Billi Jean by Running Scared

panic melted.
    “You surprised me,” she accused him softly, speaking into his sweater.
    He chuckled a bit at that understatement, the sound travelling through her body and tingling along her libido. He rested his chin on her head and drew her closer until she could feel every inch of him, and said, “I might have noticed that. If that was all I had to do to get you in my arms, though…” He had the nerve to wrap his arms around her tighter with a low laugh.
    She couldn’t help but join him, even though she knew she shouldn’t encourage him.
    “Wanna skip burgers and go to bed?”
    “Russell Ryland!” Like she hadn’t already thought of that. Still, she hit him on the chest, which only made him laugh louder.
    “I’m teasing you, Sunshine.”
    Mmm… She had to wonder, because he wasn’t letting her go, and he smelt so good and felt like a furnace, so good she considered letting him continue to hold her. It had been so long since anyone had touched her. Since her father, she realised. But this was different on so many levels. This was much more than comfort, because she was slowly starting to burn. Her breasts felt sensitive and heavy, while her heart was now racing for an altogether different reason. Him.
    “Russ?”
    “Yeah?” He sounded a great deal hoarser than usual.
    “Don’t ever do that again.”
    He stilled—even his hand on her back stopped in mid-stroke. Abruptly, he chuckled and kissed the top of her head. “Promise, Sunshine.”
    “Fine. Then I’ll let you buy me a burger, but don’t do that again.”
    “Yes, ma’am,” he rumbled. “And I’ll call my buddies. Tomorrow you’ll have a new system.”
    Blowing out a breath, she rolled her eyes as she moved back a step or two. “Fine, but I won’t be home. I…I was going to go on a hike.”
    He stared at her, looking frustrated, before he glanced around, picked up his empty beer bottle from the floor and sat down in one of her big kitchen chairs. She sat, too, and tucked her stockinged foot under her butt, pulling her skirt a bit to cover more of her legs. He drummed his fingers once on the tabletop and sighed. She didn’t mind his silences, but something was on his mind. She was beginning to understand some of his subtle expressions. Now he wore that small frown, like she’d done something that irked him, but he was trying to ease his face out of it.
    “What?”
    “Don’t you ever stay home?”
    Well, if that was all… “Not if I can help it.” Jumping up, she shrugged. “Let me go change. Beer’s in the fridge, and no walking around unless you stomp, or at least make some sort of normal noise.”
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    “And stop that.”
    He grinned and nodded, stood up and headed to the garage to get a beer, she assumed. “You keep callin’ me Russell, and I’ll stop with the ma’am.”
    Well, damn. She turned and headed to change, her mind and— wow —her body buzzing with the effects of Russell Ryland. He was actually kinda cute when he teased her. Russell? Not Russ? Irene called him Ryland. Irene’s husband Rob, called him Ace, and she’d heard the hardware guy, Dave, call him Ryland. That young recruit had called him Major. So she got Russell? For some reason that made her heart flutter. It sounded like a little boy’s name, not a full-grown, big, fierce man’s name.
    She made sure to lock the bedroom door behind her. Not that it would keep the sneaky guy out if he decided to come in. What on earth had Russell’s job in the SEALs been? she wondered. Her dad had only talked about a few missions, and they had all sounded scary as heck. But breaking and entering? She knew enough about Russell to know he’d not break and enter her house unless she gave him permission. He was one of those honourable guys.
    She tugged her skirt and hose off in record time and slipped into some cords, pulled on a sweater and tugged on socks and boots. She was ready to go. She looked excited when she checked her makeup. Her scar was