And Able. Lucy Monroe

I’m not in the market for a committed relationship, and you’re not the type of woman to settle for a one-night stand or even a short affair.”

      “Of course not.” Her distaste for the very thought had to have been written on her face because he winced.

      The thing was, she didn’t think Hotwire was a one-night stand kind of guy himself. Only, for some reason he wanted her to think he never got serious with women. She realized that was the message he’d been giving her since the day they met, but it simply did not ring true. He had too much integrity to be a true hound dog. Regardless, patently, he had no desire to get serious with her, and that’s all that really mattered.

      Besides which, she wanted a relationship with a man like she wanted to retake her finals from last semester and flunk them all. There was no place in her life for a man…not even a super-sexy stud who made her insides go nuts with something as simple as a kiss.

      “Right, we’re at opposite ends of this particular data array,” he said. “So, no more soul kisses.”

      “That felt more like a groping, marauder kiss to me.”

      “I do not grope.” Hotwire looked truly offended.

      “So the fingers I felt on my behind were a spectral phenomenon?” she mocked.

      “I’m not a ghost.”

      “I can vouch for that,” she said with a small smile, still tingling in places she never talked about.

      Chapter 2

      “Claire,” Josette yelled from the other room.

      “That’s my cue to go.”

      “Good luck,” Hotwire said.

      “Aren’t you coming to watch?”

      “No.”

      “Marriage isn’t a disease, you know. You can’t catch it being in the same room as Josette and Nitro.”

      He smiled a little. “It’s a good thing, since I was at the wedding.”

      “You really are clinging to your freedom, aren’t you?”

      “I’m not ready to settle down, no.”

      She shrugged. Marriage wasn’t her idea of life happily ever after, either, but his single status was almost a religion for Hotwire. “Thanks again…for getting me my locket back.”

      “Hey, no big deal.”

      Wolf had told her that Hotwire had spent precious extra minutes searching the offices of the terrorist group they brought down the month before, risking his very life to get her necklace back. Hotwire was hero material for sure…she, however, was no princess, and she didn’t believe in fairy tales anyway.

      “It is to me,” was all she said, and then she turned and walked away, her hand rising of its own volition so her fingertips could press the swollen contours of her lips.

      Hotwire watched Claire walk away and damn near went after her when she touched her mouth as if holding onto their kiss. He hadn’t been this turned on in…hell, he wasn’t sure he’d ever been this turned on.

      Claire did nothing to entice him, and he spent every second in her company wanting to strip her naked.

      If the near debilitating desire wasn’t enough, he actually enjoyed her company. He’d once told Nitro that he and Claire had nothing in common. And in some ways that was true. The woman was a vegetarian and a pacifist. Not exactly best-buddy material for a former mercenary.

      But she was also smart and understood computers with the same intrinsic ability as he did. She shared his passion for new technology as well. He’d never met another woman like her.

      She didn’t dress to her best advantage. He’d never seen her wearing makeup before today, but her lack of artifice didn’t make her any less feminine to him. He felt more male hormones rampage through him in her company than he did surrounded by a gaggle of his mother’s southern belle protégées.

      But something about Claire held him back from acting on what those male hormones wanted him to do. Her ready confirmation that she was not the kind of woman to enjoy a no-commitment affair was only part of it. Even if she would accept those terms, he had a feeling that sex with her would be more than mind-numbing physical pleasure.

      For all her lack of feminine wiles, Claire Sharp was a dangerous woman. She was so damn different from those southern belles his mama was so fond of. Any woman he knew from back home would accept whatever he chose to give her with a sweet smile and an attitude that said she was doing him a favor letting him give it to her.

      Claire wasn’t like that. At all. She said she refused to accept charity, but he didn’t consider helping a friend charity.

      Heck, it had taken some major fast-talking on Josie’s part to get Claire to keep using the laptop he’d given her when she learned she wasn’t getting hers back. The FBI had confiscated it as evidence the month before. Hotwire hadn’t been surprised by the fed’s action, which was why he’d made sure her grandmother’s locket was off the premises when the FBI moved in on the bad guys.

      She was his friend, even if maybe she didn’t see herself that way.

      There weren’t many people he put in that category, and it irritated him she didn’t consider herself one of them. He didn’t get it, but there were a lot of things about Claire that mystified him and would continue to do so.

      Because time spent in her company trying to figure her out was hazardous…both to his libido and his peace of mind.

      “And this switch turns the outer lights on steady illumination.” Hotwire pressed the small button and the backyard lit, exposing every shadowy recess.

      He’d driven Claire home so he could go over the new security system with her.

      “Great,” Claire enthused, though he got the distinct impression she was humoring him. “I’m amazed you got it all done so quickly.”

      He shrugged. “No sweat. It’s what we do.”

      She cocked her head to one side and looked at him. “Not exactly. Your new company specializes in hi-tech security on a much bigger scale.”

      “It’s the same principle.”

      “There’s nothing dangerous about installing outdoor lighting in a residential neighborhood.”

      “We’re not mercs anymore, Claire. Our day jobs aren’t that dangerous, either.”

      “Right. According to Josette, your latest client is an international politician who requested your expertise in keeping him alive because he’d received so many death threats in the past year.”

      “Coordinating protection for one politician is nothing compared to going into a war zone to bring out hostages.”

      “Agreed. But then, securing Josette’s rental house is nothing in comparison to the politician, either.”

      “But no less important.” Her safety mattered to all of them.

      “Thanks.” She smiled, her pretty pink lips void of the gloss she’d worn earlier.

      The thought that he had kissed it off tormented him. He could still taste her on his lips, and the desire to kiss her again grew with every breath he took in her radius. Coming to her house alone had been a really bad idea. He hadn’t reacted to a woman like this since Elena, and even then, he’d had more control of the physical desires riding him.

      Her brown gaze was warm. “You did a great job. I really like the way you set up remote access capability from my laptop.”

      “I figured you would.”

      “You know me so well.” Which made her look wary, for some reason.

      The