"Tasha? Are you okay?"
She came back to the concern in Daniel's handsome face, the warmth in his deep-brown eyes. "I was just thinking about my family." The words came before she could stop them.
"Did you used to spend a lot of time with them?"
His question was gentle, but far too probing. "We worked together." She shrugged, trying to bury the topic in nonchalance. "But that's all in the past now. And we were talking about you. How did you come by your carpentry skills in the first place?"
They were both well aware that she was pivoting away from talking about herself. The only question was whether Daniel would let her get away with turning the spotlight back on him.
"When we were growing up," he finally said, "nothing ever got fixed in our tenement unless we did it ourselves. So Dad learned how to mend leaky faucets and running toilets and change the thermostat in the oven and put in new floorboards and Sheetrock."
She was relieved that he'd let her off the hook. Yet there was a part of her that longed to confide in him.
An extremely foolish part that needed to keep its mouth shut.
"He taught you along with the other Mavericks?"
"All five of us definitely know our way around a tool belt. We worked for our keep." Done with his steak, he stretched his legs out in front of him, leaning back against the beanbag, hands behind his head. "We all enjoyed it too."
"There's something really satisfying about completing a job, isn't there?" She much preferred this safe topic of conversation to the family minefield. "These past months, I've had more than a few moments when I've been so pleased with the work I'm doing that I just have to stand back and look at it." She'd often felt the same way while building websites, especially when she figured out a new tool or widget. She didn't mention her job, though. It would only trigger more questions.
"Yeah," he agreed. "It's a great feeling. My dad didn't just give us the tools to be able to fix things with our own hands--he showed the other tenants how to fix stuff too." Daniel's expression softened with the tremendous love he felt for his father, for his whole family. "That's where the idea for my DIY show came from. I wanted to emulate Dad by teaching people how to do it themselves and save money. And also to give them an inexpensive place to buy the tools and products they need, aided by helpful assistants to answer their questions. At first, we did demonstrations and classes at the stores, but I wanted to reach as many people as possible, so we transitioned into videos."
It didn't hurt, she thought, that Daniel was so good to look at on the screen, that he smiled often, that his laugh was a deep bass. But he was so much better in person. Her reactions to him were more visceral--the curl of desire in her belly, the heat of her skin when he was near.
Just as she'd feared, the more she liked him, the harder it was to keep her distance. Especially in the warm firelight and the candles and lanterns he'd set out to keep the dark at bay, where she felt lulled into wanting what she couldn't have. What she didn't believe she was worthy of. Not anymore.
"Any video requests?" he asked.
"You have to do a video on installing a hot tub," she found herself saying. "I'd love to install one off my bedroom so that I can get into it first thing in the morning, straight out of bed."
"A hot tub? Off your bedroom?" His voice sounded strangled, his gaze sizzling hot and riveted on her lips, as though he wanted to devour them. As if he wanted to consume her.
The only thing that could have broken the spell was a puppy whining for food. Otherwise, Tasha might have dived on him and done all the devouring herself.
"I think that's Darla," Tasha said, jumping to her feet and looking into the crate. Sure enough, the little puppy was squawking like a baby bird. "She must be hungry. Which is good, isn't it? It means she's feeling stronger, right?" She was babbling because Daniel's eyes were so intense. As though he could see right through her need to put distance between them. "I'll make some Puppy Chow for her." Spanky grumbled and woke up, closely followed by Froggy. Concentrating on them was better than facing the look in Daniel's eyes, the one that promised to ferret out all her secrets. "We should probably feed the boys too."
"I'll help you." Leaning down to scratch a puppy ear, Daniel was close enough to heat her straight through.
Backing up, she stepped on the edge of her plate, her cutlery rattling to the floor, and she would have tripped if he hadn't grabbed her.
Just as it had when he'd rescued her from the roof, his touch sent hot need racing through her.
"Why don't we let the dogs run around a bit while we make up their food?" Her voice sounded as breathless as she felt.
"Actually," Daniel said, "I should probably take them outside to do some business first."
Talking about the puppies and their potty training should have squashed all sense of desire. Except it didn't. Because watching him pick all three up in his big hands made her whole body hum, turning her wild inside and crazy with need.
He was so gentle. And yet so strong.
So gorgeous.
So sexy.
Get a grip, Tasha.
Only, that was her major problem. She wanted a grip. On him. All over him.
And she was actually spending the night here?
She'd survived falling off the roof. But temptation might very well be the death of her.
Chapter Nine
Daniel breathed in the cold, stormy night air, hoping it would cool him down. Tasha seemed completely unaware of how utterly desirable she was. As far as he could tell, she didn't have a clue what her smiles and laughter did to him.
And she clearly had no idea of the fantasies his mind had conjured up when she'd mentioned hot tubs...
It was going to be a hell of a long night.
By the time he'd returned with the puppies, she'd lined up food bowls on the floor in front of the crate. After he put them down on the hardwood floor, their feet slid out from under them as they tried to scramble to their food.
"Try again, guys." He stood them all up on their paws.
"And girl," Tasha said, kneeling beside him.
Tasha's fresh-rain scent did things to his insides, and he battled an intense desire to nuzzle her hair. Yet there was something so vulnerable about her. He couldn't put his finger on it, but any move he might make felt like he'd be taking advantage of her.
She was nothing like the women he'd dated. Women who knew the score. Who had been around. No one got hurt, and nothing got messy. But Tasha was a whole different toolbox he didn't know his way around.
And he'd be damned if he hurt her.
In the back of his mind, though, he couldn't stop wondering if keeping his distance was more about protecting himself from Tasha. Just as his mother had suggested during their call, maybe that was his MO, the way he'd always held himself back from every other woman, fearing that no relationship could stack up to his parents' perfect, open, honest love story.
Until his mom had started talking about bumps.
Damn it, he wasn't letting that thought inside his head right now. Not when he finally had Tasha here for an entire night.
"Sit, Darla." He tapped her behind. "Good girl," he praised. Then he let her eat before doing the same with Spanky.
"Are you trying to train them already?" Tasha gathered up Froggy like a protective mother. "They're just babies."
The affronted frown on her brow made him laugh. "They did their business outside when I told them. So I figure they can learn to sit for a meal. Why don't you try the command?"
She harrumphed, so damn cute the need to kiss her consumed him all over again. But she set Froggy by a bowl, said, "Sit, Froggy," and tapped his little bottom. When he sat, she applauded him, then let him eat.
"See? It works."
She rolled her eyes at him. "Only if I tap his butt down."
"Good training habits start early."
She narrowed-eyed him this time. "You said you'd never had a pet, so how do you know?"
"Intuition."
r /> "Yeah, right." She laughed.
He loved the way her face lit up when she forgot to be wary. It was just how he wanted her--sweet and hot and laughing.
Without thinking, he reached out to tuck her hair behind her ear. She went still, and his heart beat harder in his chest, throbbing in places way down low. He'd never felt this mixture of desire laced with nerves before.
He'd always asked for what he wanted, never worried about mixed signals, never wondered if someone might get hurt--because none of his previous dates had had any chance of lasting for the long haul. They'd known it as well as he had.
But with Tasha...
His thoughts scattered as she turned to him slightly, her mouth so damn kissable. Trailing his finger around the shell of her ear, he touched her lobe, slid down to her throat, her skin warm to the touch. Her lashes fluttered down, and she finally breathed, her lips parting. Inviting.
He was so close to kissing her. Barely a breath away from drowning in her scent, in her warmth.
"Oh look, see how much Darla's eating all on her own this time." Her voice trembled, but whether it was with desire or nerves, he didn't know. "She's finally on the mend. And so are the other two. They just needed food and water and TLC. Don't you think?"
"I do," he said, squashing his disappointment that she hadn't fallen into his arms. "They're going to be fine."
Maybe he should have kissed her and to hell with thinking things through. But he wanted her to be just as into him as he was into her. He wanted to know he wasn't the only one slowly going crazy with need.
And the truth was that he needed to understand her better before they took that step, so they could avoid any pitfalls waiting around the bend.
When she yawned, it hit him how tired she must be from caretaking the three puppies. Plus, she'd been up way earlier than he had, the realization a potent reminder of how she'd found him naked in his bed this morning. The memory made his voice a little rough around the edges. "It's been a long day, and you've been occupied with these furballs the whole time. It's my turn tonight. Why don't you head up to bed?"
"I like taking care of them," she insisted, "even if they don't sleep through the night yet." The second big yawn that chased her sentence gave her away.
"Do I need to carry you up there and tuck you in myself?" He'd love it. But it was the baddest of bad ideas considering he didn't trust himself to find the strength to leave.
"No!" The unavoidable sensual undertones of his offer were akin to striking a match beneath her feet. "I'm going." She was already skittering away from him and up the stairs when she called over her shoulder, "Good night."
He sat on the floor with the dogs, stroking them silently until he heard his bedroom door close. "Women." Darla gave him the side-eye, and he brushed a hand over her cute head. "All the ones who ever wanted me, I didn't want. And now that I've found one I can't stop thinking about..."
Darla slipped and slid as she tried to climb into his lap. He picked her up, and she immediately curled into a ball of fluff. Moments later, her brothers were jostling to join her, and before Daniel knew it, he had three warm bodies happily snoring against him.
Family. There was nothing like it to heal you--or, as in the case of the other Mavericks' birth parents, harm you.
He'd learned tonight that Tasha had worked with her family, which was now in the past. But her emotions about it clearly weren't past artifacts, if merely talking about her family could etch that much pain on her face.
Daniel knew from Will, Sebastian, Matt, and Evan's experiences that dealing with bad things from your past wasn't easy. On the contrary, it tended to be a long road, one you could walk only with the people who loved you, people you trusted not to use your pain against you.
Secure in the knowledge that nothing could hurt Tasha while she was in his home, he leaned against the beanbag and closed his eyes, soon joining the puppies in their slumber.
*
Tasha woke to the sun filling Daniel's room. The storm had passed during the night, and the morning was glorious. She stretched luxuriously in his big sleigh bed. Though she should have been more insistent that she didn't need to take his bed, she couldn't deny that the thick, top-quality mattress was an utterly delicious treat after three months on a blow-up bed.
Daniel had said she should use whatever she wanted, and though she didn't like to take advantage of his hospitality, she couldn't resist a shower in his spa-like bathroom.
Nor, on the heels of last night's almost-kiss that had crept into her dreams, could she resist the fantasy of Daniel in there with her, soaping each other...
No, she couldn't think like that. Couldn't allow herself to fall deeper under his spell. Especially now that she'd learned just how difficult his childhood had been--and how hard he'd worked to bring not only himself out of it, but his parents as well.
Daniel deserved to be with a woman just as selfless and good as he was. One who had sound judgment about people, or at the very least, one who hadn't missed every single sign of wrongdoing her entire life. A woman who'd never walked on the wrong side, the way Tasha had with her family.
After showering and towel-drying her hair, she left it hanging loose to air dry. Finally looking at her watch, she shocked herself. It was eleven o'clock. How had she slept that long? It was unheard of.
But she knew exactly why. With Daniel downstairs, she'd felt safe for the first time in months. She hadn't missed the wariness that sometimes crept into his eyes, as though it worried him that he couldn't add up all her pieces into a whole. He was right to be wary, obviously smarter than she by a long shot when it came to not trusting someone completely before you knew enough about them.
At last, she left the bedroom, lured by the scent of freshly brewed coffee. In jeans and a lumberjack shirt, Daniel was all bulging muscles and absolute perfection, freshly showered and his hair still wet. She followed his gaze to the wet footprints on the deck outside and the towel hanging over the rail.
"Did you wash up in the lake?" She shivered just imagining it. The water was cold.
He ran a hand through his hair, already starting to curl as it dried. "It's a refreshing way to wake up."
His smile threatened to knock her to her knees, as did the image of him jumping naked into the lake. But she needed to be stronger than her hormones and her desires.
In the great room, he'd set plates on the long plank between two sawhorses, normally his workbench but now doubling as a dining table. "Ready for pancakes and eggs?"
"You don't even have a full kitchen in yet," she said. "How can you make pancakes and eggs?"
"You can do anything on a barbecue. It's just another gas flame."
He was too good. Too sweet. Too everything. Weakness stole over her again--the need to stay, the desire to trust him with all her secrets.
But what would he say once he learned that her whole life was a lie? If he knew her family were criminals? And that she'd played a part--no matter how unwitting--in swindling all those people?
She'd already overstayed her welcome, but she couldn't simply hightail it out of here first thing in the morning. Not after he'd been so gracious about letting her stay the night and cooking for her--and not when her furry little charges were snuffling around inside their crate.
She was glad she could mask her emotions for Daniel by training her attention on the puppies. "How are you guys doing this morning?" Kneeling beside them, she reached inside the box to pick up Darla. The little puppy began to lick her fingers. "You're just the sweetest thing."
"I fed them again," Daniel said, "then took them outside to do their business, and they've gotten a couple of catnaps in too. They seem a lot friskier today." He knelt on the floor next to her. "The vet was able to squeeze in their appointment this afternoon before the holiday weekend."
Up here all alone, she sometimes lost track of what day of the week it was. She'd completely forgotten that it was Memorial Day weekend. "Thank you for doing that. You should have woken me. I c
ould have helped."
"I'm glad you got a good night's sleep," he said. "It's been my pleasure, Tasha."
The way he said pleasure heated her skin, as if he were whispering delectably naughty things in her ear, especially after referencing her night spent in his bed.
Thankfully, he didn't seem to have a clue about her jumbled emotions as he picked up Spanky and Froggy. "Look what I taught them." Setting both puppies on the floor, he reached into his jeans pocket and brought out a nugget of puppy food. "Sit, Spanky." Before he could tap the puppy's behind, the little guy sat. Froggy did the same, although he did need a tiny reminder with a gentle finger placed on his bottom.
She could hardly believe her eyes, especially when the two puppies got their treats, then began to scamper about, rolling over each other and wrestling.
"They're so smart, and so much better! After just one day." She stroked Darla's head, then put her on the floor. "Did you teach her too?"
Daniel retrieved another bite of kibble from his pocket. But Darla didn't sit. Instead, she began to relieve herself.
"Oh no, you don't." Daniel set her on a thick layer of newspaper Tasha hadn't noticed before. After the puppy was done, she trotted toward her gamboling brothers. "She'll be fine," he told Tasha, looking for all the world like a proud papa. "She just needs to build up her strength." He gestured to one of the folding chairs he'd put by the makeshift table. "And so do you. Eat before everything gets cold."
He'd set out maple syrup and raspberry jam for the pancakes, along with butter, but Tasha placed an egg on top of her pancake and broke the yolk, letting it drizzle down.
"You're even great at making breakfast on a grill," she said after swallowing the first bite.
She was grateful for the delicious food. For his help with the puppies and the feather-soft bed. But all the longing inside her told her it was long past time to get out, so she practically shoveled down the rest of the egg and pancake.
And almost spat it out when the front door shook with a loud banging.
"Who the heck is that?" Daniel said.
Tasha sat frozen as he rose to answer it. Oh God, had the investigators changed their minds? Had they decided she was as bad as her father? They'd surely send her to prison, where she would rot for being so weak, for never questioning her family, for always seeing only the good in them, and for being stupid enough to succumb to Eric's lying charms.