“Dance with me.”
He stood and walked around to me before extending his hand. I felt like I was hovering above the ground when he pulled me close. My hands slid under his suit jacket to his lower back as he held my waist.
I melted into him and wondered how I’d gotten there. This amazing restaurant surrounded by roses and candles and wrapped in the arms of the most dangerously beautiful man I’d ever met.
He was pulling out all the stops. But what for? Was he hoping for a guarantee of some good lovin’ tonight? A fancy meal, and sweetness, to seal the deal? I smiled inwardly, knowing a Big Mac would’ve been enough to get me wherever he wanted to go.
As if reading my mind, he pulled back and looked down at me. “Madison, this thing is unbelievable. What’s going on here? We haven’t known each other long, but I’m kind of crazy about you.
My stomach dropped to my feet.
“I brought you here tonight to tell you that I think you should stay.”
What the what?
His knuckle grazed just below my cheek bone. “Stay here with me.”
My mind was bouncing off the flowers, or maybe my Os were laced with some drug, making me all out of whack. His eyes were searching my face for a response, but words were flying through my brain in no particular order.
“Jax, I don’t know if that’s healthy.” What in the hell was I talking about?
He laughed. “What? You’re concerned I’m bad for your health?”
I nodded, needing to gain control of my mind. He wanted me to stay? Not just for a night of knockin’ boots? He was hot for me now, but that would come to an end. He’d get sick of me. How would I ever get over someone like Jax?
“Iamgood for you, Madison. I’m like an apple a day. I’ll keep all the bad shit away.”
“Well, an apple a day isn’t what it’s cracked up to be. Apples can be, uh, very dangerous. I mean, just look at Snow White or Eve. Those apples made them, umm, almost dead.” Truth.
“Madison, one thing I will not make you is dead.” His lips grazed mine. “I know you travel and are all over the place, but when you go home, I want to be your home.”
OMG, his words were heat-seeking missiles. He kissed my cheek as my mind ran circles around our makeshift dance floor. I fell for Steve and was sucker-punched. I had to be smart. This man in front of me could grow bored and tired of me. He’d move on to some other filly in a heartbeat, leaving me unfixable forever.
“I need you, and I never expected anything like this.” His hand went to the back of my neck. “It’s crazy, unexpected, and more crazy. Bat shit crazy, actually. But I want to be here for you and, uh, cook all sorts of weird food for you.” He kissed the tip of my nose. “Have you ever heard of Beeferoni?”
I shook my headno,and his grin grabbed my heart.
“Oh baby, the things I can show you.” He kissed my cheek. “I want you with me. The thought of you with anyone else is driving me crazy.”
I opened my mouth to say something, but he’d taken my English away from me again.
“I don’t want you to answer now, not a word about it until Saturday. But I mean it when I say I want you to stay. We’ll work out the details, I promise. This thing between us is some kind of force. I sound like a chick or some shit, so I’m only going to say this once. I need you, Madison.”
Oofta.
* * *
The truck stopped in front of his house. With no doubt about what would happen as soon as we flew through the door, my heart was wound up tighter than a pair of Spanx at an all-you-can-eat buffet.
I slid out of his truck and took two literal steps before he swooped up behind me and tossed me over his shoulder at the same second rain began to fall.
“I warned you what would happen if you swayed those hips at me.”
I slapped his ass, which looked pretty damn good upside down, by the way, as he carried me inside and up the stairs. My pulse sped up like a jackhammer with the confirmation we were going to his bedroom.
A second later, he put my feet on the floor, and I was standing in front of him. The room was dim, lit by a small lamp on the bedside table.
We stood frozen for a second before I reached out, slid his suit coat off of those biceps, and let it fall to the floor. What were we doing? I should run. Or should I crawl into his bed and never leave? If he grows sick of me, Icouldtrack down some edibles, and keep him stoned for all time, so he couldn’t kick me to the curb.
