She turned away.
His breath eased out.
She took a few steps toward her bedroom door. Stopped.
Every muscle in his body seemed to tighten. Go to bed, Maisey. Keep moving. One foot in front of the other. One foot—
She whirled back toward him. “My turn.”
What was her turn?
But she was striding back his way and his muscles just went tighter as she drew closer.
When she finally came to a stop, she was right in front of him once again. “I want to try again.”
“Try…what?”
“I was scared and the bad guy was right on the other side of the door and my heart was beating like a million miles an hour.” Her shoulders squared. “I want to try the kiss again.”
Bad idea. So very bad.
“You’re Mr. Control, aren’t you? So it’s not like it should be a big thing. And you just established that anything personal between us has nothing to do with the case.”
He’d established that? Odin tried to mentally run back through his words. He didn’t really remember—
“You kissed me before. I think, in the interest of fairness, I should get to kiss you now. Then we’ll be all even, and we can go to bed.” Her cheeks sucked in. “Separately. I mean for us to go to bed separately. Me in my room. You in your—um, spot on the floor.”
She was nervous again.
She was also inching ever so much closer. Her hands moved to press to his chest. She rose onto her tiptoes.
She wants to kiss me. And he damn well wanted her mouth. “If you really want to make this work, how about I give you a hand?” Odin closed his hands over her hips, lifted her up with zero effort, and turned to press her back against the nearby wall. Now they were on perfect level. She’d give him a quick kiss. He would not lose his control. Then they’d go to bed.
Separately.
But he didn’t anticipate that she’d curl her arms around his neck. Didn’t anticipate that she’d curl her legs around his hips.
“I do like this position,” Maisey whispered.
Fuck, so do I.
And Odin definitely didn’t anticipate that when she put those silky, soft lips of hers against his, when she dipped her tongue into his mouth—
I want to devour her.
He didn’t anticipate the rush of frantic, consuming desire that swept through him. Because, hell, yes, he’d enjoyed the kiss with her before. But he’d also been worried about the creep on the other side of the door and how to deal with him. This time, the only thing he thought about was her.
Maisey and her sweet mouth. Maisey and her wicked little tongue. Maisey and the way she pressed her body against his.
Her curves. Her scent.
Her.
His mouth opened wider. The hands on her waist tightened. His cock shoved hard against the front of his jeans as he pushed against the juncture of her thighs.
Maisey moaned again, and he greedily swallowed the sound. His tongue slid against hers. Took. Tasted. And with every second that passed, he just wanted more. More.
Everything.
His heart thundered. Heat and lust burned through him. His fingers shoved underneath the t-shirt she wore, and he touched her smooth, warm skin. He wanted her clothes gone. He wanted to strip her. To fuck her right there against the door. He wanted—
What in the hell?
Odin wrenched his mouth away from hers. His breath sawed out, heavy and hard. Hers did the same as she stared back at him. Her lips were red, still parted, and he found himself starting to dip back toward her for another taste—
No. Stop. Red flags were flying. Because this situation—fuck, he wanted her. He wanted to sink as deeply into her as he could go. He wanted Maisey’s soft pink nails to rake down his back. He wanted to make her scream for him. He wanted—
Control.
“Wow,” she whispered.
Wow, indeed. Same damn thought he had. Kissing her had been incredible. He wanted her mouth again. Wanted that t-shirt of hers to get tossed across the room.
“You really do have impressive control.” Her lashes flickered.
A pang of unease stirred within him. Had that been a hint of pain in her voice?
“Guess you can turn things on and off easily, huh? Good to know.” She gave him a quick smile. Her dimples didn’t even flash because the smile barely curved her lips. But her hands did push against his arms. “You can put me down now. I’d say we’re e-even.”
Was that what they were?
But she’d asked to be put down, so he slowly lowered her until her feet touched the floor. As soon as his hands lifted from her, Maisey bolted away from him.
He took a quick, instinctive step after her, but then stopped.
She’d wanted to be even.
I just want her.
She didn’t look back, so she didn’t see that his hands had clenched into fists at his sides. She didn’t see that his gaze was locked on her. That his jaw was clenched. That his cock shoved hard against the front of his jeans. She didn’t see that he was freaking practically drooling after her.
Her bedroom door closed behind her with a soft click.
***
Her eyes squeezed shut as Maisey’s back pressed to the bedroom door. She could still feel his mouth against hers. Could still feel the hot strength of his body against hers. She’d been rubbing and arching against him, lost to every single thing but the way Odin made her feel.
Then he’d pulled back.
Stared at her with a hard gaze and expressionless face.
She’d been about to go up in flames, and he’d been pulling away. Not like she’d ever been the type to inspire a guy to go crazy with lust, but…
I think I went crazy with lust. A first for her. She’d been ready to crawl all over him. Wait. Okay. Fine. She had been crawling all over him.
Her PI. Her partner. The man she’d be seeing again first thing in the morning.
Her eyes cracked open. She stumbled for the bed. Kicked off her shoes. Then just kinda fell face-first onto the bed. The pillow muffled her embarrassed groan. Maybe by tomorrow, she’d be able to look at Odin without fantasizing about ripping off his clothes.
Maybe. Maybe not.
***
The bedroom light at 104 Azalea Lane flickered off first. Five minutes later, the light in the den turned off.
Interesting.
A big shadow had been moving in the den before the light died away.
Maisey’s new friend.
Had he returned to the bedroom with her? Or was he sleeping in the den? Just how close of a friend was he?
And would he be a problem?
The house near Maisey’s was quiet. Completely dark. 106 Azalea Lane waited in the darkness. Maisey had been in that house. So had her friend. What had she been searching for? And, more alarming…had she found it?
Chapter Five
The rest of the weekend had been dead quiet. True to his word, Odin had gotten a top-of-the-line alarm system installed for Maisey. He’d gone over all the bells and whistles for her. Ever-so-professionally. Not even mentioning the kiss—the two kisses—they’d shared. Then he’d told her that he had some digging to do on her neighbor. He’d promised to let her know as soon as he had any updates.
And she hadn’t heard from him since then. It was Monday evening. Monday. Maisey had tried being patient. She got that maybe Odin had weekend plans. And, sure, he’d given up his Friday night and a big chunk of the day Saturday to do her alarm system. She was appreciative. She was grateful.