Her body’s an aphrodisiac, whetting my palate. With a face perfect exactly as it is—natural and confident—an inner beauty shines through in the simplest of glances we’re sharing.

“Why are you staring at me?” she asks, no accusation woven in her tone, just curiosity.

I tighten my grip on the steering wheel and exhale a puff of air. “Sorry. It’s a bad habit.”

She angles her knees toward me. “You make it a habit of staring at people?”

“No.” I glance at her with a smirk fully in place. “Just you. You’re very distracting.”

“Good or bad?”

“Good distracting. Bad for our safety.”

She reaches over and presses her fingers to my cheek until I’m facing forward again. I chuckle because she doesn’t manage to wipe the smile away. In fact, it grew wider. “Eyes on the road, mister.”

“I thought you liked to take risks. Something about pain being worth it.”

The question leaves her in silence but not long enough to be concerned. “I was speaking of the heart, not life-or-death situations.”

“Ah. That makes sense.” I give her a wink. “Don’t worry. I’ll get you home safely.”

She looks at me with the moonlight pouring in and shining in her eyes. “Harbor?”

I like the way my name rolls off her tongue and kisses her lips.

“Yeah?”

“Can I tell you a secret?”

“Another one? I feel honored,” I tease her after the last one she shared with me, which wasn’t much of a secret.

“Maybe they’re not so much secrets as confessions.”

“Okay, confession or secret, I won’t share with anyone else.”

Her smile warms me more than the car’s heater ever could. “I rarely go out, but I’m glad I went out with you tonight.”

“Me too. It was good spending time with you.”

I slow down to turn left, which goes against every urge inside telling me to keep driving just to steal a few extra minutes of her time. “Can I ask you something, Lark?”

“I don’t have anything to hide.”

Everyone has something to hide. But I believe her. “Why’d you decide to come?”

Her eyes return to me as she snuggles up on the passenger’s seat. “You made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”

“Dinner?”

“Moretti’s.”

I click my tongue in amusement. “Noted.” I turn onto her street, dreading the night coming to an end.

She says, “You know . . .” I glance her way. “It wasn’t just the restaurant.”

“Oh yeah? What was it?”

“It was also the company. You are definitely better than a can of frank and beans any day.” She gives me a flirty wink, holding her sexy own with me.

I burst out laughing. “So what you’re saying is I was right.”

“You weren’t wrong.”

I catch her smile fading just as I pull up to the curb in front of her house. She looks at the house for a long beat or two, and then says, “You can come in if you want to.”