Running From Fate (32 page)

He
mentally shook his head.
That notion, of course, was ridiculous but he should still be more careful
and, i
n the unlikely event that he slipped up again
, it would only be fair to find out as much about
his dinner partner
as possible.

“So Mira,”
he
broke into her animated monologue on the benefits of capturing solar energy.
“I know that you went to school in California, but I have a feeling that you didn’t grow up there.
You have a trace of the North in your accent.
You
’
r
e
from somewhere around Boston, right?”

Mira forced herself to remain calm and carefully sat her fork on the now empty plate.
“How did you know that?”
s
he asked before deliberately changing her voice.
“Don’t I sound enough like a California girl?”

“You do that very well,”
he
said, “but you can’t fool me.
I spent a large part of my life in and around Boston.”

“Small world isn’t it?” Mira murmured.
She smiled brightly at James and reached her arms above her head in a long stretch.
“
That was an excellent meal, but I should probably get home soon it’s getting kind of late
.”

He
motioned to the waiter and they were very quickly in the car
and on their way back to Mira’s house
.
He knew that he had pushed
her
into this date, but he wasn’t ready to let it end.
Despite
,
or because of
,
the fact that they seemed to be dancing around each other, he had found the evening stimulating.
With a vague notion of
talking her into a late movie, James glanced at the clock.
“For God’s sake,” he said.
“It’s barely 9 o’clock.
What possible reason can you have for getting home so early on a Friday night?
Are you purposely trying to cut the evening short?”

“You know,” Mira replied, “that’s not s
uch a bad idea but,” she sighed.
“I’m not quite as devious as that.
If you must know, I’m going running.”

“
Now?  I won’t allow it.  It much to dark for you to go alone.”

“No, of course not now.  Tomorrow morning.” 

“
How early?”
They pulled up in front of her house and James shut off the engine.

“Around 6 o’clock.”
She
opened the door and climbed out.

“Are you crazy?”
He quickly got out of the car and followed her up the sidewalk.
“Most sane people are still asleep at that time.
Can’t you go a little later?”

Mira sniffed.
“
I
f I go any later it will be way to
o
hot and I like silence of that time before sunrise when it seems like I’m the only person in the world.”
She dug in her bag for the house key, but before she could open the door James stopped her.

“You’re not the only person out at that time.
Don’t you ever watch the
news?  It’s
not safe for you to run alone.”
He understood the need for solitude and he could even understand the appeal of running because it was something that he enjoyed on occasion, but the thought of her out there on her own while it was still dark scared him.

“I ran in the morning all the time when I lived in California and nobody ever bothered me.
In
fact,” she said with a grimace.
“There were so many other runners out that I never seemed to get any time alone.”

“California is full of health nuts
.  Of
course people ran.
Raleigh is a Mecca for scientists and other intellectuals not to mention college students
. 
I’m not sure how many of those people will be out running at the crack of dawn.”

Mira glared mulishly at him.
Intellectually, she could see his point, but she really didn’t want to give up her morning runs.
She pulled her hand from his gras
p and shoved her key in the lock
.

It was probably something that he would regret in the morning, but what the hell.
James gripped Mira’s shoulder and spun her around to face him.
“I’
m going with you.
”

“What
!
?
T
he
whole
point is to be alone.
Look,” she said reasonably,
“I may have gone to dinner with you, but it doesn’t mean you have any say in what I do.
I’m not even sure I want to spend any more time with you.”

“Tough,” he growled as he leaned forward
and caged her against the door,
“
b
ecause
I’m not going anywhere.”
He dipped his head.

Any retort that Mira might have made v
anished at the touch of his mouth
.
The lips that she thought would be firm and hard, were soft and silky, resting on her own in a kiss as delicate as a sigh.
With a gentle
press of his thumb
, he urged her lips to open
.
She was sure that she was resisting, but her arms somehow crept around his neck and she let out a soft moan.

The soft sound broke the delicate tether on James’ control.
With a desperate groan, he deepened the kiss.

Headlights swept down the street and, somewhere in the distance, a dog barked.
Mira was oblivious, all her attention focused on the meeting of their lips and the delicious stroke of his tongue inside her mouth
.
With a helpless cry, she pulled James closer.
The touch of his aroused body shocked her system and, in desperation, she pushed out of his arms.
Without a word, she turned quickly and went inside.

For several moments James stared blankly at the closed door.
His overheated body urged him to push his way into the house and finish what had been started, but his more rational mind told him that it wasn’t the time to push her.
With a slightly unsteady gait he turned and walked
back to
his car.

The loud pounding on the door woke Mira up and
caused
the leprechauns currently stomping around in her skull
to go into an enthusiastic,
foot-stomping jig.
After James had dropped her off and given her that mind blowing kiss she might have indulged in a little too much wine.  Now she regretted it, but whoever was at the door would regret it much more, she promised herself.  Turning
her head slightly
, she stared blearily at the
bedside clock.
It was
barely six and the sun wasn’t fully up yet
.
With a heartfelt groan she stumbled out of bed and prayed that her he
ad would stay on her shoulders. 
Whoever was at the door this early was going to get their head ripped off.

James impatiently
banged on the door again.
After a restless night he had dragged himself out of bed at an ungodly hour and spent 20 minutes looking for his old pair of sweatpants before giving up and putting on the skimpy running shorts that one of his
e
x-girlfriends and insisted he needed
.

Now he was standing outside in the
steamy
air feeling half naked and already beginning to regret his hasty decision.
Mira was a grown woman and she insisted that she was capable of taking care of herself
.  He
should just go home and crawl back in bed.
Of course
that would mean that he was the only one who suffered.
To hell with that
! 
With a vicious oath,
he lifted his fist,
ready to knock down the door
if that’s what it took.

“What the hell do you want?!” Mira demanded as she yanked open the door and glared at James.
The sound of her own voice caused her head to start pounding
and she groaned loudly.

Mira’s eyes were so bloodshot that it was almost painful to look at them.
She was also wearing the same clothes as last nigh
t
, minus the shoes.
Her hair was flat on one side and stick
ing up on the other
like a reject punk from the 70s
.
Her strange appearance coupled with her amusing show of temper compl
etely neutralized James’ anger
.  It
was all he could do not to laugh.  He did, however, need a cup of coffee. 
With a quick step forward,
he pushed her inside
and shut
the door
behind them.

“Hey!” Mira protested.
“This is my house and I didn’t invite you in so you can just turn around and go back where you came from.”

“Of course you invited me,”
he
said as he pushed her toward the stairs.
“We were supposed to go running this morning, remember?”

A fuzzy memory tried to work its way into
her
clouded brain and she
momentarily
stopped struggling and allowed herself to be guided up the stairs
.

“Which one is your bedroom?”
She pointed silently and he gently prodded her inside.
“Why don’t you wash up and get ready and I’ll put on some coffee.
I’ll give you 20 minutes
.”
He pulled the door shut and, with a jaunty whistle,
jogged
down the stairs to find the coffee.

Mira glared menacingly at the door and considered going back to bed and ignoring the rude man downstairs
.  It
would serve him right.
Of course, he would probably have no problem coming upstairs and dragging her out of bed.
With a deep sigh, she stripped off her clothes and headed for the bathroom.
Maybe a nice cold shower
would clear her head.