And at the thought, a very small bit of her anxiety slipped away. No, it hadn’t been the warm open-armed welcome she’d imagined, not even close, but she’d seen him, she’d looked into his dark troubled eyes and had recognized a kindred spirit.

That, and all her hopes and dreams, would have to get her through.

“Delia.”

Jolted out of her musings by Cade’s husky voice, Delia came to a stop beside the rental car. He was leaning against the driver’s door, arms and ankles crossed.

A casual pose. Not such a casual man.

The sun was behind him, like a halo over his dark hair, shadowing his expression. But just the sight of him, waiting for her, did something strange to her insides.

She wasn’t a woman easily affected by a man. There’d been few in her life she’d ever trusted, few she’d let know her, and fewer still who could trip her pulse.

Yet this man did exactly that and more, which didn’t sit well with her. He was the opposite of everything she’d ever wanted. Security. Safety. And that other, that illusive thing she’d just today discovered about herself-that inexplicable need to be needed.

Tall, dark and tempting as he was, Cade could give her none of that.

“How did it go?” he asked, concern evident in every tense muscle.

She really hadn’t had much chance to think about him and why he’d come. She’d been far too nervous and anxious about Jacob. Now she wondered what he was thinking and why she cared so much.

“Hey.” Frowning, he straightened away from the car. “You okay?”

No. No, she wasn’t okay. Wasn’t sure when she would be okay. “I…” Suddenly being in front of Edna’s house, with Scott probably watching her out the window, weighing her every move and planning her future around it, felt oppressing. “I need to get out of here,” she murmured as her headache kicked in. She rubbed her temples. “Can we…”

“Yep.” With surprising gentleness, he steered her around the car and opened the door for her. She expected to be grilled, but he didn’t say a word, and she was grateful. “Here’s the address Scott gave me,” she said, handing him a slip of paper. “It’s where they’re going to go eat.”

“Do we have some time?”

“A little, maybe.” The pounding in her head made her dizzy, so she leaned back and closed her eyes. She heard the engine come on, but she didn’t move. It felt good just to drift.

She must have fallen asleep because when the engine stopped, she jolted awake. They were at a park. “What…?”

“You looked like you needed a minute first, and we never talked about which hotel-”

“Hotel,” she repeated inanely. God, tonight. Sleeping. And Cade, his rough and tough body sprawled restlessly between the sheets. They’d probably be tangled around him, for she didn’t imagine he slept quietly.

He gave a low and sexy chuckle. “Don’t you have enough to worry about without adding anything else?” he asked.

“Yes, I-”

“Tell me how it went with Jacob.”

The quick change of subject, from teasing to seriousness, left her head spinning all the more. “It didn’t go very well,” she murmured. “In fact, I think it’s safe to say it went very badly.”

With amazing tenderness-she never imagined Cade could be tender-he reached up and pulled her fingers away from her temples.

“Hush,” he whispered, then slipped his own fingers through her hair and massaged her head.

The moan slipped out of her before she could stop it, which horrified her. “Shh,” he said, and continued to work magic with his fingers.

The windows were down. Around them were tall aspens, weaving in the light wind. The sun was warm. Children played in the distance, and birds and insects serenaded them. It was a lovely day, a lovely moment with his talented hands on her, and Delia began to relax.

“I blew it,” she said. “I tried to rush Jacob when all I wanted to do was reach him. It was a fiasco.”

“You’ll try again.”

“How?”

“You giving up already?”

Her gaze whipped to his, registered the direct challenge there, and within a second her self-pity ceased. “Do I look like a quitter, McKnight?”

His lips curved slowly as his gaze ran over her, lingering in spots that suddenly tingled, making her heart dance that funny little dance again. “No, ma’am,” he drawled. “You certainly don’t look like a quitter to me.”

Darn it, but that smile of his was a lethal weapon. “Tell me again why you’re here. With me. And don’t give me the friend thing again. It doesn’t fly.”

“No?” In the blink of an eye he was closer, so much so that she could feel his warm breath on her face. “Let’s try this, then.”

And his mouth came down on hers.

She made a noise that Cade took to mean she was surprised, but hell, that made them even. He hadn’t meant to kiss her, but he did, and she tasted like heaven. Because he wanted more, he nibbled at her lips until she let him deepen the kiss. Now he made the noise of surprise because something happened, something really good. An almost forgotten sense of wicked abandon came over him.

As his hands swept up and down her arms, she shivered, making that little sound again, the one that reminded him of a kitten getting its belly rubbed. He decided he liked that sound a lot.

She clung to him, her fingers tangled in his hair as she held his head close, but he was so breathless from just that one kiss he tore his mouth from hers and buried his face in her neck. He found skin so sweet and soft he had to explore it with his tongue. Then the sensitive spot beneath her ear drew him, and he kissed her there.

She whispered his name on a sigh, making herself vulnerable in a way he hadn’t imagined this strong woman ever doing.

It was startling, shocking, humbling.

So was how much he wanted her.

Rocked to the core, Cade leaned back just enough to see her face. His shock was mirrored right back at him, and more. There was stunned arousal, too. And fear.

That had been no ordinary kiss, in fact, that had been like no other kiss he’d ever had.

Delia’s breath came in uneven little pants, and her lush mouth was still wet and now slightly swollen. Clearly she was in no better shape than he to examine what had just happened and why.

“Time for pizza?” he asked, his voice gravelly with desire.

“Yes!” she agreed quickly. “Yes.” Backing away, she adjusted her seat belt, ran a hand through her hair, anything to avoid meeting his eyes. But that was okay with Cade because he knew what was in his eyes-a mixture of confusion and lust, and he sure as hell wasn’t ready to face either. Not with this woman, the one woman in far too long who seemed able to saunter right past his defenses directly to his heart.

Switching on the ignition, he drove out of the quiet park and back into the real world, where he was just the private investigator on a case that would soon be over, and she was just a client. Where neither of them would be tempted again because they were wrong for each other, all wrong.

Wrong for each other, he reminded himself at the pizza parlor where he watched Delia try to win the approval of a brother who wasn’t going to be easily reached.

Wrong for each other, he reminded himself again on the drive to the hotel she’d chosen when it was all he could do to concentrate on the road, when he really wanted to snag the too-quiet Delia close for an embrace he was sure wouldn’t be entirely for comfort.

Wrong for each other, he reminded himself yet again when they got to the hotel and their separate rooms, and Delia disappeared into hers, her willowy body slow with exhaustion, her eyes shadowed and troubled.

Suddenly it hit him right there and then, with the force of a tornado, as he stood there in the hallway of the hotel holding his key in one hand and his heart in the other, ready to be crushed. Again.

He was starting to fall.