Defying Desire Read Online Free PDF Page A

long eyelashes. As she lay with her eyes closed, not speaking, not fighting with him, he was touched by a rarely-seen innocence.

    Pulling into the complex Trent frowned. The Sahara West Apartments located just within the Vegas city limits was not a bad complex. Actually, it was a rather nice one, but Tia was making enough money that she clearly could have done better. He parked and went around to the passenger side, opening the door for her.
    She hadn’t moved so he undid her seat belt and was bending over to lift her once more into his arms when she stirred.
    “You don’t have to keep carrying me. I can walk,” she said slowly.
    She was attempting to open her eyes, which didn’t look like an easy feat. Yet her speech wasn’t slurred. Trent was beginning to think that something else was bothering her, that this wasn’t just a result of too much champagne.
    “I like the feel of you in my arms,” he said as he lifted her out of the truck. The words came out sincerely, intentionally. Trent was a man who knew what he wanted and didn’t hesitate going for it. His actions all had a purpose that he carefully worked out in his mind ahead of time.
    So when she cuddled against him while he used his hip to close the door he knew the words had done what they were supposed to.
    At the door of her apartment he put her down, slowly propping her against the wall. His hands lingered on her hips just to make sure she was steady. And she was, but still he didn’t move his hands. He liked touching her. She smelled good, too, like brown sugar and honey.
    Her eyes opened easily as she looked up at him. Trent brushed his lips lightly over hers. She kept her eyes on him as if she wanted him to know that she was fully aware of what he was doing.
    Struck by a swift slice of guilt at taking advantage of awoman when she wasn’t completely herself, Trent stepped away. “Where’s your key?”
    Tia didn’t speak but reached into her small purse and retrieved the key. She tried to step around him to get to the door but he lifted the key from her hand slipping it into the door and pushing it open. Stepping to the side he let her enter first, then followed and closed the door behind them.
    She switched on a lamp that shed only a small amount of light. The living room area was actually small but appeared spacious since she had only a couch, a glass coffee table and a big-screen television on the wall opposite the patio door. In a corner to the left was what Trent assumed was her dining room. There was a counter-height table and two chairs. To say that her furnishings were sparse was an understatement.
    “Thank you for seeing me home,” she said in a quiet voice.
    She’d crossed the room to sit on the couch. Trent hadn’t even known she’d moved she’d been so quiet and he’d been so absorbed in checking out her place. “No problem.”
    In the dim light she looked frail and tired. He moved toward the couch intending to simply see that she was okay and say good-night. But once he was that close to her he couldn’t resist. He sat down next to her taking her hand in his. “Are you sure you’re all right, Tia?”
    She nodded then looked away from him quickly. That was a definite sign that she was not okay. It was also a sign for Trent to get the hell out of there. He didn’t do pity parties and he definitely didn’t do emotional females. If she had something going on that was outside of being intoxicated or that didn’t require him to hunt down and possibly shoot someone, he couldn’t help.
    “Is there someone you’d like me to call?” he asked already moving away from her.

    “No,” she whispered. “There’s no one who can fix this.”
    Yeah, that was his cue if he’d ever had one. “Okay. Well, I’ll leave you alone.”
    He was about to stand up when she grabbed his wrist and said, “No. Please stay.”
    In his lifetime Trent had heard more than his share of women saying those exact words. But none of them caused his chest