Page 5 of Purrfectly Adorable

He stomps over to me and eyes me up and down. “You don’t even have a warm coat on. Woman, you need a keeper.”

“You volunteering for the job?” I mock, my heart pounding as he comes closer.

“I don’t see anybody else volunteering,” he mutters, his dark eyes flashing with golden fire. “Get in the car and I’ll run you home, Del.”

“I’ve asked you to stop calling me that, Courtney.” I chew on my bottom lip, eyeing him carefully. The guy looks like he’s ready to spit nails. His broad chest rises and falls and his legs are planted wide apart. He looks like some kind of fallen warrior,ready to race into battle and defend his principles… or his woman.

I shake myself out of my stupor when he moves closer, the heat from his body enveloping me. He smells good. Spicy and yet sweet. Masculine. Mouthwatering.

I jerk myself mentally to a halt. “I don’t need a ride and if I did, the last person I’d get into a vehicle with is you.”

“Either you get in willingly or I’m gonna toss your butt in that car and run you home anyway, Del. Take your pick.”

“You wouldn’t,” I huff. He lunges towards me and I squeak, backing away. “Fine.”

Stomping over to the cruiser, I jerk the passenger door open and sit inside.”

He leans in, his lips quirking and his dark eyes barely visible under the broad brim of his tan cowboy cat. “I don’t think so. Nobody’s supposed to ride up front with me. The sheriff would be ticked.”

Mouth falling agape, I stare at him, stunned. His gaze shifts between me and the back seat and I gulp. “You can’t be serious.”

He ducks out and walks around the front of the car, holding my door open further. “As a heart attack. You’re riding in the back, angel.”

My heart skips a beat at his sudden nearness. And the fact that the man is a pain in my butt. A gorgeous one but still. Ugh!

Pushing up to my feet, I duck around him carefully, avoiding even one brush against the annoying man. He grins and opens the back door, waving an arm out and nodding towards the back of the car. “In you go, angel.” Then to add insult to injury, the man pushes at my head when I attempt to duck inside.

Glaring at him, I groan when he shuts the door and I see that there are no buttons or anything in the back. I’m completely at his mercy.

He grins mischievously, his dark eyes alit with unholy glee. “Get comfy. I might just take the long way home.”

I fall into the seat and groan, rubbing my suddenly-chilled arms. I can’t seem to catch a break with this guy. Any time I’m at my worst, and I currently look like a drowned rat, shivering in the cold, he’s there to have a good laugh at my expense.

Biting my lip, I sink into the seat, sighing when he turns the heat on and my chilled body finally starts to warm back up.

This is probably going to be the longest ride of my life.

4

BRANDON

For once, I’ve finally managed to get one up on the pain in my butt, Delia Reynolds. But for some reason, the taste of victory over the woman isn’t nearly as satisfying as I hoped it would be.

The shock on her face? Yeah, I almost busted out laughing when she almost keeled over when I put her in the back seat. But even that satisfaction quickly faded.

I glance back in the rear view mirror and meet her eyes, dark in the back seat. Just a gleam really. And I swear I see the faint sheen of tears in them and that almost breaks me.

Why do the tears of a woman…any woman, freaking break me?

I sigh. “I’m gonna take you home, Del. Not kidnap you to the farthest reaches of the universe.”

“You don’t like me, Courtney. I know it and you know it.”

“Yeah. That’s not true, Del. It’s not that I hate you.”

“You call and pester me every time I’m doing my yoga in the morning.”

“It’s early on a Saturday morning! It’s my only morning to sleep in and you use a gong at daybreak! What am I supposed to do with that?”

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