Terms Of Engagement. Kylie Brant

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СКАЧАТЬ was speechless for one long moment. And no, that absolutely was not interest stirring inside her. “Wait a minute.” She followed him to the door. “I’m not having dinner with you. I thought I made that clear earlier at the bar.”

      He turned to face her. Somewhere he’d lost the Santa hat, which just made that sardonic cock of his brow more noticeable. “You really think you’re going to win two arguments with me tonight?”

      “One has absolutely nothing to do with the other. And we both know you’d just spend the entire evening trying to convince me to make that statement.”

      He rested a shoulder against the door. She wondered fleetingly if he ever stood up straight. His pose called attention to his lean hips and narrow waist, though the baggy red pants made it impossible to make out the line of his thigh.…Realizing where her gaze had gone, she jerked it upward and saw a fleeting expression of humor in Jack’s eyes.

      “That’s not true,” he said mildly. “Because willing or not, you will be interviewed by an officer about the scene at the Blue Lagoon. I’m going to spend dinner trying to persuade you to sleep with me.”

      She dropped the makeshift ice pack on the counter and glared at him impotently. “I have no intention of sleeping with you!”

      “Then I have my work cut out for me.”

      Aggravated, she drew a breath. Her emotions felt like they’d been on an out-of-control carousel tonight. But right now they were settled solidly in annoyance. “This is exactly why I don’t like cops. They’re pushy, and devious and untrustworthy.” And some were corrupt, placing their own greed above others’ lives.

      “We’ll discuss your grievances with the department tomorrow night, too.”

      She angled her chin, belatedly insulted. “What makes you think I’m free tomorrow night?”

      “Piper’s closes at six, and Jolie and Dace claim you have no social life. So tomorrow night, I’m it.”

      Jolie and Dace had told him she had no social life? Mortification mingled with irritation. Just because it was true—just because it was her choice—didn’t mean it didn’t sting.

      He cut through her momentary silence by commanding, “Come over here.”

      Instantly wary, she remained where she was. “Why?”

      “So you can lock the door behind me.” He jerked his head toward the ice pack she’d left on the counter. “Then for the rest of the night keep ice on that cheek. Twenty minutes on, twenty minutes off. It’s going to start hurting once you fall asleep and the numbness wears off. You’re going to want to take a pain reliever before you turn in.”

      In face of the genuine concern in his voice Lindsay felt her ire fade away. And that was perhaps the most lethal part of Langley’s attractiveness. It would be easier to ignore his sexual magnetism if he wasn’t so darn likable.

      She was reminded again of what he’d done for her that night, and she felt something inside her soften further. “I will. Thank you.”

      He lifted a shoulder. “Hey, it’s Fallon who should be thanking me. If I hadn’t shown up when I did you probably would have crippled him.”

      The suggestion was outrageously untrue and guaranteed to make her smile.

      He sobered, studying her intently. “I’d feel better if someone stayed with you tonight. Are you sure you don’t want to call Jolie?”

      “I’m really okay,” she assured him. And she was. The events of the night had rattled her, but she’d regained her equilibrium. And there was satisfaction to be had from knowing that for once she hadn’t been too late. That she’d helped save a woman from certain trauma.

      On impulse, she closed the distance between them, went up on tiptoe and brushed a kiss across his cheek. “But thank you. For everything.”

      She went to step back. Found it impossible. Jack’s hand had slipped behind her nape, his thumb tilting her chin up. There was a hint of a smile in his voice, on his lips, when he said huskily, “You’re welcome.”

      But she detected no amusement when his mouth covered hers. What she tasted was heat. It transferred from his lips to hers and sent corresponding spirals spinning through her veins. He wasn’t a man to miss an opportunity, she reminded herself. But she’d invited this one, hadn’t she, the moment she gotten this close to him.

      Maybe she hadn’t changed as much as she’d hoped.

      Because responding to his latent sexuality meant she hadn’t completely conquered her desire for excitement. Returning the hard pressure of his mouth meant she hadn’t outgrown her taste for a little danger.

      That should have dismayed her. Terrified her. But those weren’t the emotions careening through her system right now. He kissed with the same lazy self-assurance that was so much a part of him. With just a hint of wickedness that invited her to be wicked with him.

      And Lindsay was tempted. When his tongue swept inside her mouth, she met it with her own, relishing the dark flavor that traced through her system. Desire rose quickly, whipping her blood to churning white caps.

      Emboldened, she leaned into him, taking the kiss deeper as she raised her hands to his chest. Her fingers flexed against the hard muscled planes, a purr of feminine satisfaction in the back of her throat. His chest was just as solid as it looked, with all sorts of intriguing angles and hollows where sinew met bone. She had the overpowering urge to tear her mouth from his and test one hard pec with her teeth.

      She didn’t recall ever feeling this fever in her blood that stripped away the caution she’d learned to live by. This scorching heat was its own kind of seduction for a woman used to keeping her own wild nature tamed.

      Jack Langley made her want to unleash it. And that made him far more dangerous than she had first assumed.

      The realization had Lindsay reluctantly tearing her mouth from his, evading his lips when they would have lured her back.

      Each of them drew a deep, shuddering breath. If he said anything, did anything, Lindsay couldn’t be certain she’d have the strength of will to resist him.

      When he spoke, his voice was an octave lower than usual. “Don’t forget to lock up after me.”

      She had to force herself to back up a few steps to allow him space to pull the door open. Clenching her hands at her sides, she managed to let him walk through it without hauling him back inside.

      But it was a long moment before she could manage to do as he directed and lock the door behind him.

      

      “You went to see Neldstrom?” Coming fully awake, Lindsay sat up in bed, her cell phone clutched to her ear. “Mitch, I wish you hadn’t done that.”

      Early-morning light slanted through the blinds covering the lone window. She didn’t know what time it was when she’d taken Mitch’s call. But Piper’s opened at 6:00 a.m. Mitch hadn’t wasted any time.

      “He humiliated me. In front of everyone.” There was an unfamiliar note of rage in the man’s voice, layered under the mortification. “He looked me right in the eye and СКАЧАТЬ