Название: The Single Dad's Second Chance
Автор: Brenda Harlen
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Современные любовные романы
isbn: 9781472048172
isbn:
“I like basketball,” he said. “If you wanted to sell the extra ticket to me, I’d go with you.”
“I’m not selling the ticket to you,” she told him. “But I will let you buy the popcorn.”
He smiled. “Sounds fair. What time’s the game?”
“Four o’clock.”
“I’ll pick you up at two-thirty.”
* * *
Andrew pressed the code to buzz Rachel’s apartment at precisely two-thirty. After he identified himself over the intercom, she told him “apartment 704” and released the lock.
He stepped into the lobby and took a moment to look around while he waited for the elevator. He’d never lived in an apartment and wasn’t sure he could do so without feeling claustrophobic, but he had to admit that this building had ambience. There were watercolors on the walls, fresh flowers strategically placed around the room and leather seating around a gas fireplace.
A quiet ding indicated the elevator’s arrival and, a minute later, he was at Rachel’s door. She responded promptly to his knock.
“I just need to grab my purse,” she said, and stepped back so that he could enter.
He didn’t glance around her apartment because his gaze was riveted on her. She’d changed from her work clothes into a pair of black jeans that molded to her narrow hips and a soft pink sweater that hugged her curves and somehow made her eyes seem even bluer. She’d brushed her hair out, so that it spilled over her shoulders in a silky cloud. On her feet she wore black boots with heels that looked more fashionable than practical.
He felt a distinctive tug low in his groin and couldn’t deny it was attraction. And his body’s instinctive response to Rachel Ellis worried him, because he sensed that there was something more going on here than basic chemistry. Lust was simple enough, but what he felt for Rachel wasn’t simple. There was something more mixed with the desire he felt, and he was concerned that he could—maybe already did—actually like her.
She picked up her purse off the console, double-checked that she had the tickets, then grabbed her coat from the closet. “Okay,” she told him.
When he didn’t shift from his position in front of the door, she looked up at him. He watched her eyes darken as puzzlement changed to awareness, and the pulse at the base of her throat quickened as awareness gave way to desire. It had been a long time since he’d had to read a woman’s signals, but he was confident that the attraction he felt was reciprocated.
She moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue. “Are you, uh, ready?”
“Yeah,” he agreed. “There’s just one thing I think we should get out of the way before we go.”
And then he kissed her.
Chapter Four
Oh. My. God.
He was kissing her.
And this wasn’t a casual brush of the lips. It was immediate and full mouth-on-mouth contact. Not in a way that could be considered aggressive or pushy, just direct and sure, and there was something incredibly sexy about his self-confidence.
In the space of a heartbeat, those masterful lips took Rachel from casually intrigued to completely aroused. About three seconds later, she decided that if levels of expertise could be assessed like in the martial arts, he was a black-belt grand master of kissing. Two seconds after that, she was incapable of forming any other coherent thoughts.
Kissing Andrew Garrett was simply...bliss.
He lifted a hand to cup the nape of her neck, his thumb gently brushing over the racing pulse point below her jaw. His other arm curled around her back, drawing her closer. She went willingly, eagerly. Her lips parted beneath the pressure of his, and when his tongue slipped between them, she felt the surge of heat through her veins, igniting flames of desire.
And still he continued to kiss her, savoring the taste and texture of her mouth without pressing for anything more. His lips nibbled, his tongue teased and everything inside of her quivered with want, need. He wanted her, too—there was no mistaking the desire she tasted in his kiss—but it was tempered by patience, balanced by caution.
Because she had her own reasons for being careful, she appreciated his restraint. But she was still disappointed when he finally lifted his mouth from hers.
She was twenty-seven years old. She’d had boyfriends, relationships, heartbreaks. She’d shared her body and her bed with other men, but never had any other man kissed her with the focused intensity Andrew demonstrated. Even now, he kept his arm around her, as if he wasn’t quite ready to let her go.
“I’ve been thinking about that since Valentine’s Day,” he told her.
“Oh. Um.” The power of conversation had completely deserted her along with the ability to form coherent thoughts.
He smiled. “Yeah, I know the feeling.”
“I wasn’t— I’m not—” She blew out a breath. “I’m on a dating hiatus.”
“You mentioned that.”
“And we’re supposed to be going to the basketball game.”
“That’s why I’m here.”
“I’m a really big Wolfpack fan.”
“Okay,” he agreed.
“But now I’m thinking...that I might want to not see the game even more.”
The glint of humor in his green eyes faded; the arm around her waist tightened. “Rachel.”
“I’m not usually the impulsive type, and I don’t even really know you. Or maybe it’s just that sixteen months is a really long time to go without having sex. Except that I didn’t even think about it for most of that time, and all you did was kiss me, but I’m definitely thinking about it now.”
“I’m thinking about it, too,” he admitted.
“But we had a deal,” she reminded him.
“We did?”
She nodded. “You’re buying the popcorn.”
“Popcorn. Right.” He finally released her and took a step back. “Then I guess we should be going.”
She felt a little bit steadier as they waited for the elevator. Although there was no one else in the hall, she was confident that she had enough self-restraint to refrain from tearing his clothes off in a public place. And when the doors of the elevator closed behind them, she was sure the moment of insanity had passed.
The blast of cold air that greeted her when they exited the building quickly cooled her heated skin. In fact, she’d only taken a few steps before she was wishing that she’d grabbed a hat and gloves. Instead, she stuffed her hands into the pockets of her jacket and tucked СКАЧАТЬ