For a second neither of them moved or spoke. Then she blushed.

"Uh-oh..."

Uh-oh didn't even begin to cover the trouble they were both in.