The Temporary Roomie (It Happened in Nashville 2)

“Aw—well, you guys are just too…” I can see Dr. Landry struggle with the word. “Sweet. Congrats to you both, and I’ll see you at the table for dinner.”

“See you over there,” Drew says in a calm, polite voice. When she’s far enough away, he looks sharply down at me, his voice nothing even close to calm or polite. “What the hell was that?”

“What?” I blink up at him innocently. I’m just a little lamb out to pasture.

Drew looks around and must realize there are too many people still within earshot, so he extracts his arm from my grip and puts his hand on my low back, steering us toward the bathrooms, though not the ones where I was previously hiding. No, he somehow manages to find us a private single stall bathroom.

Once we’re in, he locks the door behind us, and now I’m stuck in this tiny cell with the most attractive man alive. But I won’t kiss him. I WON’T. The name of the game tonight is to put Drew Marshall back in his rightful place, somewhere far, far away from my mind and heart.

“What was all that back there?” His voice is low and rumbly, and his dress shoes click against the floor as he advances closer to me.

I take a retreating step, and my back hits the wall. “Nothing. I thought you wanted me to be your girlfriend.”

“You almost sucked on my earlobe. That’s taking it a little far, don’t you think?”

I shrug, not wanting to tip him off too early. “Okay, so you don’t like your women to be affectionate—got it. I won’t give you a hickey at the table.”

His eyes narrow. “I like affection, for the record. Just not quite so much in the middle of a conversation with a colleague.”

“It’s okay to not like affection. Some people aren’t good at it, and that’s fine.” Why am I goading him like this?

His eyes flare and he steps so close the tips of his shoes touch the tips of mine. Also, my belly is grazing the front of his suit jacket, and somehow that feels incredibly intimate. “I’m perfectly good at showing affection. No—actually I’m great at it. If I wanted to”—his eyes drop to my mouth—“I could show you the best damn affection of your life.”

Show me!

No…don’t show me.

SHOW ME.

“I don’t know. You seem awfully defensive to me.”

He looks up at me and smiles—a wolf dressed in a designer suit. “You’re taunting me right now. Why is that, Jessica?” His hand rises to land on the wall behind me, pinning me in place. I sink my teeth into my bottom lip and tell myself, DO NOT GIVE IN, WOMAN. “Almost seems like you’re playing a game with me right now. What’s the outcome you’re hoping for?”

I angle my chin up like a dagger even though all I want is to melt against him. “I don’t know…what do you think it should be?”

He’s quiet for three breaths, and because he’s so close, I can feel all three of them against my lips. The tension between us is tangible and humming through every inch of me. I want to grab the front of Drew’s shirt and pull his face down that last inch, but instead, I keep my hands splayed out against the bathroom wall, willing them to stay put.

“Why did you let Susan think this is my child?”

The question shakes me momentarily, and I hope he doesn’t see it on my face. “I—I thought that was what you wanted. Really sells the devoted girlfriend story.”

“Is that the real reason?”

No. The real reason is because I want to tangle him in a lie so tight that when he finally has to get out of it, he will be humiliated. That’s the real reason. It’s step one.

…isn’t it?

“Mmhmm,” I hum, still not fully able to keep myself from glancing down at his mouth, unwilling to stop myself from imagining what a kiss from him would be like. Firm? Sweet? Tender? Harsh?

NO. BAD, JESSIE.

Drew’s lips curve upward because I’ve been staring and he knows why. One of his hands lower to my hip, and I feel his fingers press into my side. I can’t let this happen. It would ruin everything I’m trying to achieve, and yet…

Maybe one kiss won’t hurt anything.

Unfortunately, a knock on the bathroom door startles both of us. Drew bites his lips against a smile as he holds my eyes for one more second before shaking his head and shrugging back down the cuffs of his suit jacket. Good. Perfect. No kisses tonight. Staying right on track.

But as he raises a single eyebrow and holds out his arm for me to take, I waver in my plan of retaliation. I planned it before I came to really know Drew, before we became friends…now, I wonder if it’s worth it