The Seduction Challenge

‘I’d better go.’

She had to. She had to get away from the way he was looking at her.

He rose to his feet with the easy grace of a jungle predator and strolled with her back to her car, pausing to scoop up his discarded helmet on the way. One sideways glance confirmed just how incredibly good-looking he was and she almost laughed at herself.

Any other woman would have taken advantage of the situation and made witty conversation, but faced with all that raw masculinity all she wanted to do was run a mile.

He paused by the car and his eyes rested on her face. ‘You know, you shouldn’t worry. You did incredibly well back there.’ His voice was deep and cultured. ‘And you didn’t drag off his helmet, which is what most people would have done. What sort of a nurse are you?’

Lucy blushed awkwardly, thinking that his voice matched his looks. ‘Just a practice nurse.’

‘Just?’ His dark brows rose and his mouth tilted slightly at the corners. ‘Must be a pretty lucky practice if those skills you just showed are anything to go by.’

‘I—well, thanks…’ Lucy had never felt so tongue-tied in her life. It had been fine when they’d been working together, but now she was suddenly aware that they were alone and the way he was looking at her unnerved her. Not as a doctor surveying a colleague but as a man looking at a woman. And what a man…

His easy assurance made her feel awkward and out of her depth, and the strength of her reaction to him shocked her.

Tim had been her first and only boyfriend and she couldn’t remember a time when he’d been intimidating. Far from it. In many ways Tim had always been the boy she’d grown up with. Familiar and comfortable.

But there was nothing familiar and comfortable about the man watching her now. Nothing remotely boyish. He was every inch a man, and his arrogant stance and the confident way he surveyed her brought her flesh out in tiny goose-bumps.

Catching the gleam in his wicked, sexy eyes, she knew instinctively that he was aware of the effect he was having on her.

‘I’ll wait here for the police,’ he suggested, tucking his helmet under one arm and trapping her gaze with his. ‘Perhaps you ought to leave me your details if you’re thinking of dashing off.’

Her eyes widened and her heart leapt into her mouth. ‘Why?’

His smile was slow and lazy. ‘So that I can call you up and pester you, of course.’

‘Oh…’ His directness took her breath away and his smile widened.

‘Alternatively, I could give it to the police, who are bound to want a statement.’

Flustered, she lifted a hand and scraped her dark hair out of her eyes. ‘The police…’

For a moment she’d seriously thought he’d been asking her out.

He was laughing at her now, but there was warmth and something else in his gaze.

‘You look about fourteen when you blush.’

She felt about fourteen.

‘So come on, gorgeous,’ he said easily, ‘tell me all. Name, rank and serial number.’

Gorgeous?

No one had ever called her gorgeous before.

She opened her mouth but no sound came out.

‘Look, it’s easy. Just copy me.’ He folded his arms across his broad chest, his eyes teasing her gently. ‘I’m Joel. I’m thirty-three years old, I’m single and when I grow up I want to be a doctor. I love people and animals and what I most want is world peace. There. How hard was that? Now it’s your turn.’

What should she say?

Hi, I’m Lucy and I used to be married, but I’m not any more because my husband was a total rat and he broke my heart.

Maybe not.