“Yeah, you are.”
“No, I’m not. I just don’t want to sleep with you.”
“How is that not rejection?”
She glanced down at her phone again, held loosely in her hands. “I don’t understand. Why should you care? You must have hundreds of women you can call on. You don’t need me.”
“No, you’re right, I don’t need you. But I do want you.”
Stuff the bloody interview. He wanted her smile back. Wanted to bury his face in her neck, inhale the musk and lavender, sensuality and innocence of her scent. She was so sexy in her Gothic T-shirt, her skinny jeans, and her velvet boots. He wanted to push her back on the couch, slowly pull her jeans down, unlace those boots, and peel everything from her.
Or maybe everything but the boots. Yeah, she could keep those on.
Christie stared at her phone for a long moment. Then she raised her head and looked at him. “Why? Why do you want me?”
Challenge lurked in her eyes but behind it, he caught a glimpse of her vulnerability.
Joseph reached out for her again, sliding his palm along her jaw. “I can get sexy anywhere, Christie. But sweet, funny, and smart as hell, too?” He let his thumb trace her lower lip. “That only comes with you.”
…
Christie froze. He’d moved closer to her, the heat coming from his palm on the side of her jaw like a blowtorch applied directly to her skin.
She didn’t know what to say or how to respond. No one had ever called her sexy before, let alone all that other stuff about being sweet and smart. And funny.
Well , actually, Joseph called you gorgeous the night you met him.
Yeah, he had. But then she’d been Naughtygirl and tonight she was Christie, and somehow that made everything different. Somehow that made everything worse.
She didn’t want to look into his eyes but she made herself. Steeled herself. “Okay, so I’ll give you smart. But I’m not that funny. And as for sexy,” She stopped, hating how unsteady her voice sounded. “I’m wearing Docs for God’s sake. How can you be sexy in Docs? And a Death’s Head T-shirt?”
Joseph stared at her, his thumb continuing to move along the line of her jaw, caressing, generating sparks of heat. “I think you could wear a sack and I’d find you sexy. Hell, you would not believe the fantasy I’m having right at this moment. Of you with your legs around my waist, wearing only your Docs.”
“Oh,” she said faintly.
His gaze turned hooded as it dropped to her mouth. “I was kind of hoping for better than ‘oh.’”
“The in-interview,” she murmured, her stammer rising as she tried to find some kind of reference point to hold on to. Because the intensity in his gaze was turning her brain into mush.
She hadn’t let herself think about his intentions when she’d decided to come back here with him. The interview, that’s what mattered. That’s all that mattered.
She thought he’d give up. That perhaps he’d lose interest in her once she’d told him that there was no way she was sleeping with him.
But she hadn’t counted on his persistence. Or her susceptibility to him.
I can get sexy anywhere…
Naughtygirl in her stretchy black dress and heels was sexy. And apparently Christie in her jeans and Docs and T-shirt was sexy, too.
Her mouth was dry, every single objection she had, every reason that sleeping with him was such a bad idea, vanishing out of her head.
“Sorry, but I don’t really give a crap about the interview,” Joseph said. He ran his thumb along her lower lip again, pressing down, opening her mouth. Then he leaned down, brushed his mouth over hers.
The touch was fleeting, leaving her shivering and hungry for more.
“I thought I said no k-kisses,” she whispered.
“I know, but I’m trying to change your mind.” Then he kissed her again, lingering for longer this time, his tongue slipping into her mouth, tasting her. Exploring.
Her phone slid out of her nerveless fingers and hit the carpet with a soft thunk. Christie barely registered the fact that it had gone.
Joseph drew back. “How am I doing?”
She tried to speak. “Uh…I think…I’m still on the fence. You might want to…you know, argue a bit more.”
He didn’t hesitate, covering her mouth again with his.
She couldn’t stop the moan that broke from her, scalding heat washing through her. Helplessly she reached for him, curling her hands in the cotton of his shirt, pulling him closer.
“Christie,” Joseph murmured in a low voice against her mouth. “You’d better decide if you want to do this interview or not and you’d better decide quick. Because honey, I want you and I’m not much good at waiting.” The rough demand in the question raised all the hairs along her arms, along the back of her neck. Made her shiver.