Bearllionaire(19)

“Give me a chance,” he said. “Let’s try and put this behind us for now.” She blushed, and he swallowed, trying to press on despite the delicious thoughts of her that kept coming to his head. Janna writhing beneath him, Janna moaning his name, Janna crying out for him, and his bear answering…

“Just give me the week you were going to give me,” he said. “Forgive me for this mistake.”

Her eyes flashed in anger, and he realized that was a bad way to word it.

“No,” he corrected. “I mean…” The stubborn part of him had enough. “Woman, I’m getting dinner. And you’re going to eat that and then listen to what I have to say.” He eyed her sternly, hoping that sent the right message.

Instead, she looked at him for a moment and then burst into laughter. Then she sashayed away into the bedroom.

Suddenly, Ryder wasn’t sure who was in control after all. Damn. His mate was a one-in-a-million woman.





* * *



Janna sank against the door, grateful she’d had a chance to shut it in Ryder’s face before her mocking laughter turned into something more hysterical. She covered her mouth with her hand, waiting for her heartbeat to return to normal.

Even angry with him for leaving her alone in bed, even yelling at him for bringing her to his cabin and not telling her, he had an effect on her.

Tall, handsome Ryder Hart was just as devastatingly gorgeous when he was hemming and hawing over making a mistake as he was when he was making love to her.

A deep part of her said, Let’s keep him.

Another part said, We’ve been wrong before. He could leave us. We have no promise of anything. And to be fair, when she made love to him, she hadn’t demanded anything but the pleasure he could give her. She had no right to be angry with him for something that had been her choice.

But that was when she’d thought he’d been just as carried away as she was. Heck, she’d only been alone with him for two minutes before she practically jumped his bones. Gone was the practical accountant; in her place was a feral animal eager to get any piece of him.

It wasn’t like her. She rubbed her chest over her heart, still not feeling fully like herself. Perhaps it was just the sex, but she still felt exhilarated. More alive than ever before.

And damn, could he do sex.

But then she’d seen the clothes in the closet. He hadn’t changed his mind and brought her to her own private cabin, as she’d initially thought. He’d brought her to his place, like a presumptuous first date who assumed he was going to get some. Worse, she’d proven him right.

But even as her logical mind chastised her for her indiscretion, her body ached with relief that they’d been together. It had felt wonderful, been exactly what she needed, and he’d used protection. So what was the harm? She wasn’t old-fashioned enough to feel that it should affect his opinion of her. And yet, she still wanted him to know she didn’t just jump into bed with every hot billionaire that wanted her.

Crazy as it sounded, there had been something between them. Something she wanted to explore, even though she knew better than to hope for something to happen this quickly with one of the most powerful men in the country.

Ryder Hart. Ryder Hart had been making love to her. She could barely believe it.

He was waiting out there. She giggled again at his attempt to be commanding. Sure, it had made her go weak in the knees. But she also knew now she had equal, or maybe more, power over him now. His attempt to command her had simply stemmed from his adorable sense of frustration at the situation. And looking at his crumpled brow, rumpled clothing, and huge muscles that could nonetheless not get him out of this mess, she couldn’t fight back a laugh.

And it had felt good and made her feel more in control of a situation that had started to worry her.

She wasn’t going to fall too hard for Ryder Hart. Not more than she wanted to. She’d taken what she wanted, no more, and as she heard him out and got to know him, maybe she’d be more able to decide what she wanted from him.

She grinned and opened her suitcase, looking for something to torture him. She heard his low, sexy voice on the phone, probably ordering dinner, and lust coiled inside her again. No, she told her body, we’re not doing that again. Not soon. We need to get to know him. See if we can trust him.

You can, a part of her said. But she ignored it. She needed more than intuition this time. It was too easy to mistake intuition for simply something she wanted anyway. She wouldn’t be fooled again.

And with a man who could have any choice of woman on his arm, she’d have to be extra careful if she didn’t want to end up cheated on again.