Page 47 of A Shot at Love
Gemma turned to stone, the door handle glued to her hand. She listened for a few moments, heard nothing but silence come back to her, then peeked into the fridge.
The water bottles were aligned in perfect precision on the top shelf, the rest of the unit empty.
She bent in and just as her hand clasped around a bottle, the silence was split by a loud, “Freeze!”
Gemma gasped, dropped the crackers and the full water bottle, which landed with a thud on her instep, and jumped back, banging her hip against the sink’s ledge.
“Christ on the cross!” She grabbed her foot, tears springing into her eyes as she leaned back for support, and glared across the kitchen at Ky. “Give a girl a heart attack, why don’t you?”
Poised in a shooting stance, his Glock pointed straight at her head, all sentient thought flew from her mind the moment her gaze cleared and connected with him. Clad in black boxers—and nothing else—he simply took her breath away.
Who knew that under the stiff, polite, and contained exterior was the body of a true Greek God? There was no other description for him.
A chest as finely chiseled and sculpted as any carved statue she’d ever seen, every muscle was covered with perfect, smooth, and sun-kissed golden skin. His nipples were two darkened discs perfectly aligned in the center of a pair of pumped and defined pecs. He gave a whole new definition to the term “eight pack” as each groove and trench of his abdominal muscles was pulled tight where he stood, his waist slim and sleek. Thick, powerful thighs jutted down from the snug-fitting boxers into calves that were both muscular and lithe.
There wasn’t a visible inch or ounce of extra flesh on his entire body. Every bit of skin she could see—and it was a lot!—was simply perfect. A thin gold chain hung around his neck, a small pendant dangling from it.
He exuded strength and raw power from every pore, and in that moment, Gemma forgot about her injured foot. She felt her insides quiver while she grew, unexpectedly, wet with desire for this man.
“What are you doing? It’s the middle of the night.” He lowered his gun to his side and came toward her.
The harsh tone in his voice had the hairs at her neck springing to attention, despite the growing moisture between her thighs just watching him walk produced.
Dear Lord, the man really did move like a panther; sleek and silent, determined and focused.
“Getting something to eat,” she snapped. “I’m starving. And I know what time it is, which is why I was trying to be quiet so I wouldn’t wake you.”
Ky bent and retrieved the water and cracker box from where she’d dropped them. Her eyes raked over the corded muscles in his back—his broad, hunky, naked back. The sinewy ripple of his shoulders and arms as he placed the items on the counter next to her had her biting down on her bottom lip so the moan breaking within her would be silenced.
He stood right in front of her; so close, in fact, she could reach out and run her tongue along his poured-from-concrete jawline. Gemma blinked hard when the notion hit her to do just that.
Ky reached out and touched her foot. She was still holding it up, one hand around the ankle, the other kneading the spot where the bottle had thudded. He rubbed his fingers over hers. “I’m sorry I scared you. I heard a noise. Thought you were an intruder.”
“You must have hearing like a bat.”
A tiny grin pulled at one corner of his mouth. “I’m a light sleeper. Consequence of the job.”
He hadn’t stopped rubbing her foot and the rhythm from his soft touch was hypnotic.
And wickedly arousing.
“Does it hurt?”
She shook her head. “Not so much anymore.”
Ky removed his hand and took a step back. He glanced over at the cracker box and asked, “Want something more substantial than just those?”
Gemma cocked her head. “Like you just told me, it’s the middle of the night. I wasn’t planning on anything more substantial. Just something to tide me over until breakfast.”
“Yeah, but you’re hungry, so it really doesn’t matter what time it is. Neither one of us ate anything of significance yesterday. Want me to fix something?” He set the safety on the gun, placed it down on the counter, then turned on the overhead light from the wall switch. The sudden harsh light had her squinting.
