gotten their way with her. Cold, hard, icy. Names that indicated her lack of interest must stem from a shortcoming on her part rather than a simple lack of desire to pursue something with a guy making passes at her while she was at work.
She slanted Jeff a sidelong look. He was just that—a guy making passes at her while she was working. And yet something about him struck her as so wholly different. Different enough, that as she kept telling herself the reason she’d agreed to go with him was because it was her last night in Las Vegas, some small part of her wondered if she would have gone with him whether she’d been leaving or not.
No. She shook the thought off, casting an inward scowl at the idea she’d do something that went against her principles after she’d just explained how keen she was on self-preservation.
“Strong and independent. A woman who knows her own mind. I like that.”
“Yeah?” she asked, turning around to walk backward as she looked at him. “And me?”
“I definitely like you.” He raked those big hands through the mess of his hair as he scanned the sky above them and then met her eyes with a straightforward stare. “I like the way you surprise me. That I didn’t have you figured out within thirty seconds, or hell, even now, hours later.”
Her steps slowed and Jeff closed the distance between them, resting his hand over the curve of her hip. “And I like that I can make you laugh, because the sound of it—”
He shook his head, still holding her gaze. “When you give into it for me—” his fingers tightened against her hips in a brief possessive grip “—all I can think about is how I’m going to get you to do it again.”
* * *
“Jeff.”
If he’d thought her laugh knocked him flat, hell, it was nothing compared to the breathy sound of her voice when she said his name like that. Like maybe she wanted the very thing he’d been about killing himself not to press for.
Sure once he’d made up his mind about getting her to go out with him back at the lounge, he’d assumed the natural progression of the evening would lead to a physical conclusion. They were both adults and there’d been a chemistry between them.
And he wanted it.
Hell, yeah, he did.
But something kept holding him back through each of those crossroad moments where the opportunity to change the tone of the night presented itself. The conflict in her eyes was like none he’d seen before. And it spurred some deeply instinctual need in him to protect her.
This woman he’d thought had ice in her veins and could level a man with one look alone was vulnerable and for some reason, tonight, she’d trusted him to take her out, show her the good time she all too rarely got and give her the night she deserved without whatever had her worrying that lush bottom lip of hers between her teeth. They could be the simple, uncomplicated, good time the other remembered in the years to come.
He smiled, thinking Darcy would get a kick out of that bit of fire-hose-flexing ego.
Who the hell knew if she’d remember him next week, let alone next year. But he hoped she would. Because he’d remember her.
* * *
What was she doing, looking into this guy’s eyes like she couldn’t physically make herself look away.
She didn’t make the reckless choice. Not ever.
She didn’t give in to the feel-good moment.
She liked control. In her work, in her life, in her heart and mind.
But somehow Jeff with all his ego talk, comfort in his own skin, confidence in his actions…his going after anything and everything he wanted like it never occurred to him he couldn’t have it, was tempting her to behavior she didn’t indulge in.
Making her want something she knew she shouldn’t take. The experience of surrendering to a feeling. The chemistry tingling across her skin, batting around in her belly and whispering temptations through her mind since the first moment their eyes locked, and she realized this guy had just seen something she didn’t show to anyone. And he’d liked it.
Her belly knotted tight at the idea of stepping so far out of her comfort zone. She’d already made too many exceptions. Starting with the conversation at his table and ending with the two of them standing here looking into each other’s eyes.
Because Jeff was like a desert mirage. The kind of fantasy that could drive a woman to lose herself in the futile hope of finding shelter within a cool oasis that was never really within her grasp in the first place. Jeff was here for a single night. A few hours of fun.
She couldn’t afford to lose sight of that because her pride wouldn’t allow her to be one of those women who pinned all their hopes on the wealthy, jet-setting billionaire realizing the “good time” he picked up in Vegas—the city whose tourist industry had made a slogan of the promise that what happened in Vegas stayed in Vegas—was actually the woman he’d been waiting for his whole life.
No. The only way she could give in on any level, was if it was on her terms. With her eyes open and her expectations clear.
There was no tomorrow with this man.
“A lot of questions in those eyes tonight, Darcy.” Jeff said, brushing her cheek with a single knuckle. “But there doesn’t have to be. Tell me you’re ready to call it a night and I’ll take you home and thank you for an evening I won’t soon forget. Or we can keep doing what we’ve been doing, without taking it any further at all. Stay up until morning. Watch the sun rise.”
His eyes held hers as he asked, “What would you like to do next?”
Her heart raced. He was giving her a clear out. The easy goodbye.
She could tell him good-night. Take a cab home to her packed-up apartment. Sleep snug in the knowledge she’d cut things off before they’d gone too far. Before she gave in to the risks that pushed her beyond the boundaries of safe.
Or she could answer with the truth. That something about being with him made her ache for things she never wanted. Made her body shiver and heat. And most of all, want to grab hold of this moment and just give in to it. Surrender.
She reached for the open neck of his shirt and, letting two fingers curve into the gap between the button and plain white T-shirt beneath, pushed to her toes to meet his mouth with her own.
It was the barest of kisses. The lightest brush. Separated from a friendly peck only by a quiet, lingering beat promising what she hadn’t found the words to say. Words she didn’t need, based on the satisfaction in the eyes meeting hers as she stepped back into her own space. The wolfish smile as Jeff shook his head and, taking her hand, tugged her back against him.
“I’ve been telling myself no all night, Darcy,” he murmured gruffly into her ear, rubbing his cheek against her hair. “If you’re saying yes, that little kiss isn’t going to be enough to tide me over until we get back to my room.”
Her words were barely more than a trembling whisper. “Then you better take what you need now.”
When he kissed her again, there was nothing tentative
