Well, she was going to prove him wrong.
Jenna got down on her knee, her skirt riding high up her thigh. She zoomed in with the lens, clicked. Good shot, she thought, trying for a different angle.
Lex waved, suddenly distracted by her and what she was doing. It cost him—he took the full brunt of a barreling kid in the gut, blew backward into the dirt, landing with a hard bounce that made her scrunch up her face.
Ouch.
But he laughed—that great big infectious laugh. And she caught the moment on camera. Then she lowered her lens, stilled. He watched her for a moment, an energy transferring between them over the length of the field, crackling with soft electrical potential.
“Coach! Heads up! Incoming!”
He spun, caught the football just in time and the game was back on.
Jenna smiled.
Lex ducked his head under an outside tap, sun hot on his back as a barefooted Jenna watched. He stood, flicked back his wet hair. “Pass my shirt, will you?”
She handed him his clean T-shirt with a warm smile and a happy lightness in her eyes.
He stilled as he took his shirt. Something had shifted in Jenna. His princess had easily shed her Vegas glitz. She looked real—her hair a sexy wild mass, skin aglow, cheeks kissed soft pink from the sun, her blouse molded to her breasts, damp with perspiration—and Lex’s world narrowed as his attention was drawn along the curves of her body. He slowly took his shirt from her hand, forgetting why he’d brought her out here in the first place. He forgot the homicide case, The Tears of the Quetzal, the FBI…it all flowed in a dim viscous river to some place deep down at the back of his mind as his skin connected with hers.
She came a little closer, eyelids lowering. “Lex—” her voice come out a low whisper “—I understand.”
Lex tried to swallow. “Understand what?”
“What you don’t like in me.” Her eyes held his with a bright directness that made him turn to throbbing molten lead down low in his gut. The sun burned down on his head.
“I can see why I am not your thing,” she said.
Right this minute, babe, you’re exactly like my thing.
He cupped the side of her face suddenly, thumb under her jaw. And he tilted her full mouth up to him, meeting her lips with his, fast and hard before he could think. Her curvaceous body softened instantly against his. He drew her close to his naked chest, tasting her, drawing her scent in deep as he opened her soft, sweet mouth under his.
She ran her hand down his torso to his waist, urgency mounting in her body, and she reached the band of his shorts. A raw lust bottled and swelled inside him like it was going to blow. He wanted her bad. All of her. Now. Here. In his car, wherever. But this was wrong, so wrong…the legal stuff will be in the clear as long as you keep your hands off her.
He pulled back instantly, breathing hard, trying to align everything in his head—he was supposed to be working her for information, and he’d just crossed the line, damn it.
Quinn would have his balls if he found out. The system would eat him alive.
Lex swore to himself. No one needed to know this had happened between them. He just had to make damn sure it didn’t happen again, and that he kept his lust in check. Besides, how could he be sure that Jenna wasn’t still playing him on behalf of her father? He wouldn’t put anything past that family.
Lex quickly pulled his shirt over his head, cleared his throat. “We should get into the shade. It’s…hot.”
“It sure is.” She grinned. Genuine. Affectionate. Definitely not calculated. And deep down Lex wanted to believe that what he saw in her face, in her eyes, was real. And that’s when he knew he was in real trouble. “Do…uh…you want to go get an ice cream…or something?” Like a cold shower.
“Love to.”
“Hey, Coach!” The skinny kid suddenly came trotting back around the corner, all toothy smile and sweaty gear. “I lost my bus money.”
“Again?”
“Could you maybe loan me some?”
Lex peeled off a couple of notes from his wallet and handed them to the kid. “You gotta watch your cash, Slim.”
He shuffled on his feet. “Hey, I’ll pay you back, just like I did last time.”
“Yeah. Take it. Go.” Lex slapped him playfully on the back. “Get yourself some dinner while you’re at it. Put some meat on those skinny bones of yours.”
“Thanks, Coach! Thanks a ton.”
“Go!”
He spun and jogged off.
And in that moment, Jenna thought she could fall head over heels in love with this man. He was the furthest thing from any of the guys she’d ever dated, and way out of her social circle, but he did something to her. He’d make a terrific father, and that made her think that maybe she wanted a family of her own someday. Something real, built on love. And the notion shocked her. Jenna had never, ever thought along these lines before.