Sleepless in Manhattan (From Manhattan with Love 1)

/> “Maybe it is.”

“It’s not a good idea.”

“It’s a perfect idea. I stopped taking risks with my heart that day you rejected me, Jake. I didn’t even realize it until recently, but I’ve guarded myself ever since. I’ve had a few relationships, but I’ve never given my whole self. After what happened with you, I’ve protected myself.”

“That’s probably a good thing.” He licked his lips, unsettled by how badly he did not want to think of Paige with another man.

“It isn’t a good thing. I don’t want to get to the end of my life and say ‘at least I was careful.’ That’s not how I want to live. You were the one who taught me that.”

“Maybe you should stop listening to me.”

“I reached the same conclusion. Which is why I’m here now.”

“And now you’ve said what you came to say, you can leave.”

“Are you protecting me or yourself now?” She closed the distance between them. “I thought you were a risk taker?”

Not with her. Never with her.

He never made a move on a woman without assessing every single possible outcome. One former lover had observed snappily that he had the mentality of a bodyguard—he checked the exits before he went into the room. He was his own bodyguard. And all his instincts were screaming that this was a mistake.

“You don’t want this, Paige.”

“Don’t tell me what I want. I know what I want and I think I know what you want. The only question is whether you’re man enough to admit it.” She was standing close to him and she lifted her hand to his jaw, her fingers exploring. “Are you?”

“No. I’m not man enough.” He growled the words through a surge of lust. “I don’t want you.”

“No?” She smiled and covered him with the flat of her hand, slowly tracing the shape of his thickened, straining erection. “Are you sure?”

He couldn’t speak. He clenched his jaw tight as his senses and his body responded to the intimate touch of her hand.

She stood on tiptoe, her mouth a breath away from his. “You didn’t kiss me in the elevator to distract me. You kissed me because you couldn’t keep your hands off me. Because your control snapped. Finally.”

Pleasure shot through him in burning streaks of light. He was burning up with desire.

“Maybe I do want you.” The admission was dragged from somewhere deep inside him. “But I’m not doing anything about it, Paige.”

Her smile widened. “Then I’ll do it. Feel free to join in whenever you like.”

All he wanted to do was to keep her happy and safe, and he knew that if she tangled with him, that wasn’t going to happen.

He’d broken plenty of hearts in his time, but the one heart he’d never touched was hers.

A relationship with him, any sort of relationship, wasn’t compatible with a healthy lifestyle.

Falling into the sexy gleam of her eyes, he groped for reasons, excuses, anything that might make her think twice.

“Matt—”

“I love my brother, but who I have sex with is none of his business. It isn’t anyone’s business but mine. And maybe yours.” She slid her fingers between the buttons of his shirt and pulled him closer. Her lips nibbled at his, her breath warm and sweet as she teased his mouth with her tongue.

Still, he held it all back, hauled it inside, even though it strained every part of him to do so.

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Maybe I’ll hurt you. But then again, there’s always the possibility that neither of us will get hurt. It’s just sex, Jake. One night. I can handle that if you can. Stop thinking.”

He felt her move closer, felt the curve of her breasts brush against his chest. “I can’t have sex with my best friend’s little sister.”