It's A Wonderfully Sexy Life by Hope Tarr

to go home with him? What the hell had gotten into him? He liked women, okay he liked them a lot, and though he’d logged in his share of sexual exploration, he’d never been a one-night stand kind of guy. Getting to know a woman first wasn’t only the health-conscious thing to do, but it also built the anticipation to make the inevitable conclusion all the more satisfying.
    But there was something about this night and this woman that was different from any other encounter, borderline magical. He wasn’t acting like himself, not at all, and as much as he wanted to blame it on Christmas and being lonely, he knew that wasn’t the explanation, not really. Truth was he’d never been this red-hot, this on fire for a woman, and he was badly in danger of losing his head.
    If he’d shocked her, she hid it well. She took a small step back but didn’t bolt. “Actually, I know of this great locals’ place, The Daily Grind. It may still be open.”
    Amazed she wasn’t turning him down flat after the way he’d behaved—make that, misbehaved —he hid his relief behind a smile. “In that case, officer, lead the way.”

    S ITTING IN T HE D AILY G RIND across from Josh, Mandy felt as though she’d rewound a rented movie and was watching it again from the start only instead of looking on, she was living or rather reliving it. Knowing in advance how the evening would play out should have dampened her excitement, but instead it only heightened her anticipation. It was like stepping back into a lovely dream, a magical memory you got to live again only in the moment.
    Looking across the table into Josh’s warm-eyed gaze, she couldn’t shake the feeling she must be hallucinating or, barring that, still asleep in her bed at home in the throes of a crazy, hung-over dream. The last time she’d seen him, he’d been a stiff on a morgue slab, as bloodless and inanimate as a figure in a wax museum.
    Unfortunately time, even time in reverse, wasn’t prone to standing still. If anything, it seemed to sprout wings and fly by. Josh had been killed shortly after midnight. Glancing down at her wristwatch, she saw it was eleven forty-five. Shit.
    “I can’t help noticing you keep looking at your watch. Am I keeping you from something?”
    No, but I am trying to keep you alive . Panic hit her, and she shook her head. If he left the coffee shop without her, he was as good as dead—again. “No, not at all, it’s just a habit I’ve gotten into, a cop thing, I guess.” She lifted her porcelain cup and chugged the contents like a frat boy chugging beer.
    “Ouch.” She slammed the cup down, mouth on fire. Damn, but if she hadn’t burned herself—again.
    He reached across to wipe whipped cream from her chin, his moist mouth parted in a sexy, half-cocked smile, and there was no denying that he was very real and, for the moment, very much alive. Although it went against all logic, she could no longer ignore or pretend that what was happening to her, to him, to them, was anything less than one hundred percent real. By whatever power, she’d been granted her New Year’s wish, thrust into the role of guardian angel with the mission of saving Joshua Thornton’s life.
    Watching her set the empty mug down, he asked, “Would you like another?”
    She shook her head. “No thanks. I’m good. Any more caffeine and sugar, and I’ll be bouncing off the artwork.” The truth was she was all but jumping out of her skin, but the two large mochas weren’t to blame. “It is Christmas Eve. I guess we should let these folks go home.” She nodded toward the counter where the two employees regarded them with familiar, fuming looks.
    “Before they throw us out, you mean?” He got up and turned to grab his jacket off the chair back.
    There it was again, an up close view of that incredibly tight ass. Mandy licked her lips, feeling as if the thermostat had just knocked up several notches. Sure, she was on a mission, a lifesaving mission, but the fact