LITMIR.BIZ

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and just as he seemed to be losing control, he broke away. The separation left Jenna aching. He looked drunk, his nose and ears and lips flushed, exactly where Jenna felt the heat. This insanity was mutual, and dangerous.

      For long moments they stood that way, hands slowly slipping from one another’s hair, breaths deepening, eyes locked on each other’s mouths. Jenna cleared her throat, lust fading enough to expose a deep vein of embarrassment. She clasped her hands at her waist and felt blood flooding her cheeks, ashamed to have lost control of herself with a man she barely knew.

      “You know, you’re right.” Mercer ran his tongue over his lower lip. “That’s good wine.”

      She could think of nothing to say—no reprimand or smart remark or even a dumbfounded “Well.” She closed her mouth and looked away. Mercer took a step back, then another.

      The water was still running and he turned to the sink, resuming the dishes. Jenna pursed her tender lips, knowing she ought to say something. As she stowed the cutting board he handed her, she managed a weak “That was very…unexpected.”

      He shot her a teasing look, though a tighter, more cautious one than she’d grown to anticipate. “I suppose you’re going to blame that on me?”

      She mustered a weak laugh. “No. Wish I could, though.” It scared her to know she was capable of such reckless attraction, so much stronger than logic.

      “That was…that was a bad idea,” she murmured.

      “Probably.”

      “Definitely,” she corrected, getting a hold of herself, smoothing her skirt and top.

      “Let’s just call that research or something, for your business.”

      She nodded vigorously. “Yes, good. I was just, um, comparing kissing data on East- versus West-Coast men. To better understand my new market.”

      Finally, another genuinely devious glance. “So how’d Boston measure up?”

      “Bit more aggressive than I’d expected.” Crap, they were flirting again.

      “Aggressive, huh? How do you want to get kissed, then? All gentle, like I just took you to the ballet or a funeral or something?”

      “I never said I didn’t like it.”

      That shut him up a moment. “Well, good. Oh, wait, no. Bad.”

      She nodded. “Really bad.”

      “Really complicated.”

      For a few breaths they looked at each other with matching, perplexed expressions. Then Mercer said, “Sort of complicated. Or when you think about it, actually, it’s really pretty uncomplicated. I mean, you’d never get hung up on me, since I’m like the opposite of your type.”

      “And you wouldn’t get hung up on me, since I doubt you could commit to a sandwich long enough to finish it.”

      Mercer shut off the faucet and dried his hands on a dishtowel. “So really, that was a totally harmless accident.”

      Harmless, yes. Harmless as an alcoholic’s first sip of liquor. She closed the cupboard. “Right… Well, good.”

      “Perfect.”

      “Yes, perfect.” For a few moments, they shared a diplomatic calm, crisis averted. Then disaster struck, and Jenna couldn’t for the life of her pinpoint whose fault it was when they were suddenly lip-locked again.

      He was fiercer than ever, and she wasn’t any better behaved. She stroked his shoulders and back, welcomed the heat and insistence of his tongue, the possessive weight of his palms on her waist and neck. They staggered a dozen paces to the couch, narrowly avoiding crushing Mercer’s computer as he pulled her down to straddle his lap. It was dangerous how perfectly level their mouths were in this position. More dangerous still was how good his thighs felt as her knees sank into the cushions—hard and substantial. A hot palm pressed Jenna’s bare, lower back, at the gap between her skirt and top.

      She freed her mouth long enough to murmur, “This is such a stupid idea.”

      Mercer kissed her deeply for another breath before replying. “Yeah. Massively stupid.”

      But her body said it was pure genius, the thing she’d been put on this earth for. The only thing that mattered.

      She held the back of his head, taking the lead. He massaged her skin, his other hand holding her hip, gently but unmistakably coaxing her closer. She obeyed, edging her center to his. Her skirt was gathered between their waists and she felt his erection through her panties and his jeans—hard as his arms and ten times as thrilling. His kisses faltered as he moaned, the noise giving her shivers. The strongest man she’d ever touched, totally helpless.

      His hands went to her waist, guiding her in small thrusts against him. She leaned back and they both studied the scene, the point where their bodies met, his gaze rising to her breasts and throat, hers drawn as always to those powerful arms. He looked into her eyes.

      “We should probably stop.”

      “Yes, we probably should,” she agreed, yet neither put the advice into practice.

      She leaned close again but the kissing was different. Mercer changed, distracted by the friction. His kisses were shallow, breath heavy. Sexy as hell. Though his hands still dictated her hips’ rhythm, she knew he was at her mercy. She knew, too, she could have anything she wanted. She could run her curious palms over every fascinating inch of his exceptional body, issue any order and expect to have it followed. She could lead him by the collar to her never-slept-on mattress and christen the hell out of it. She could sleep with the gruffest, fittest, most shameless man she’d ever been attracted to and find out if he screwed as well as he kissed—

      But no. No, no, no.

      Jenna didn’t screw, for starters.

      She also couldn’t sleep with a guy and not have it mean something. She’d wake up in deep trouble, unable to pretend she was capable of having sex without assigning significance to the act. Or scarier still, the fact that she wanted to have sex with Mercer meant she already felt something for him. That one was too much to contemplate. She shuffled back on her knees, separating their crotches, and flipped her skirt back down her thighs. “We really ought to stop. Like, really.”

      He nodded, the gesture looking hazy and crazed.

      If romances were candles, as Jenna’s philosophy suggested, then she and Mercer were a stick of dynamite. Nothing but a sizzling flame gobbling up the fuse en route to imminent disaster. They’d be over before her ears quit ringing. Then what?

      A whole lot of fallout, that’s what. A big old mess to clean up.

      Good thing they’d managed to snuff things before it was too late. Her love life deserved to be as well thought out as her future clients’. And that meant observing one of the franchise’s cardinal bits of advice—never sleep with someone before the fourth date. Well done, Jenna. The man loads the dishwasher and suddenly you’re on his lap.

      Mercer let her get to her feet.

      She tidied her hair, caught her breath and did a very good job of not stealing a glance at the front of his jeans. Shutting herself in her room, she switched on the light and opened the window, welcoming the traffic sounds to chase the last of that impulsive lust from her consciousness.

      Crisis dodged. Logic restored.

      Then again, if logic was the main ingredient needed to make a lasting, passionate match, why wasn’t Jenna still with her college flame? Or indeed her high school sweetheart? Two perfectly logical, perfectly likable men, but that hadn’t kept her attached in the long run. Hadn’t kept her up nights or left her pulse racing this way. She sat on the bed and rubbed her face, touched her lips, tender from Mercer’s kisses.

      Thank God in heaven she didn’t have herself as a client.

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