It was much later, the sky lightening with the dawn, before they were alone again. Well, almost; Liam was in his truck, now parked in her driveway. Mandy had tried to get him to come inside where it was warm, but he’d politely refused and told them to get some sleep. Adam guessed he’d probably be right there until his boss arrived. He hoped the intimidating Quinn Foxworth wouldn’t chew on him too hard.

“Liam’s right, you should try to get some rest,” he told Mandy.

She shook her head. “I’m still too wound up.”

He let out a breath, but nodded in understanding. “I get that.”

She gave him a sideways look. “I can think of a way to unwind, though.”

Despite everything, a sudden streak of heat rippled through him. “Can you?”

She leaned over and whispered into his ear exactly what she’d like to do. To him. His breath left him in a rush. “Liam’s in the driveway.”

“So?”

He gave her a look that matched the building sizzle. “You do that, and there’s no way I can stay quiet.”

“Oh, but it will be such fun to watch you try,” she said.

“You’ve got a cruel streak,” he teased. For a moment her expression darkened, and he knew she was thinking of...before. “I didn’t mean it that way,” he said quickly.

“But I was cruel.”

“No. You don’t have it in you, any more than your father did. You were just...angry.”

“And you thought you deserved it.”

“I’m still not sure I don’t,” he admitted.

“I am,” she said, nodding toward her bandaged arm. “Even when I realized it had been much worse than I thought, I still had no idea now incapacitating it must have been. So please, Adam, can we put it behind us? For good?”

He wasn’t sure he could put the guilt behind him, but he was more than glad to put her anger there. It was worth more than he could say that she no longer hated him. That she even might—

Easy there, don’t make this more than it is.

His father’s advice, given often to whoever needed it at the time, echoed in his head. And Adam told himself not to read too much into these precious hours with her.

But Mandy wasn’t a woman to take sleeping with a guy lightly. Nor was she the type to do it out of revenge; lure him in and then slam him down. In fact, it seemed like—if her request just now was anything to go by—she pretty much liked him. Maybe more.

And he refused to let the size of that maybe bother him as he swept her up in his arms and carried her gently to her bed.

Chapter 32