Sighing, Shelly smiled when they got to her, noticing Lena’s eyes stray to the back of Paul’s head.

Mason grinned like a bad schoolboy, and then asked loudly, “So, Shelly, who’s your boyfriend?”

Glaring daggers at him, she grimaced as Paul turned, and then she forced a smile as she introduced Paul to her closest friends. “Mason and Lena, this is Paul. A friend of mine.” So she happened to stress friend a little more than she probably should have, but she wanted it to be clear.

Mason released his grip on Lena and held his hand out for Paul to take. Standing, Paul shook it as Mason shouted over the music, “Nice to meet you, man. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Paul turned to Shelly with a questioning look, and she just grinned at him, watching as he turned back and told Mason he hoped it was all good. She almost died when Mason replied.

“Oh, yes, Shelly told me you’re nothing but respectful and treat her like she’s very special.”

Shelly heard a chuckle from down the bar and turned to see Josh’s eyes on her as he tried unsuccessfully to conceal his laughter. Raising a brow at him, she tipped her chin up and watched as he lifted his beer to take a sip. His throat mesmerized her as he swallowed, and she felt her thighs twitch.

Stop looking at him, she ordered herself.

Turning back to the three in front of her, she was about to stand up and ask Paul to dance when Rachel bounced out of the crowd and over to them.

“Come on, Paul! You look like you could use some fun! Come dance with me.”

Paul looked over his shoulder to her, and Shelly nodded, trying not to laugh at his worried expression.

“Go, you’ll have fun. I’ll be here when you’re done.”

Rachel grabbed his wrist and pulled him into the sea of people.

Mason moved closer to Shelly and leaned down, asking her with a devious grin, “So, has he put out yet, or is he still making you feel special by waiting?”

Shelly turned her head so her mouth was right over his ear when she promised, “I’m going to kill you if you don’t shut it.”

Standing up straight, he nudged her under her chin, and then grabbed Lena’s hand, who grinned at Shelly as she was tugged into the crowd.

That left her and—oh, terrific—Josh Daniels sitting at the bar.

* * *

Watching her closely, Josh noticed the minute she realized she was stuck with him. He almost laughed out loud as he watched her turn on the bar stool to face him. Picking up his beer, he finished it as he stood and moved down to sit on the stool vacated by Paul.

He’d told himself over and over that he would not get involved with her. As he slid onto the seat, their knees brushing against one another, he also convinced himself sex did not require involvement.

She turned and picked up her drink, bringing it to her shiny, wet lips to take a sip.

Oh yeah, you don’t need to be involved to hit the sheets.

She watched him over the glass, and her blue eyes lowered in a slow, sensual blink as she seemed to size him up.

“What are you looking at?” she asked boldly.

“There’s only one thing in front of me,” he returned, deciding to forget about his brain and all of its flashing neon warning signals for a minute.

She put the glass down on the bar top, and then made a show of licking her bottom lip. He knew she was one-hundred percent aware of her own sensuality and how to use it to draw his eyes to her mouth as she finished the sexy move by biting her bottom lip.

“And do you like what you see?”

Feeling a grin pull up on his mouth, he nodded. “You certainly aren’t hard to look at.”

Leaning an arm on the bar’s counter, she crossed one of her bare legs, flashing him more of her thigh. His eyes drifted down to look at them, and then came back up to meet her fiery gaze.

“So, why aren’t you dancing, Shelly?” he questioned teasingly.

She let her eyes roam all over him, and he felt them as if they were her hands, stroking over his suddenly very aware body.

“There’s no one to dance with,” she answered him in that sexy voice of hers.

He tilted his head to the side as she reached for her glass again. He watched while she lifted it to her mouth and noticed for the first time how perfect the skin was on her neck. It was a perfect shade of creamy white that he suddenly wanted to suck.

“And what am I?” he finally asked her.

* * *

Shelly looked at Josh as he sat there with his legs spread and booted feet on the floor, facing her with one arm on the bar while the other rested on his knee.

The man was pure temptation, and she was finding him hard to resist. So hard in fact that she was trying to think of a way to have him—at least for a night.

“You are not an option,” she replied.

His eyes narrowed, and she watched him as he very carefully slid off the stool and took a step closer, still resting his palm on the bar.

Not one to cave to a man, Shelly looked up at him with a questioning expression. To anyone looking, she knew it just looked like he was asking her to dance, but that was so not the case.

“Why? I can tell you want me. Your eyes are all over me, and your breathing is just a little too hard for some woman sitting at a bar. Come on, Shel, you can admit it. Just like I can almost guarantee you’re getting all hot and bothered down between—”

“Okay,” she interrupted before he voiced what she knew was true.

Looking up at him, she had to admit that the man was sexier than anyone she’d ever met. He attracted her like a bee to honey, and as she locked gazes with him, she knew she was going to have him between her legs at some point in the very near future.

“Okay, what?” he asked as he stood still, barely making a move with each breath.

Not into self-delusion, Shelly always went after what she wanted—and want him she did. She raised her eyes to his, speaking loud enough for him to hear, “You’re right. I do want you.” She watched that panty-dropping smile appear on his face. “I’ve wanted you since the moment I turned around in Mason’s bar. Happy?”

* * *

Josh couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of this woman’s mouth. He didn’t understand why he was so surprised. He’d known from the get-go that she was sexy, confident, and the kind of woman to eat a man alive. But to hear her stating so bluntly that she wanted him? Well, that sent all the blood left in his head straight to his cock.

Trying to remember what she’d just said, he leaned down until they were almost nose to nose, and then moved at the last second to her ear.

To someone watching, he looked like he was just trying to talk to her over the loud music, but to the hot woman in front of him and to his out-of-control body, they both knew it was more like adding a spark to a stick of dynamite.

“I’m horny, not happy. You’re so fucking sexy that all the blood in my body is in my cock. But you already know that because you keep aiming your eyes down there to check.”

Leaning back, he looked down at her as she smiled and licked her lips again, which automatically made him think of her mouth and his cock. Together. Right now.

“That’s true, too.” Blinking big blue eyes up at him, she asked, “So, do you want to make a deal?”

“A deal?” he asked, suddenly a little confused, either from the lack of blood to his brain or the way the conversation was going.

“Yes, a deal. You know, an agreement that is forged between two individuals.”

Shaking his head slowly, he muttered, “Smart ass.”

“So, do you want to?” she pushed.

Josh looked her over, sitting there with her legs crossed and her thighs so close that he wanted to reach out and touch them.

Then, he answered the only way he knew how. “Hell, yeah. What’s your deal, Shel?”

With a smile touching her lips, she looked out to the dance floor. When she was happy they were in the clear, she replied, “This stays between us. I’m not looking for anything other than—”

“Sex?” he interrupted.

Raising a blonde brow, she dipped her head once, conceding, and quickly added, “Hot, sweaty, great sex. Which I’m assuming, you can deliver.”

Josh was completely amused and turned on by the woman. He found himself battling to keep his hands off her, and at the same time, he wanted to burst out laughing.

“Oh, and why would you assume that?”

She let her eyes travel down his chest, then to his jeans where he was sporting a major hard on, and then brought them back up to his face.

“I guess I’m not assuming. I’m hoping. Because, if not, I think I may have to just go ahead and end my life,” she sighed dramatically and looked at the dance floor. Then, she turned back to him as she continued, “Let’s put it this way. If I found out Paul wasn’t a firecracker after dark, it wouldn’t be such a surprise. If I found out you weren’t, I’d want to find a short pier and hurl myself off it. You have a body that’s made to pound a woman into her bed. So, I’m really hoping you can live up to that.”

Josh clenched his fist on the bar top and gritted his teeth as he shifted his feet where he stood, painstakingly trying not to reach down and rearrange what was pushing hard against his zipper.

“What’s the deal you’re offering, Monroe? Spell it out to me before I pick you up and haul you and your dirty mouth out of here.”

Grinning like she’d won some kind of battle, she uncrossed her legs and slipped off the stool, standing so close to him her breasts brushed against his chest. He continued to stand where he was, refusing to give in to her aggressive stance.