Footsteps sounded behind her. “Amery? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” She adjusted the beer bottles in the ice. She kept her voice low as Molly moved in beside her. “So, you and Zach, huh?”

Molly blushed. “You told me to stop waiting for life to happen to me and go out and grab it. So I did. My knees were knocking when I asked Zach out, but I did it anyway.”

“That’s great! I’m so proud of you.”

“Thanks. I’m proud of myself for bucking up and taking that first step.” She grabbed a bottle of hard cider. “So, what’s going on between you and Master Black?”

“Nothing,” she answered honestly.

“I was really surprised to see him show up here.”

“Me too.”

“You didn’t invite him?” Molly asked skeptically.

“No. Evidently he’s above following societal norms like—”

“Making a phone call and keeping in touch about future plans?” Ronin intoned directly behind her.

Amery jumped at the sound of his voice and spun to face him. “Would you stop doing that?”

“No. You need to be more in tune to what goes on around you.”

“You need to be more in tune when someone is pissed off at you,” she snapped.

Ronin’s eyes never wavered from Amery’s when he said, “Will you please excuse us?” to Molly. He didn’t wait for Molly’s response; he steered Amery to the edge of the roof behind the duct.

Might be petulant to twist out of his hold, but she tried it anyway. No surprise she couldn’t make the man budge. “What are you doing?”

“Getting you alone so I have a chance to explain—”

“Why I haven’t heard from you since you rolled out of my bed Friday morning? Or explain why you feel entitled to crash a party I’m hosting?”

“Both.”

Silence.

“So? If you wanted to explain you’d better start talking.”

“I should’ve called you. But I promise you were on my mind all damn weekend.”

Amery got right in his face. “Not a good enough apology, Master Black. Try again.”

“Such a hardass,” he murmured. “I like this side of you.”

Her belly fluttered, she felt herself softening toward him, but somehow she rallied to keep her backbone up. “I liked the side of you that promised me no games between us. You told me you’d call; I expected to hear from you. And don’t give me some lame excuse like your cell phone died or you were out of service range.”

Ronin’s eyes changed then, from cool and detached to contrite. “The truth is I owed someone a favor and he collected on it this weekend. I wasn’t expecting it and it sapped every bit of energy out of me. You deserved better than to deal with that, especially since you’re so used to my extremely engaging and chatty side.” He brushed his mouth across her knuckles.

Even though his answer was more cryptic than she liked, she believed him, especially since he’d just proven that he could poke fun at himself.

“I am sorry.” Curling his hand around the nape of her neck, he pulled her closer.

“Ronin—”

“Ssh. Just let me apologize like this too.” He kissed her with the mix of tenderness and passion that fogged up her brain.

She intended to keep her hands by her sides, but they crept up his chest of their own accord. Within fifteen seconds of his mouth mastering hers, Amery forgot her anger with him. She forgot everything but the way kissing Ronin consumed her.

Somehow her sanity clawed to the surface, urging her to break the kiss. “Stop mauling me at my own dinner party. A dinner party you weren’t invited to.”

“I’ll behave if you let me stay.”

Amery realized he still held her hands, except he wasn’t looking at her, but across the roof. That caused her to bristle up again. “I know it’s not as nice as yours—”

He shut her up with a kiss. Then he pressed his forehead to hers. “Right now this place far exceeds the beauty of mine because it’s filled with people who care about you. My place may be twice as big, but that only makes it feel emptier when it’s just me up there. Which it almost always is.”

His vulnerability in that moment spoke to her on the most basic human level. Ronin was lonely. Maybe not always, but often enough that he understood that visceral fear that it might never change.

“Fine. You can stay. Come on. I need to see if anyone needs anything.”

“I need something first.”

Amery’s gaze snagged his. “What?”

“Your promise that I can stay with you tonight.”

“Sure. Be warned; you’ll have plenty of dishes to wash.”

Ronin flashed her a quick, boyish grin. “Had plenty of experience with that at the monastery.”

For the rest of the party, he remained at her side, being charming in his understated way. As she watched him, she noticed he kept his guard up among people, not only when he was at the dojo.

But he lowers it around you.

Now she realized what a big deal that was for him.

As the party wound down, Amery promised Lucas she’d get back to him quickly on her project proposal. Jake didn’t suggest they set up a lunch date when Ronin kept a hand on her at all times.

Since Emmylou and Marilyn, aka Sasha, were the last to leave, they offered to stay and help clean up, but Amery shooed them out.