Leverage. Janie Crouch

were still talking about all sorts of things—her job as a programmer, his as a pilot, her cats that tended to act more like dogs—as they finished their meal, ordered some of Sally’s pie and finished that.

      Dylan couldn’t remember feeling this comfortable and attracted, hell, this invested, in a woman in a long time.

      He found himself wishing this was more than just a meeting to pick up some data from his sister-in-law’s friend. That he and Shelby had more time to spend with each other. But glancing out the window, Sawyer realized the storm would be passing soon. He needed to get the codes to Omega.

      The thought of Omega brought all the memories flooding back. All the reasons why Dylan couldn’t—wouldn’t—get involved with another woman.

      Tension began to fill Dylan’s relaxed body as he realized spending too much time with Shelby was not a good idea. Her smile made him think of things that just weren’t in the cards for him. He didn’t have it in his heart to love another woman. Burying Fiona and their unborn child, knowing their deaths were his fault, had killed something inside Dylan. He would be wasting time, both his and any woman in his company, by pretending he had anywhere to go in a relationship.

      Not that Shelby Keelan had said anything about wanting a relationship with him, for heaven’s sake. They were just enjoying a meal together, relaxed conversation. But attraction was fairly crackling between them. Their hands kept touching on the table as they each made some point in a story. He could even feel Shelby’s smaller foot next to his leg under the table.

      She wasn’t being forward, they just had a connection. And Dylan hadn’t tried to keep it in check, like he normally would’ve—not that he’d felt this way about a woman in a long time. Since he’d known he and Shelby would only be together for a couple of hours before she gave him the codes and left, Dylan had deliberately left their natural chemistry unchecked.

      He wasn’t sure he would’ve been able to stop it even if he wanted to.

      But his plan was backfiring. The more he talked to Shelby, the more he wanted to keep talking to her. Her acid wit kept him laughing, her intelligence kept him intrigued, and those freckles...

      Those freckles were going to be his undoing. Even right now it was all he could do not to reach across the table and begin kissing a line from one freckle to the next. Starting with the ones on her nose, over to her cheeks and down to the one big one he could see where her jaw met her neck.

      He’d have to concentrate on that one especially.

      Dylan realized he was inching closer to Shelby across the table and forced himself to lean away, shifting his weight all the way back in the booth, away from her. What the hell was he doing? This was more than mere attraction, it was almost as if Dylan was drawn to Shelby.

      Well, that was unacceptable and Dylan needed to get himself under the control he was so well known for. He couldn’t believe how close he was to asking Shelby out. To asking her to spend more time with him once he returned from Omega. Hell, to seeing if she wanted to wait at his house for the twelve hours it would take him to deliver the codes to Omega then get home, if he made the round trip as fast as possible.

      And that scared the hell out of him.

      Shelby wasn’t the type of woman Dylan could get involved with. She wasn’t a one-night-stand type of girl; that was already obvious. Plus, she was Megan’s friend.

      He’d let things step over the emotional line with Shelby because they only had a couple of hours. Well, a couple of hours were up. It was time to end this attraction right now. While he still could.

      Get the codes. Deliver the codes. Get out.

      Shelby was talking about pets. Finishing an entertaining story about how the mama cat had taken a puppy to raise as her own when the puppy’s mother had died. Shelby’s green eyes had softened while telling it and Dylan had been totally caught up in the story. But now he stopped her, almost abruptly.

      “You know, it looks like this storm is making its way out of the area. It’s been a pleasure chatting with you, Shelby. But if you’ll just give me the codes, I’ll be on my way for delivery.”

      It was rude and came out harsher than Dylan intended. He saw confusion wash over Shelby’s face and then self-doubt. Damn it, she was trying to figure out what she had done to initiate Dylan’s borderline rudeness. He hated how Shelby drew back and made herself smaller in the booth seat across from him. The smile that had lit her features for almost their entire conversation died.

      Dylan hated it, but steeled himself against the apology he found on his lips. It was better this way. Cleaner. But the disappointment in Shelby’s eyes actually hurt him. It had been a long time since anything involving a woman had had the power to hurt Dylan. Why should being a jerk to someone he’d only known a couple of hours be able to?

      Even if she was the most engaging and fascinating person he’d met in a long time. And the first person who didn’t make him want to excuse himself as soon as possible so he could get back to his house, alone.

      All of which was just more proof he needed to get away from her as soon as possible.

      Dylan could recognize the crookedness of his own logic though he didn’t plan to do anything about it. He couldn’t do anything about it. All he could do was just get away from Shelby before things went any further.

      Shelby’s brows were furrowed. “Um, I don’t understand.” Her tone was uncertain.

      Dylan rubbed a hand down his face. Damn it, he was making a mess of this. “I think you should just go ahead and give me the codes. Then you can head on back home, or whatever, and I’ll take off as soon as I have a chance. All I need is a break in the storms and I’ll be fine.”

      Shelby frowned and shook her head. “But I can’t.”

      “You can’t leave Falls Run tonight? Well, there’s a motel down the street. I’m sure it’s not full.” Dylan almost offered to walk her over there, but that was a terrible plan.

      Get the codes. Get out.

      “No, I mean I can’t give you the codes.”

      “You don’t understand, Shelby. It’s okay. Megan knows I will deliver them straight to her at Omega. She should’ve told you I could be trusted, but we can call her so you can talk to her about it yourself. You’ll just need to give me the drive, or disk or whatever the codes are on.”

      “No, you don’t understand. I can’t give you the codes because they’re in my head. I’m what you’re supposed to deliver to Omega Sector.”

       Chapter Four

      You would think she’d just told him she had a nuclear device in her back pocket the way he was acting. Shelby watched from the booth as Dylan went over to pay Sally at the register for their meal.

      Shelby tried to think through their conversation to figure out what had happened, where it had gone wrong. Shelby certainly wouldn’t be surprised to figure out it was something she had said. It always tended to be something she’d said.

      But things had been going so well with Dylan tonight. Laughing and talking with him had been easy. Not full of those awkward pauses that tended to populate Shelby’s conversations. Especially ones with really hot guys.

      Not that she tended to have too many of those.

      Everything seemed to be going great, and then Shelby had watched as Dylan Branson just shut down right in front of her eyes. The light flirting, the laughing, the lack of awkward pauses they had enjoyed the whole evening—totally gone in a split second. The emotional temperature in the room had dropped twenty degrees in just a moment.

      Generally, Shelby was always looking for a way to get out of conversations, to find a way to return to her natural solo state. But with Dylan she hadn’t felt the need