Seduce Me

The bartender laughed again. Jack left the bar and made a quick right to the bank of elevators. He had no desire to cause a scene in the lobby.

Once inside the private elevator, he deposited Mallory on her feet.

“Just in time.” She pulled down on her shirt and glared at him.

“I know.” Right before he’d freed her, he’d felt her soft hands inching inside the waistband of his jeans searching for the elastic on his underwear.

He burst out laughing. “An older brother teach you that dirty trick?”

She shook her head. “I’m an only child. And you were this close to singing soprano.” She held her thumb and forefinger together.

“I’d have to be wearing underwear for that weapon to work.”

Her eyebrows arched in surprise and her blue eyes darkened with the possibility he was telling the truth.

He leaned back against the chrome and mirrored wall.

A grin formed on her lips as she stepped closer. “Prove it.”

“What?”

Her fingers reached for the snap on his jeans as his breath caught in anticipation and desire. “You said no underwear. I want you to prove it.”

His groin, free from constraints except for the hard denim wanted to do just that, but he held on to her wrists and met her gaze.

Her face was inches from his, her warm breath with barely a hint of alcohol rushed over his skin.

“How’d you keep surfer boy’s hands off you?” he asked.

She tilted her head to the side. “Are you jealous? I admit he has a great body and a gorgeous tan, but…”

That did it. Jack silenced her with a kiss. It started slow but quickly blazed out of control. His tongue, her tongue, his groan, her heartfelt sigh—he couldn’t tell the difference as they melded together. Like a dying man at an oasis, he drank from her, taking all she offered, all she had to give. And he gave back in kind, until they parted, coming up for air.

Her dazed blue eyes opened wide. “You were jealous.”

He sucked in a deep breath of air. “Not a chance, sweetheart.” But his thudding heart called him a liar. He stepped back and contemplated her. “So how’d you keep the bartender talking and not groping?” He grasped for mundane conversation, anything to give him time to regain his equilibrium.

“I sat next to a huge potted plant in the corner, ordered drinks, nursed them while I inflated his ego, dumped them when he served other cus

tomers.”

He grinned. “You are something.”

She averted her eyes. “Why haven’t the doors opened yet?”

He glanced around for the first time and realized neither of them had pushed the button for their floor.

He punched in the button for the fifth floor. The mechanism kicked into gear and they began their ascent. “Elementary.”

“Then how come neither one of us thought of it?”

He reached out and fingered a strand of her hair. “Because we were distracted?”

“By your caveman routine. Which reminds me, don’t you ever carry me anywhere again.”

“Or what?” The doors opened and he escorted her out of the elevator, his hand on her back.

She paused to turn and meet his gaze. “I’ll have to teach you a lesson, of course.” Laughter danced in her eyes.