“Sounds like a plan.”

Vanity pulled away to give Leese a quick hug. “Thanks for the snow shovel. I’d never even thought about it, but today it was the perfect gift.”

Leese returned her hug one-armed, keeping it as casual as a man could. “My pleasure.” He jeered at Stack, “Next time, kick him out of bed earlier so he can help.”

Stack didn’t mind the ribbing, especially since Vanity was already back in his arms.

They walked Leese to the door, cautioned him to drive carefully, and then, finally, they were alone again.

Breathing in her now-familiar scent, made crisper by her play outdoors, Stack asked, “What do you have planned today?”

“In a couple of hours I need to get the paintings to the shelter, and then I’m getting my hair and nails done.” Vanity smiled up at him. “How soon do you have to go?”

He should have been out the door hours ago, but in his head he’d already been rearranging his schedule. “Depends. What’d you have in mind?”

“Sex.”

Enjoying how freely she threw that out there, he grinned. “Love the way you think.”

She flattened a hand on his chest, stepped into him until that hand had slid up and around his neck. “You’re here, looking like you look and being so sweet with the dogs, and last night you told me we were officially an item. How could I think about anything other than getting you naked and back in bed?”

Definitely, he loved her honesty, the direct way she spoke her mind. With Vanity he didn’t have to worry about her misunderstanding or, thankfully, lying to him. She was the most up-front woman he’d ever known.

Stack gathered her closer, his heart already punching hard—and her phone rang.

She touched a finger to his lips and said softly, “Hold that thought.” Then she darted away to the kitchen to answer her landline.

Joining her in the kitchen, Stack refreshed both their mugs of coffee just to give himself something to do.

After her initial greeting, she said, “Oh, I’d forgotten all about it.” She laughed. “Yes, good thing you called!” She listened, nodded. “I know. I was shoveling snow, too...No, it’s not a problem at all. That will actually be better for me. Thank you again.”

After she’d replaced the phone in the cradle, she turned to Stack with twinkling eyes and a twitchy smile. “You see what you do to me?”

He pulled her against him, ready to get back to business. “I make you forget things?”

“Everything except you.” She went on tiptoe to plant a quick kiss on his mouth.

“You had another appointment?” Hopefully not more modeling of the risqué variety.

“Security installers were due here shortly. Good thing the weather threw them off. Otherwise we might have been—” she gave him a heated look “—occupied, when they knocked. They said they’re behind schedule because of the snow.”

Stack’s brain reeled. “Security installers?”

“Afraid so.” She wrinkled her nose. “This means I need to get the paintings to the shelter soon, so I can be back before they get here.”

Stack shook his head. “Why are you meeting security installers?”

“I figured it was a good idea to get my house wired. You know, alarms for the doors and windows. One of those setups where the police are called if anyone breaks in.” She slipped a hand up under his shirt, her palm on his bare skin. “What do you think about a quickie? I’m game if you are.”

Stack ignored that, just as he ignored her provoking touch. “What’s going on here? Why are you suddenly worried about a break-in?” He thought about the night before, when he’d heard something in the yard. A deer...or had it been?

“I’m not worried, exactly,” she denied. “But as a woman alone, I figured I should be more cautious.”

He agreed, but if anything had happened to spook her, he wanted to know. “You don’t have to be alone.”

“No?” She grinned—and hooked her fingers into the front waistband of his jeans. “Are you suggesting I move in some random guy?”

Hyperaware of her touch, he stared down at her. “When I can’t stay with you, you can stay with me.”

Her eyes rounded and her smile went slack. “You’re not serious.”

Shit. Yeah, he was appalled at himself, too. No way had he meant to say that. Not yet, not so soon. Floundering, he tried to retrench. “It’d be nice here and there.”