If she was, he got it loud and clear.
Even though he’d known from the start that there would be no dating this woman, here was yet another example of why he needed to let go of all the little fantasies and quit mooning over her.
For a guy who was normally so great at looking on the bright side of things, he couldn’t seem to find the silver lining for this one.
Relief swept through him as he drove up to Jessica and Aaron’s house. He’d made it through the entire drive without saying or doing anything inappropriate, and now he could try to keep his distance and avoid being alone with her for the rest of her visit. Once she went back to New York, it would probably be years before he saw her again.
He didn’t enjoy that thought.
He parked on the side of the large yellow ranch house, angling the truck so it would be easy to empty the wedding contents from the back. After turning off the engine, he shifted to look at Renee, who had turned her body toward him, as if she wanted to say something.
“Thanks for the ride, Jeremiah,” she said, and he looked into her eyes deeply for the first time since they had left the airport.
It was no problem.
Anything for Jessica’s sister.
That’s what you do for friends.
All of the correct responses died in his throat. There was only one way he wanted to answer her, and before he knew what he was doing, he leaned across the small distance between them and pressed his lips to hers, his hand grazing across the soft skin of her cheek.
It took him less than a second to realize how awful that decision was, but then she pressed back into him, parting her lips and tilting her head, her urgency matching his. Any self-control he could have used to pull away dissipated when her tongue slid against his, sending tendrils of heat through his entire body.
His hand slid from her cheek down her neck, slowly inching lower. Before he could fall deeper into the kiss or his hand could move past her collarbone, though, she leaned back, separating from him. Her breathing was heavy and her eyes wide, and he realized what had just happened. He rubbed his hand across his face and tore his eyes away from her, checking to be sure Jessica was nowhere in sight. Dear God, he’d kissed her. How could he have been so stupid?
Still, he couldn’t help but feel excitement course through him. She had kissed him, too. He looked at her again. She was shaking her head, her eyes closed, her hands covering her face.
“I’m so sorry—” he began.
“That was so bad,” she moaned, cutting him off.
He grimaced. “The kiss was bad?” he asked, unable to help himself.
She shook her head even more furiously. “The kiss was too good. That’s what makes it so bad.”
Jeremiah knew he should feel awful, but he was happier than he’d been in a very long time. Just to be sure, he asked, “So you liked the kiss?”
She looked at him through her fingers. “That’s not helping. There’s no way we can do that again. Jessica will flip if she finds out. She doesn’t take unexpected new information well, and this is her wedding week. A curveball like that might send her into seizures.”
Jeremiah wasn’t sure if Renee was talking to him or herself, but her arguments seemed much less convincing than they might have been a few minutes before. There seemed to be one pretty glaring way around the issue, after all. “I’m not going to tell her about it. Are you?”
“No way,” Renee responded immediately.
“So...” he said slowly, picking his words with care, “if neither of us tells her, and she doesn’t see us, is there any reason why we can’t do it again?”
RENEE WAS ABOUT to roll her eyes at Jeremiah and explain exactly why they could never do anything like that again, but something stopped her before she could. Her libido spoke up with full force, demanding why exactly that was such a terrible idea.
She’d been thinking about this guy for weeks, and here he was offering her a chance to live out a few of those fantasies that had been running through her mind. It wasn’t like she’d have another chance this good again.
And the look on his face wasn’t helping her make any prudent decisions, either. The hope in his eyes combined with a smile that promised so much more. How could she let this opportunity go by?
Renee took a deep breath and looked out the front windshield in order to keep herself from leaning toward Jeremiah again. She tried to focus some of her attention on the view, but the trees and mountains spread before her were overshadowed by the sexy cowboy sitting inches away. “Okay,” she answered, and out of the corner of her eye she saw his smile widen into a full grin. She had to force herself not to smile back. “But,” she continued, “there have to be ground rules. Number one—Jessica and Aaron absolutely cannot find out about this. Jessica would turn it into such a big deal, and even though Aaron’s your best friend, he might tell Jessica. And number two—once I go home, we’re done. This is just a casual thing. Just sex.”
She continued looking out the windshield, waiting for a response, but was met with silence. It was only then that she realized he’d never said anything about them having sex. They’d had one two-second kiss and she had already good as told him that she was ready to jump into bed with him at a moment’s notice. What kind of woman did that make her?
The kind of woman that hadn’t gotten laid in a long time and had spent way too much time thinking about getting laid by this particular guy. But had she gone too far too quickly?
She looked over at him, hoping for some kind of positive response. Jeremiah was looking at her, that half smile still on his face.
* * *
JEREMIAH STARED AT RENEE, surprised. She couldn’t get much more straightforward than that. Just sex? He had given up the casual-sex thing months ago, and was serious about finding something more than that. Did he really want a secret one-week fling? To risk hurting his best friend’s fiancée for something that would be over in just a few days?
Then she looked at him, her green eyes silently questioning, and reminded himself that Jessica wouldn’t find out, and therefore couldn’t be hurt. He knew it was a weak argument, but really, there was only one answer he could possibly give this beautiful woman beside him.
He leaned forward again, pulling her into another kiss, this one slow and deep, full of the promise of more to come.
She responded immediately, falling into the kiss, but he pulled away after just a few moments. The indignant expression on her face made him want to laugh. The way her erect nipples showed through her shirt made him want to tear her clothes off. He took a breath. “Rule number one, remember? It’ll probably be pretty hard to keep this thing a secret if Jessica finds us making out in front of her house.”
Renee’s eyes grew wide and she turned to look out the back window, searching for her sister, worry evident on her face. This time he couldn’t stop the laughter.
Once she had carefully
