Excerpt of Kiss My Giraffe by Erin Nicholas

"I was wondering if maybe you wanted to get naked together once before I told you this thing that might ruin everything?"

He opened his mouth to reply. Then shut it without a word. What the hell?

He glanced over his shoulder. Three minutes ago, he'd been sitting at his kitchen table doing paperwork with a cup of coffee and listening to a podcast about new creative urban development ideas. 

Now the woman he was low-level obsessed with was on his porch asking if he wanted to have sex before she told him something that would make him not want to have sex with her anymore.

He ran a hand through his hair. This was why Fiona Grady was no good for him. She came into his carefully controlled and organized life and made things chaotic and messy.

"Are you sick?" he asked.

"Sick? No."

"Dying?"

"No."

"Is anyone dying?"

"No."

"Are you married?" He braced himself. He knew very little about this woman, actually, and if she belonged to someone else, he'd… leave her alone. And hate that man. And never forgive her for stirring him up like this.

"Absolutely not."

"Engaged?"

"No."

Okay, that was all…way too much of a relief. He should not be this happy to hear that. 

"Did you kill someone?" he asked.

She tipped her head, her mouth curling. "Is that a definite deal-breaker?"

No, probably not. Knox narrowed his eyes.  

"No, I haven't killed anyone."

"Are the Feds looking for you? Or will I be implicated in some kind of crime if I let you in?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

"That's not a no."

"I'm just being honest."

Fair enough. Fiona was a wild animal advocate. The type of person to show up at roadside petting zoos and 'circuses' to monitor how the animals were treated and hand out literature to people attending the events, raising awareness about the poor conditions and treatment of those animals. She showed up to help rescue and care for animals, wild and domestic, after natural disasters such as hurricanes and wildfires. She regularly lobbied local, state, and even the national government for animal protections. 

The chance that she could have done something in the "gray area" for one of her causes was pretty good. 

The problem with that was he knew that wouldn't keep him from wanting her. 

She was precisely the kind of woman he should be avoiding. 

He studied her face for another long moment, then gave in to the inevitable. He pushed his door open.

"Yeah?" she asked. 

"Yeah."

She wasn't dying, wasn't married, and hadn't killed anyone. And he wanted her more than he'd ever wanted another woman in his life. So how was he possibly going to shut the door on her? After three months of missing her? He wasn't that strong. Or stupid.