“Hold still. You have some dough…” He reached out and brushed a finger across her cheek. Nerves twittered in her belly. Her mind went blank. Why did she want him to go?

Danny leaned in. His body caged her against the cabinets.

She couldn’t back up any more. And if she moved sideways, she’d rub against the lean hips that were blocking her exit. Not that she really wanted to move at all. But she angled her body a bit so he wouldn’t feel the gun nestled behind her right hip.

His eyes darkened and dropped to her mouth. He licked his lips, as if contemplating the taste of her.

“Do I make you uncomfortable?”

Uncomfortable just didn’t cover it. The kitchen was warm, but the external temperature had nothing to do with the lava flowing through Mandy’s veins. Never had a man made her feel like every inch of her skin was alive.

“Mandy?” The door opened, and her mother stepped into the room.

She felt the disappointed sigh roll through Danny’s whole body. He backed off. But regret didn’t dim the intensity in his eyes.

“Thank you for helping me with breakfast.” Her voice came out way too Marilyn Monroe breathy. She was practically panting. Ugh. Get a grip.

“Anytime.” He left the kitchen.

Her mother crossed the tile to the coffeepot. She emptied the decaf into her mug, then took the pot to the sink and filled it with soapy water. “Did I interrupt something?”

Mandy gulped orange juice. It wasn’t nearly cold enough. “No.”

“Sure looked like I did.”

And now her humiliation was complete.

“Well, you didn’t.” Mandy set her glass on the counter. “Danny was just helping me to say thanks for taking him in last night. That’s all.”

“Look, Mandy. You’re a grown woman. I can’t tell you what to do,” her mother said as she scrubbed the glass pot clean. “Danny seems like a nice man, and God knows I’m grateful to him for saving you and Jed, but he’s not going to stay here. Half the people who live in Huntsville don’t want to stay here. You can’t expect a city person to be content living in the middle of nowhere.”

“I know that. There’s nothing going on between us,” Mandy insisted.

“Good. Maybe Jed would come and help you with breakfast.”

“Mom, please stop calling Jed to help me. He can barely take care of his own place, and I can handle breakfast by myself. No, it’s not easy, but I can manage.”

Her mother shook her head. “I don’t want you to work yourself to the bone like I did. You should just marry Jed. If he moved in here, he wouldn’t have a separate place to keep up.”