“Doc? Open up the door.” He growled the words from the other side of the door.

“Good night, Mr. Slade.”

He twisted the doorknob but the lock held. She heard keys jingle. He would try to unlock her door? She bit her lip.

“I’m calling security,” she threatened. “Remember them? They were good at stopping you before even though you said no one would come to save me last time.”

He uttered a soft curse. “You’re the Doc from the hospital, aren’t you?”

“Oh, so you do remember me.” She leaned against the door.

“Your hair is different.”

She touched her damp hair. She’d tried her hand at being a redhead the previous year when she’d worked at the hospital where they’d met. Now she was back to her normal color, a honey blonde. “This is the real me. I decided I didn’t want to dye it red anymore.”

“Open up the door and talk to me.” He growled the order.

“Why? So you can insult me more? Be a bigger ass?”

Trisha tensed when only silence answered her question. Would he try to get inside her house another way? Why would he even care if she were the same woman he’d accosted a year before? She listened but didn’t hear a thing on the other side of the door.

“Mr. Slade?”

He didn’t answer. Trisha finally moved from the door to rush around the house to make sure all the windows were locked. She relaxed certain that he had gone, and didn’t plan to bother her. She entered her bedroom and clicked off the light. She slept wearing sweats just in case he returned and decided to surprise her with another unannounced visit.

* * * * *

Slade pressed his forehead against the door, his eyes closed, and listened to the doctor move away. Shock still gripped him that the woman he’d just insulted and angered was the same woman who haunted him on a nightly basis since he’d been freed.

Dr. Trisha Norbit had changed her hair color, had grown it longer. He’d been pretty drugged when he’d awoken inside the human hospital but he should have recognized her scent or placed those beautiful blue eyes of hers when he’d seen them again. The memory of them made him want to kick his own ass for not making the connection. Had their drugs really affected him that badly?

In his defense, he’d never learned the name of the woman he’d pinned under him on the small hospital bed but everything else about her remained intact. Her plush body pinned under his, the taste of her skin on this tongue, and the scent of her arousal tormenting him. He’d been sure no one would save her, that she’d be his for the taking, and he’d relished the idea of making her want him as much as he wanted her. Then it had turned to hell. Humans had rushed inside the room, drugged him, and taken her away.

He bit back a snarl. He’d royally screwed up. Late in the night before he drifted to sleep, he always thought of her, his sexy redhead. He pushed away from the cool wood, snapped open his eyes, and glared at the house she hid inside. He’d fantasized about finding her, getting her under him again, and finishing what they’d started. He’d planned out how he’d charm her, had studied human romantic tactics, in hopes of winning her over if that day ever came.

Dr. Trisha Norbit hated him. He couldn’t blame her either. He’d purposely been an ass to her for the most part. It had irritated him that he was drawn to her despite having a fantasy woman stuck inside his head. It had almost seemed as if he’d been cheating on the memory of his redheaded fantasy woman every time his body responded to Doc Norbit.

The cosmic joke was on him since they were one and the same. He stomped off into the darkness. He’d just lost all hope of ever having her in his bed.

He paused to glance back at her house. His anger faded into sadness. Fantasies are for fools. Learn a lesson and stay the hell away from her.

Chapter Two

Tense. That’s how Trisha would describe her new relationship with the NSO officer. Slade patrolled the human section of Homeland, the area she lived and worked in, and she had to deal with him. Since that night they’d hardly spoken. When they did, both of them seemed to come to the mutual agreement not to mention anything personal. Two months had passed that way.

The guy was likable but she wished he weren’t. Slade had a quick smile, a keen sense of humor, and every time she’d had to deal with him, he’d gotten her to smile. He’d made certain they were never alone since the night she’d told him just who she was. She was mostly grateful for that fact.

Sometimes when she walked home at night she would catch a glimpse of him on the dark street. She could sense his stare and knew he shadowed her to make sure she arrived safely. It is his job, she reminded herself. She regretted what she’d blurted to him but she’d lost her temper.

There was something wrong with her. She mentally kicked herself over being angry with a guy for the reasons that she was, knowing it just wasn’t right. She’d felt insulted that he’d forgotten her. Just over a year before he’d wanted to keep her for days, he’d called her beauty, and now… She sighed. He just thought she was pretty and offered her some cheesy one-night stand. Not even a night. He only wants me for a few hours.

“Stupid,” she muttered.

“What is?” A deep voice spoke softly from behind her.

Trisha started and spun in her seat to gawk at Slade. She grabbed her heart. “Don’t sneak up on me that way again. Would it kill you to make some noise when you move?”