At the moment, Jon was sitting clear on the other end of the couch. Aside from asking her if she wanted something to drink, they’d popped in the movie the minute they crossed the threshold and dug into the cartons of Chinese take-out in total silence. It was like being present at a funeral with their barely formed relationship resting deader than a doornail between them.

Talk about depressing.

Every few minutes her eyes strayed to the digital clock displayed on the DVD player. She was counting down the time until she could call an end to this painful charade and go home, where she would bury her head under the blankets and sleep away as much of the last three weeks as possible.

Why couldn’t she just find a nice, good-looking man who would stick around for the long haul? Was that really asking for too much? Was it possible that her mother had snagged the last of a dying breed?

Drawing in a deep breath, Patti let it drag back out slowly. How much longer was this movie anyway? There was nothing she’d rather be doing less than sitting in total silence with someone who couldn’t even stomach looking at her while watching a movie that would normally have her rolling in hysterics, and being incapable of cracking even the smallest smile.

The evening had been a total disaster, and the more she thought about it, the sooner Patti realized that it would be best if she just ended their misery now instead of dragging it out another hour.

Gearing herself up to break the silence and announce her departure, Patti tucked a thread of hair behind her ear and shifted to face Jon, but he’d already beat her to it.

There, at the opposite end of the couch, Jon watched her with determination flashing in his heavenly blue eyes. The light from the television cast a muted glow along one side of his face, casting him in a dangerous light. It made everything about him appear dark and forbidding, and it made her blood sizzle.

“Are you still mad at me, Patricia?” His question was soft, barely audible over the calamity happening on-screen, but with her gaze locked on his perfect mouth, she’d heard every word.

Her head twisted side to side. “No, I’m not mad.” Disappointed would be more apt.

The arm he had draped over the back of the couch came down, and he held out his hand to her. “Then what are you doing all the way over there?”

On instinct, and maybe the wish to be closer to him, too, Patti slid her hand into his. With a gentle tug, Jon pulled her across the cushions and snuggled her up against his chest.

He tucked her head under his chin and his fingers wound into her hair, stroking the length of it. “There, that’s better. I didn’t like having you so far away where I couldn’t touch you.”

“Me either,” Patti confessed. The slight tickling sensation of his fingers on her scalp felt amazing. Slowly, her body began to relax and she eased into him, allowing her curves to contour to his hard frame. It was the most contact they’d had without the threat of combustion since their first date. In short, it was nice.

Together, they laid there and watched the rest of the movie. Patti’s ear resting atop his heavily beating heart, and nestled in the protective circle of his arms with their legs entwined. They may have only been on two dates, but in that moment, it felt as though they’d been a couple forever.

* * *

Patti awoke in a darkened room in a strange bed. She jolted, her heart hammering in her chest as she tried to sit upright and found herself pinned. Looking down, she found a thick arm wrapped around her waist. It constricted, pulling her back against the long, hard line of what she knew to be Jon’s body.

She must have fallen asleep, she concluded, and he must have brought her to his bed. She tried to relax her stiff muscles.

It was impossible to manage.

Just being this close to him made her tense.

Her breathing grew shallow when she felt the hardness of his erection pressing against the crease of her buttocks.

Her insides flamed to life. Heat pooled in her belly and she felt her panties grow wet.

Her body hummed to life.

For him.

She wasn’t sure how late it was, or early. With the curtains drawn tight, no light penetrated the dark room, and save for a soft, ambient glow of a night-light coming from somewhere nearby, there was nothing to indicate whether it was day or night.

She should probably go.

But how?

Jon’s big body was everywhere, enveloping her in his quiet strength. If she moved, she’d wake him and that was the last thing she wanted to do. After what had gone down on their date, she figured that maybe it was best if they took a tiny break, put some distance between them so they could both take some time to think everything through before they found themselves in a messy breakup that neither of them wanted.

She didn’t think she could do that again, especially not so soon.

She’d endured dozens of breakups in her short life, but she’d never experienced the pain of a broken heart, because you can’t break what you’ve never given away. With Jon, she had a sickening feeling that things would be very different.

Twisting slowly in his arms, she managed to roll flat on her back, but that movement only succeeded in pinning her deeper under his arm.

Dragging in a breath, she held it firmly in her chest and wiggled one hand under his large forearm and the other beneath his thick biceps, and lifted.

He was heavier than she anticipated, and when his whole arm came crashing back down across her stomach, her breath expelled on one big whoosh.

“Mmmm,” Jon moaned, his warm breath tickling her ear. “Going somewhere?”

Patti stiffened at his side. “Um, I need to…go to the bathroom.” She wasn’t sure what to do. She only knew she needed to get out of that bed. The way his body clung to hers, all big, and hot, and male, threatened all of her sensibilities.

Jon snuggled closer, burying his face in the side of her neck. His hips, or more specifically, his cock, pressed against her thigh. Then he licked her.

Patti’s breath shuddered out of her.

“Bathroom is straight ahead,” he grunted in her ear, and then he rolled onto his back, releasing her.

Patti leapt from the bed as if it were on fire and dashed toward the only source of light in the room: an en suit master bathroom. Sweet relief was within sight, and Patti raced toward it as though it were a source of salvation.

Jon’s soft chuckle followed after her. “And Patricia?”

She turned at the sound of his roughened voice.

His blue eyes glistened in the dark, giving them a predatory gleam. “Make sure you come back. I’m not done with you yet.”

Pressing the door closed, Patti made sure to flip the lock in case he decided to come after her. Approaching the sink, she braced her hands on the counter and looked at herself in the mirror. “What are you doing?” she asked her reflection.

The knowledge that she was trapped in that bathroom gripped her.

She knew, from the instant she felt his lips below her ear that she was done for.

And she couldn’t care less.

There was no longer any thought of leaving. No thoughts of home remained.

The only thing that echoed in her mind was the sound of his guttural voice, thick with the promise of sex. And the only thing that played behind her closed eyelids were images of his big body rising above her, thrusting in deep, making her tingle all the way down to her toes.

He was waiting for her just outside that door. Without a doubt, she knew he was going to take her, and God help her fragile heart, she was going to let him.

13

When Patti stepped out of the bathroom, Jon’s gaze shifted her way. Her breath stole right out of her from the hungry look she saw reflecting in his eyes.

He was lounging with his back against the pillows, his hands folded behind his head, and as she approached, he tracked her every move. Her head felt light as she climbed in beside him. She didn’t move to lie down or cuddle up against him as she would a lover for fear she would pass out. Or combust. Or both.

The sight of the man did crazy things to her, she was learning.

Jon patted the space beside him, the action making his bicep flex deliciously. “Come lie down with me.”

Patti stared at the space. A part of her—a huge part her—wanted to close that gap and take what he was willing to give, but another part of her wanted to run out the door and never look back.

Her eyes flicked up briefly, finding the door standing wide-open ready to receive her. She couldn’t decide. Stay or go? On the one hand, she could leave and save herself the heartache she knew would come, and on the other, she could stay and enjoy the body of the man who drove her insides wild and wait for the storm to roll in. The ball was in her court.

Unfortunately, or maybe very fortunately, Patti had always been a take the bull by the horns kind of girl. She laughed in the face of danger, plowing through every roadblock and warning sign she came across with little consideration to how she would come out of it on the other side.

Jon was dangerous to her health. She didn’t know much about him, but what she did know made her crave more. He was delicious in every way, from his sexy, mischievous smile to the jutting erection that bobbed as it strained to reach her when she dropped her gaze between his legs.

Her eyes traveled up his sleek body. Sometime after bringing her to his bed, he’d undressed. Now he lay there in a pair of baggy, gray cotton sweatpants and nothing else. His speed bump abs were on full display, as was the sexy V of his oblique arrowing an enticing path below his waistband.