Matched to Her Rival

Casually, Dax pulled at the sleeve of his date-night suit, which shouldn’t have looked so different on him than what he’d worn all the other times she’d seen him. But it was clearly custom-made from gorgeous silk, and in it, he somehow he managed to look delicious and dangerous at the same time.

“Really,” he said. It was a statement, not a question, as though he didn’t believe her.

Probably because he knew she was skirting the truth. Why had she invited him in? Or given him her address in the first place? This was her sanctuary, and she rarely allowed anyone to intrude.

Dax got a pass because she had messed up. “You can’t distract me. I’ve got a one-track mind and it’s set on finding the perfect woman for you. Candy wasn’t it. I get that. But her name came up due to the unorthodox profile sessions. We have to do the last one and do it the right way.”

For all the good it would do. Who else did she have in her database to match with Dax? Mentally, she sorted through the candidates and tried to do some of the percentages in her head.

And forgot how to add as a slow smile spread across his face, heavy with promise and a side of wicked. “Shall we put that to the test?”

“Um...” Her brain went a little fuzzy as he pierced her with those smoky eyes and raked heat through her abdomen without moving an inch. “Put what to the test?”

Then he stirred and she wished he’d stayed still.

He flowed to his feet and resettled next to her on the couch. “Whether I can distract you or not.”

Barely a finger width separated them and she held her breath because oh my God, he smelled like sin and salvation and she had the worst urge to nuzzle behind his ear.

This was not part of the deal. She was not attracted to Dax Wakefield. It was unthinkable, unacceptable. She had no experience with a predatory man who had a new woman in his bed more often than he replaced his tube of toothpaste.

How could this have happened? Did her previously comatose libido not understand what a player this man was? How greatly he disdained long-term commitment and true love?

The man was her lonely heart’s worst nightmare wrapped in a delectable package. She might as well hand him a mallet and lie down at his feet so he could get to smashing her insides flat right away.

He was meant for his true soul mate, who would be the right woman to change his mind about love. Elise was not it.

Pulse hammering, she stared him down, praying he couldn’t actually see her panic swirling. Now would be a great time for some pithy comeback to materialize in her fuzzy brain, but then he slipped his hand under hers and raised it to his lips.

Her fingertips grazed his mouth and his eyelids drifted lower, as if he found it pleasurable. Fascinating. Little old Elise Arundel could make a walking deity like Dax feel pleasure. Who would have thought?

Watching her intently, he pursed his lips and sucked, ever so slightly, on her index finger, and the answering tug between her legs wasn’t so slight. Honeyed warmth radiated outward, flushing over her skin, and a hitch in her lungs made it hard to catch a breath.

“What are you doing?” she asked hoarsely.

“Seeing what you taste like,” he murmured and slid her hand across his stubbly jaw, holding it against his skin. “And it was good enough to want more.”

Before she could blink, his head inclined and his lips trailed across hers, nibbling lightly, exploring, teasing, until he found what must have been the angle he sought. Instantly, their mouths fused into a ragingly hot kiss.

Elise’s long-dormant body thundered to life and broke into a rousing rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus.

His hands cupped her neck, tilting her head back so he could take it deeper. Hot and rough, his tongue slicked across hers, and she felt strong responding licks deep in her core. A cry rose up in her throat and came out as a moan.

Those strong and deft hands drifted lower on her back, dipping under the hem of her sweater, spreading across her bare skin at the arch of her waist.

Stop right there.

He did.

She really wished he’d kept going.

They both shifted closer, twining like vines. Then he pushed with his palm against the small of her back and shoved her torso into his. Oh, my, it was hard against the roused tips of her breasts, which were sensitive enough to feel him through layers of cloth.

This wasn’t the PG-rated kiss she’d been thinking about since the almost-kiss of the parking lot. This one had rated R slapped all over it. Fisting great wads of his shirt in her hands, she clung to him as he kissed her, shamelessly reveling in it, soaking up every second.