McIver's Mission by Brenda Harlen

McIver."
    He shrugged. "It was worth a try."
    "Try forgetting I'm here," she said.
    Then she turned and disappeared down the hall to what
must have been her bedroom, because he heard the soft click of a door latching
shut a few seconds later. Undaunted, he set to work.
    Arden didn't surface again until almost two hours had
passed. When she did so, she'd changed into a pair of faded navy leggings and
an oversize flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled back. Her hair was down and
tousled sexily. Shaun felt the tug of lust deep inside, pushed it aside and
pretended to concentrate on sanding the edge of a piece of wood he'd just
trimmed. She came out of the kitchen a few minutes later with a cup of yogurt
and a spoon in hand.
    He wanted to comment on what he assumed was her
dinner, but he didn't. "Is the noise bothering you?" he asked
instead.
    "No," she said. "I seem to be able to
tune everything else out when I'm working."
    "Too bad not everyone can do the same."
    She seemed confused by his statement, but made no
comment as she stirred the yogurt.
    "Did you sort out that problem with your
landlord?"
    Her brow furrowed. "What problem?"
    "The noise complaint. Your downstairs
neighbor," he reminded her, watching closely for her reaction.
    She popped a spoonful of yogurt in her mouth, then
swept her tongue along the fullness of her bottom lip to remove any lingering
traces. Shaun nearly groaned aloud, remembering how wonderful her mouth had
tasted, wishing it was his tongue stroking those luscious lips. If she was
trying to distract him from his topic of inquiry, she was doing a hell of a
job.
    "Oh. Yeah. Everything's um, taken care of."
    "That's good. I was a little worried that the
sawing and hammering might bother him."
    "It might make more sense for you to make the
shelves at home."
    He grinned. "It would."
    Arden sighed. "Well, I've got some, um, research
to do. I'm going to head over to the … library for a while."
    "Now?"
    She frowned. "Yes, now. Why?"
    "You shouldn't be going out on your own at this
time of night."
    She glanced at her watch. "It's not even nine
o'clock."
    "It's dark outside."
    "It was almost dark when I came home," she
said.
    Now it was Shaun's turn to frown. "You're going
to leave me here?"
    "I didn't realize you were afraid to be left
alone."
    "Very funny."
    "Do you have any other objections?"
    "What if I need to leave before you get
back?" He really didn't want her going out on her own. He wasn't sure why
the idea bothered him so much, why he felt so protective of her.
    "I won't be too long," she said. "But
if you need to go before I get back, just leave."
    "I'm not going to leave your apartment unlocked
and unattended."
    "It's a secure building, Shaun."
    "That didn't stop someone from shooting out your
windows."
    "The police are convinced that was just a
childish prank."
    "It was a real gun," he reminded her.
"I won't go out and leave your apartment unlocked."
    Arden sighed and went into the kitchen.
"Here," she said, thrusting a key into his hand. "It's a
spare."
    He studied the key for a moment, grinned. "I've
had women give me keys to their apartments before," he said. "But
never with such enthusiasm."
    Arden glared at him. "It's so you can get out ,
not come in."
    He felt his grin widen as he pocketed the key.
"It works both ways."
    She picked up the briefcase she'd dropped at the door.
"If you're not here when I get back, thanks for the work you're
doing."
    "Anytime," he said.
    * * *
    Arden
spent a couple hours at the library. She didn't have anything pressing that
required immediate research, but she'd needed an excuse to get out of her
apartment. To get away from Shaun. It wasn't just that his presence unnerved
her, although it did, it was the way he looked at her—as if he saw so much more
than she wanted to reveal.
    She'd nearly blown it when he'd asked about her
downstairs neighbor. She'd forgotten about the story she'd concocted to explain
that letter. She sighed and pushed her hair away from