From the moment he’d laid eyes on her nearly a month ago, he had wanted her with an intensity he’d never felt before. Nothing had changed since then. But how did he tell her that without sending her screaming into the night?
“Let’s just say that I think I’ve found what I’m looking for,” he replied instead, burying his fingers in her gorgeous thick hair.
Her brilliant blue eyes met his again, and he felt a twitch in his groin as his body responded to the sheer beauty in front of him. A mere second later before he could talk himself out of it, he had captured her lips, plundering her surprised mouth with his tongue.
Harmony gasped as she found herself suddenly swept fully against him, his arm tightly pulling her closer and his lips taking command of hers. Rather than being scared at the shift in control, she felt something akin to desire snaking through her as her tongue slid tentatively against his. In all of her time with her ex-husband, she wasn’t sure that she had ever experienced something like this…a fire that was building in the pit of her stomach and moving at lightning speed to overtake her entire body just at the touch of his lips against hers.
“You know, you’re really good at saying a lot, but never really telling me anything at all,” Harmony muttered when he finally released her lips a moment later and lifted his head to stare into her turbulent eyes. “And while that kiss was a nice distraction, I still want an answer to my question. What made you decide to pick Paradise to settle down?” she asked, scooting away from him on the couch and putting some much needed distance between her and his lethal lips.
“I already answered that question, Harmony,” Jake returned calmly, meeting her gaze with a steady look. “I found something I’ve been looking for here. You.”
Shaking her head, Harmony went into automatic denial, holding a hand up between them when he would have moved in to steal another kiss. She needed much more than his sudden declaration of need before she could trust. “Then you’ve really chosen the wrong place, Jake, if I’m what’s keepin’ you here. I’m not looking for a relationship. Not with you. Not with anybody. This dinner tonight is a fluke. I don’t date. I don’t plan on dating in the future.”
“Yeah, you mentioned that,” Jake snorted, keeping his eyes trained on her paling face. “Care to cut through all the bullshit excuses you hand out for that and tell me why that really is?” he invited her silkily even though his query was more of a demand than a request. “A pretty girl like you that acts the way you do…that looks the way you do… let’s just say that I know that you’re alone by choice, darlin’, not design. Why is that?”
“I…” Harmony floundered, her eyes flying from his face to the door as if she was looking for her quickest escape route.
“And while we’re on the subject, maybe you’d explain why it is that every time I do something nice for you, you get this look in your eyes like you’ve been sucker punched. Gotta admit, I love starin’ into those blue eyes of yours, but those storm clouds you got behind your gaze are beginnin’ to worry the hell out of me.”
“Th-then stop starin’ at me. And stop kissing me, while you’re at it,” Harmony ordered, glaring at him when he laughed.
“Yeah, that won’t be happenin’ any time soon, sweetheart. I like who I’m lookin’ at way too much to give up my new favorite pastime of starin’ at her. And as for kissin’ you, I’ll stop doin’ that when you don’t kiss me back. Not a second before. I like your sweet taste, Harmony. Won’t apologize for that, either. You taste good, baby. Pure, innocent, but so damn fine that it makes my dick ache. And just so you and I are real clear with each other, you should know that I’ll be waitin’ for my next chance to take a drink from those pink lips of yours, and I’ll be stealin’ those kisses from you every chance I get.”
Harmony was slack jawed by the time he finished speaking. “I think it’s time for you to take me home,” she finally managed to spit out as she bolted to her unsteady feet.
“I disagree, and since I’ve got the truck keys, I get the deciding vote here,” Jacob denied, catching her slim wrist in a gentle, but unbreakable grip and pulling her back down beside him. “First, we talk, Harmony. Then, if you’re a good girl and tell me what I wanna know, I’ll take you home. Later. Much later.”
“You mean that you want me to talk, don’t you, Jake? This is the part where you want me to share my deep, dark secrets, right?” she snapped irritably as she tried to jerk her arm away from him. “Even though you don’t share anything of consequence with me,” she added under her breath. “How the hell is that fair?”