“I was minutes from death—I knew that. You came in...and changed everything. I wanted to be with you that night because I wanted to celebrate being alive.” A small pause, then that soft voice of hers continued. “And I just wanted you, the way I don’t think I’ve ever wanted another man.”
That confession was like a punch to his stomach. “Be careful.”
Her eyes widened. “Why?”
“Because we’re alone here.” Miles away from anyone else. “And I still want you, more than I’ve wanted anyone.” The chemistry between them was white-hot. One touch—incineration. He knew the risks, and his body had been far too tuned to hers from the moment she’d walked into his office.
“I...didn’t realize.” She took a step closer to him.
The woman should be backing away.
His muscles stiffened.
Her dark gaze held his. “If I remember our morning after correctly, you weren’t exactly begging me to stay with you.”
Because he’d had a job to do. He’d been in the field. The mission waited. He’d needed to thoroughly eliminate any threat to her—that had been the goal. But once he’d left the SEALs...
I looked for you.
He cleared his throat. “Are you sure there isn’t another man out there, someone who might have begged you to stay?” Someone who won’t let you go now?
“There’s been no one in the past year.”
That revelation surprised him. A woman like her? With those bedroom eyes and sinful lips? She probably had men begging for her affection everywhere she went.
“I’ve had lovers before,” she continued, her voice still husky, “but I hardly think those men would wait so long and then suddenly decide they needed to kill me.” And, amazingly, her lips tilted up in one of her slow smiles. “I really do try to only date men who don’t want to kill me. It’s a rule I have.”
But she didn’t know what was beneath the surface those men presented to her. Hell, if she knew the darkness that lurked beneath Brodie’s surface, then Jennifer would never have let him get close to her.
“I’ll give you their names,” she said. “But those men aren’t after me.” Her words held utter certainty.
He thought back to that hit-and-run. Brodie hadn’t seen the driver of that Mustang. “When you were attacked in the alley, did you see the man’s face?” Maybe that was why she was so sure the stalker couldn’t be a former lover.
“He wore a ski mask. He was big, about your size, muscled.” Her breath blew out. “Caucasian. I saw his hand—when he stabbed me, I saw the skin near his wrist. He was wearing black gloves but I saw that part of his body.”
He waited.
“His body was pressed to mine. His breath on me. I just... You know a lover’s body, okay?”
Brodie certainly knew hers.
“You don’t forget it. You don’t forget a touch.” Her breath expelled. “That man isn’t a former lover.”
Maybe he was someone who wanted to be a lover, but she’d turned him away.
“Brodie, I just want this guy found. I want this mess stopped. I thought my life was finally safe, until he came along.”
Finally safe?
She started to turn away but then stopped. “Do you ever wonder... Was it really as good as we remember?”
Her words rocked through him.
Her gaze fell to his mouth. Jennifer’s tongue swiped over her lower lip. “It was just the adrenaline, right? The danger? The whole life-or-death situation that we were in. I mean...there’s no way that we’d kiss again and—”
“Ignite?”
Her lips parted.
He wanted her mouth. He also wanted to show her that he could be more than the rough SEAL she’d known before, but playing the gentleman wasn’t exactly his starring role.
“Yes,” she whispered. “Ignite.”
Hunger, desire pulsed through him. “You should walk away now.”
He’d said words like that to her before. Another time, another place.
She’d been hugging him, her body trembling. He’d tried to do the right thing. Tried to warn her away.
You should walk away.
But she hadn’t walked away then. She’d stood on her tiptoes and put her mouth against his.
And now...now she was walking toward him, stopping only when their bodies brushed.
“Are you...are you seeing someone?” she asked as her head tilted back.
“No.” The one word sounded like a growl. Mostly because it was.
“Neither am I, but I guess I already told you that, huh?” Her gaze was on his mouth. “It can’t be as good as I remember.”
How many times had he told himself the same thing?
“One kiss...just to find out?”
Brodie didn’t know if he’d be able to stop after one taste of her.
“One kiss...because I don’t want to be afraid tonight.”
His hands had curled around her waist. He’d pulled her even closer to him. “You should have walked away.” Then he did just what they both wanted. What they both needed.
A kiss.
To see if the memories were wrong. To see if that white-hot connection, the electrifying need, could possibly be real...and still there.
He began softly, slowly. His head lowered, and his lips brushed over hers. Her lower lip was full and plump, her top a sensual tease. He kissed her lightly, a brief caress.
Then her lips parted more for him. His tongue swept inside and—
They ignited.
Her hands rose and wrapped around his shoulders. Her nails sank into his skin as she rubbed her body against his. Her tongue met his, her taste drove him to the edge, and the desire he’d tried to keep in check broke through his control.
With a rough growl, he pushed her back against the nearest wall. Brodie caged her there, pinning her with his body. His mouth grew rougher and wilder on hers as the flood of desire deepened within him.
This was the way it had been before. One kiss and nothing else had mattered to him—nothing but taking her, claiming her.
He licked her lower lip, a sensual swipe of his tongue, and she gave a moan that he caught with his mouth. He loved the sounds she made. Loved the way her body rubbed against his.
He loved it even more when she was stretched out before him in bed.
But...
But her hands pushed against his chest.
Brodie forced his head to lift. He stared down at her and watched those long lashes of hers lift.
“It is the same,” she whispered.
No, she was wrong. It was even better. The desire even stronger. Brodie knew that he was on the edge of an abyss then, and if he didn’t pull back—right at that moment—he’d fall over the edge. And he’d take her with him.
“Why is it this way between us?”
“I-I don’t know.”
They had a combustible chemistry that was off the charts. He wanted to push her, to get her right back into his bed instead of in the guest room, but...
Some maniac is terrorizing her. She needs safety, not—
Well, not what he wanted to give her.
He sucked in a deep breath, and his hands rose from her. Instead of touching her, Brodie pressed his hands into the wall on either side of Jennifer’s body.
“Brodie?”
“Give me a second.” Longer than that. Every breath he took tasted of her.
His hands shoved into the wall, and he pushed away from her. Took one step back. Two. “The guest bedroom,” he said again, voice gravel rough, “is the second door on the right.”
She slipped past him and headed toward the hallway.
“My door—” he shouldn’t tell her, but he did “—is the first one on the right.”
The floor creaked, then her high heels tapped as she walked down the hallway. Brodie looked down and saw that his hands had clenched into fists. A door shut—somewhere down that hallway.
He rolled back his shoulders to glance at the clock. It was nearing 1:00 a.m. now. They’d stayed around her hotel room long enough for the cops to arrive—then they’d been grilled by the uniforms Shayne had sent over.
Jennifer needed to crash, and so did he.