Until Jake

He didn’t stop and sink into the sofa to be waited on. Instead, he was hot on her heels.

“Let me open that for you,” he said as he reached for the bottle in her hand. The nearness of him made her body tense. Magma rushed through her.

Christ, she just might fry from the inside out.

Would it be so bad and wrong to tell him now, point-blank, what she wanted from him? Would he shove her dress up to her waist, set her on the granite counter and bang the hell out of her?

A strangled sound wrenched from her mouth. She covered it with a cough.

Her chest rose and fell with excitement. Escalating with every moment that ticked by. Fighting for calm that dangled just out of her grasp, she laid the rose on the counter, handed over the wine pull and retrieved two fresh glasses.

Jake smoothly uncorked the bottle and poured. He tilted his glass to hers so the rims touched.

“I’m glad you stopped by the site today, Kate,” he said. His shimmering irises were so mesmerizing she almost didn’t hear him speak. “I’ve seen you before. On your way to and from the building. I was really happy when you came over and introduced yourself.”

He’d noticed her before today? The thought did wicked things to every erogenous zone she possessed. Prompting her to say, “Think I’ll put the steaks on now.”

The faster dinner was served, the faster they could get down to business.

“You didn’t have to cook.”

Her brow quirked. “Oh?”

He knew exactly what she was up to?

His easy grin returned and it made her heart miss a beat. “I would have liked to have taken you out. Someplace fancy. Romantic.” He drew in a long sip of Cab before adding, “Next time.”

There it was. Another skipped beat. Her Adonis was turning out to be a nice guy. A nice, romantic guy?

Gulp.

Definitely not what she was expecting. Kate suddenly felt a little guilty that her quest hadn’t been to get to know him. Just to fuck him. She hadn’t intended to pick a sweetheart for a hot hookup. She was looking for the love ‘em and leave ‘em sort. The kind of man who’d get his fill of her, ask for her number and never call her.

Why’d she get the feeling that this guy wasn’t the type to conveniently lose her contact info?

“You realize I’m…older…than you. Right?” So clearly, serious dating was out of the question. Not that she was interested in that anyway.

Been there, done that. She didn’t need another epic relationship disaster to shred her to the core.

Jake said, “I imagine you’re a couple of years older than me. Doesn’t matter.”

She eyed him curiously. “How old are you?”

“Twenty-five.”

“Shit,” she muttered, wondering how Mrs. Robinson had even dared to take things a step further. “I’m…uh… Yeah. A couple of years older.”

“Doesn’t bother me,” he said.

So why was it now bothering her?

Kate gave a mental shake of her head. She was veering way off course here.

Squaring her shoulders, determined to move things in the right direction, keep this seduction contained in the box she’d put it in from the get-go, she said, “I’m thirty-six. A marketing executive.”

And that was

all the personal information she intended to divulge. She didn’t ask for his backstory, either.