River’s End

never have gone this far down this road with Olivia. He puffed out short breaths, added another rep while sweat ran satisfactorily down his back.
    He’d have bet a year’s pay that she was a virgin. He had no right to touch her. However horrible an experience she’d been through, she’d lived the first eighteen years of her life completely sheltered. Like some princess in an enchanted forest in a fairy tale. He was years older—not the six that separated them chronologically, but in experience. He had no right to take advantage of that.
    As he switched to flies, the practical side of his mind reminded him she was also smart, strong and capable. She was ambitious and her eyes were as ancient as a goddess’s. Those were traits she owned that appealed to him every bit as much as the shyness she tried to hide.
    He hadn’t taken advantage of her. She’d responded, she’d all but melted against him, goddamn it. She had to feel something of what he felt. That bond, that connection, the absolute Tightness of it.
    Then he circled back around and berated himself for thinking with his glands. That had to stop. He’d call her, ask her if they could meet for coffee later. Something simple. Then he’d tell her about the book he was preparing to write. He’d explain things carefully, how he was going to contact everyone involved in the case. That he’d started with her because she’d been the reason the idea had formed in his mind in the first place.
    He wondered if the seed had been planted the first time he’d seen her. He set the weights aside, mopped his face with a towel. He’d call her as soon as he’d gone up to his room and showered. And he’d do what he now realized he should have done as soon as she’d opened her apartment door to him.
    Feeling better, looser, he bypassed the elevator and took the stairs to the ninth floor. And jolted to a halt when he saw her standing in front of his door, digging through an oversized purse.
    “Liv?”
    “God!” She nearly stumbled back, then stared at him. “You startled me.” She kept her hands buried in her bag until she was sure they wouldn’t shake. “I was just about to write you a note and slip it under your door.”
    She sent him a smile and stood there looking neat and fresh in jeans and a boxy jacket. When he didn’t respond, she shifted uneasily. “I hope you don’t mind that I came by.”
    “No. sorry.” He couldn’t afford to let her dazzle him again. “I just wasn’t expecting you. I was down in the gym.”
    “Really? I would never have guessed.”
    His quick grin had the worst of the tension smoothing out of her stomach. He dug his keycard out of his pocket, slid it into the door. “Come on in. And you can tell me instead of writing a note.”
    “I had some time between classes.” That was a lie. She was, for the first time in her college career, skipping class. How could she be expected to concentrate on wildlife ecology when she was planning to ask him to take her to bed?
    Oh God, how could she possibly tell him why she’d come? How would she begin?
    “Time enough for coffee?”
    “I ... yes. I was going to invite you to dinner—a home-cooked meal.”
    “Oh yeah? Much better than coffee.” He tried to think. He could talk to her more privately at her apartment. She’d be more comfortable there. She was obviously nervous now. standing in his cramped hotel room, with her hands locked together while she flicked uneasy glances toward the bed.
    So they’d get out. All he had to do was keep his hands off her in the meantime.
    “I need to clean up a little,” he told her.
    “Ah . . .” He looked wonderful, damp from his workout, the muscles in his arms toned and tough. She remembered how strong they’d been when they’d banded around her. “I just have to pick up a few things at the market.”
    “Tell you what. Give me a chance to take a shower, and we’ll both go to the market. Then I can watch you cook.”
    “All right.”
    He grabbed jeans from the back of a chair, hunted up a shirt. “There’s a very miserly honor bar under the TV. Help yourself. We’ve got cable,” he added as he dug socks and underwear out of a drawer. “Just have a seat. Give me ten minutes.”
    “Take your time.” The minute he closed the door to the bathroom, she lowered herself to the edge of the bed. Her knees were shaking.
    Good Lord, how was she going to manage this and not make a complete fool of herself? Marketing, they were going