A Maverick's Christmas Homecoming. Teresa Southwick

then he kissed her. His lips were soft, gentle, but there was nothing gentle about the effect on her senses. It felt as if a wave of emotions crashed over her and she was floating because her legs went weak. The scent of his spicy cologne mixed with the pleasant smell of oil, spices and fire. Blood pounded in her ears and the feel of her breasts crushed against his hard chest was simply scrumptious.

      He cupped the back of her head in his palm to make the meeting of their mouths more firm, and the harsh sounds of his breathing combined with hers and filled the storeroom. She would have been happy to stay like that forever, but Shane pulled away. It could have been an hour or a nanosecond because time in this alternate sensuous universe was hard to quantify.

      She blinked up at him and said, “Does that mean I’m not in trouble?”

      “That’s what it means.” He leaned his forehead against hers. “I’ve been wanting to do that all week.”

      “Really?” Since her thoughts were smoking hot along with the rest of her, Gianna had trouble pulling herself together to call him on the fact that he’d ignored her most of the week. Somehow she managed. “You have a very odd way of showing it.”

      “You’re right.” He blew out a long breath and backed up a step, as if he needed distance to think clearly, too. “My behavior is inexcusable. Mixed signals.”

      “You think?”

      “I don’t think. It’s a fact I’ve been running hot and cold.”

      “I noticed.” After that kiss she definitely preferred hot, but given his recent mercurial moods it was best not to have expectations.

      “Personal stuff in the workplace is a rocky road to go down. It’s tricky to navigate. I was trying to take the high road, do the right thing. I’d never want to make you uncomfortable.”

      “You could have used your words,” she pointed out, “said something. I know a thing or two about being conflicted regarding … personal stuff.”

      “Oh?”

      “Yes.” She lifted her chin a little self-consciously. In for a penny, in for a pound. Might as well use her words. Never let it be said she was a do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do person. “I understand how sometimes it’s easy starting down a path, but the right time to turn off it can be tricky.”

      “Very Zen of you.”

      “Okay. Here’s an example. I dated a divorce attorney for over two years before we had ‘the talk’ where I found out he never planned to commit. Should have turned off that path a lot sooner.”

      “I see.”

      “Then there was the accountant who saw too many joint checking accounts split, not necessarily down the middle, by messy breakups. There’s a year and a half I’ll never get back.”

      “Okay.”

      “The college professor who said up front that he was a loner. That one is my own fault.”

      “You’ve definitely had a conflict or two.”

      “Yes, I have. As with my job, I can handle it. You don’t need to protect me. I’m a big girl.”

      “I noticed.” His eyes were like twin blue flames with the heat turned up high.

      “Don’t hold back on my account.”

      “It won’t happen again,” he agreed.

      “That was a very nice kiss.”

      One of his dark eyebrows lifted. “Nice?”

      “Location, location, location.” She looked around the storeroom and wrinkled her nose. “For the record? The balcony of your apartment has much better mojo.”

      “Everyone’s a critic.” He grinned. “Let me make it up to you.”

      “How?” She should be ashamed at being so easy, but darned if she could manage that.

      “Meet me here after work and I’ll show you.”

      “Okay.” Way too easy. The end of her shift wouldn’t come fast enough.

      All it took was Shane’s kiss to make her crabby mood disappear. Probably not smart, but definitely the truth.

      After making sure everything in the kitchen was shut down and squared away to his satisfaction, Shane turned off the lights. Only the security ones were left on, making the interior dim. The frenzied chaos so much a part of the food-service business he loved was over for the night and eerie quiet took its place.

      He waited for Gianna to get her coat and purse then meet him here. Keyed up from work, he paced while he waited. Part of him hoped she wouldn’t show because he didn’t need more complications in his life. Mostly he couldn’t wait to see her. Fighting the temptation to kiss her had given him a lot of time to imagine what it would be like, but the actual touching of lips had been everything he’d expected and more.

      What he hadn’t expected was her straightforward sass and steadfast spunk. The way she’d challenged him about how peculiarly he’d been acting had surprised and charmed him in equal parts. He hadn’t been surprised in a good way since the first time he’d seen Thunder Canyon.

      With his parents’ blessing, he’d hired a private investigator to find his biological parents and the guy had narrowed the search to this small town in nowhere, Montana. His restless need to connect the dots about himself had been stronger than his aversion to packing himself off to that small town. The surprise was his instant connection to the rugged beauty of the mountains and trees, being drawn in by the friendliness of the people.

      He’d grown up in Los Angeles, for God’s sake, where freeways, traffic and smog ruled. He wasn’t a mountains-and-trees kind of guy. At least he’d never thought so. But the connection he’d felt had only gotten stronger in the five months he’d been here. That was already a lot to lose, and now there was Gianna.

      That saying—the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree—was a saying for a reason. And the sins of the father … The rest of the words eluded him but when sins were involved it couldn’t be good. Something deep inside Shane rebelled at the thought of Gianna knowing who his father was.

      The kitchen door opened and there she was, wearing a navy blue knit hat pulled over her red hair with curls peeking out by her collar. She had a matching scarf tied loosely around her neck and the ends dangled down the front of her coat. When she smiled, the beauty and warmth melted the place inside him that had started to freeze over.

      “So,” she said, “just how are you going to make it up to me?”

      He wasn’t quite sure, but when the moment was right, he’d know. “You’ll just have to wait and see. Let’s go.”

      “Okay.”

      There was a rear restaurant exit and she followed him past the pantry where he’d kissed her earlier and the big industrial-size refrigerator and freezer. He opened the outside door and let her precede him, then closed and locked it after them. The area was illuminated by floodlights at the corners of the building.

      “That air feels so good,” she said, drawing in a deep breath. “So clean and clear and cold.”

      “How do you feel about a midnight walk in the moonlight?”

      Her blue eyes sparkled with merriment. “I feel like that’s a promising start to making things up to me.”

      The restaurant employees parked here in the back and since they were the last two to leave, Shane figured the only car in the lot, an older model compact, belonged to Gianna.

      He looked down at her. “You don’t come out here alone after your shift, do you?”

      “No. It usually works out that several of us leave together.”

      “Good.” But tonight he would make sure she was safe. “Are you okay with leaving your car here?”