Heart of Briar

ISBN: 0373803559

Author: Gilman, Laura Anne

Condition: New

Excerpt. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.Tyler Wash had pulled off another miracle at work today. There would be another crisis in the morning-there always was-but for this one day, good had triumphed, evil had been banished, and the world-or at least, the university's intranet-was safe from bad coding.His lips twitched as he imagined his girlfriend's reaction to that stream-of-consciousness ego trip. She'd roll her eyes, even as she smiled, and ask him if he had a cape and long underwear hidden somewhere, probably. SuperTy, she'd call him, until he distracted her enough to forget."You're not drinking your coffee? Do you not like it?"His companion looked at him, her lovely face creased with worry. Even though they'd only just met, it seemed a shame to cause any wrinkles on that face, and so, to appease her, he lifted his cup and took a sip."That's better," she said, the frown easing, and she reached out to touch the back of his hand, her long fingers stroking his skin in a way that would have made even a eunuch think dirty. She wasn't sex on a stick, exactly, but there was something about her that made him feel a little bit like a bad boy, the kind of guy mothers warned their daughters about, instead of being the one they urged the girls to catch.He kind of liked that feeling.That was why he'd agreed to meet her tonight, to feel that way. Not forever, just a little while, a chance to be someone other than Tyler Wash: ordinary, reliable, predictable. Not that he had a problem with his life, his life mostly rocked. But sometimes Sometimes he looked in the mirror and all he saw was boring.So when a woman like this offered to buy you coffee, and you had nothing else on your schedule, why the hell not?Tyler took another sip of the coffee, and his nose twitched. The steam was still rising, and the coffee tasted thicker and heavier-more pungent-than he had been expecting. Were they trying out a new blend? If so, he wasn't sure that he liked it: the smell was less coffee than spice, not unpleasant, but different. He liked different, but.Her foot touched his under the table, and then he felt it slide, slowly, up his calf, a touch that couldn't have been accidental. He managed not to startle, acting as though women did this to him all the time, no big deal. He'd tell her to cut it out in a minute, or maybe two. Or if her foot went any higher.Her foot lingered just below his knee, a warm, pleasant weight, and his thoughts drifted off, spiraled around, the faint memory of the song he had been humming earlier tangling with the hiss-and-chunk noise of the espresso machine behind him, the low conversations of the people around them. What had they been talking about?She was talking again, her voice a pleasant murmur, but he found it difficult to focus on the words. He put his coffee down, tried to shake off the disorientation, but his eyes were filling with the steam, his mind equally clouded, and when she touched his hand again, pulling him toward her across the table, he did not resist.Her lips tasted like spice, cool and firm.This was wrong. This was further than he'd planned to go-wasn't it?What else did you come here for? What did you think-hope-would happen?He stared at her, unable to answer the voice in his own head, the mocking, cool tone."Come," she said, and they rose from the little table, her hand still on his, leading him to the door. He followed, obedient, his coffee and coat, his wallet and phone, left behind at the table, forgotten.Outside, the air was clearer, the smell of the coffee fading, and he blinked, shaking his head slightly to clear his thoughts. The song came back to him, the notes more clear. He had been singing it in the shower this morning, thinking aboutwhat? About the day, the job, the night before. Her? No. Someone else. He tried to grab hold of the music, the memory, as though it would lead him out of the fog. "Where?""Come," she said again, her fingers