“I’ll take whatever you can give me,” he replied in a cheerful voice. “One dinner a week, lunch every other week, I don’t care, darlin’. I just want to keep seein’ you.”
For Pete’s sake. The man truly was tenacious. She’d told him that she was pretty much a single mother, confessed her indifference to sex, and he still wanted to see her again?
“I’m not looking for a relationship,” she said feebly. “Or a fling.”
“I know that.”
“Then what’s the point? Why bother spending more time together if it won’t go anywhere?”
“Because I want to. Because you want to.”
She fiddled with the little brown pocketbook she was using as a purse, snapping it open to retrieve her keys. “It won’t work. I’ve got too much on my plate to commit to anything more. And besides, I feel bad getting your hopes up about, you know, potentially getting jiggy, because it probably won’t happen.”
“Why, ’cause you think you won’t like it?”
Because I know I won’t.
She bit back the words before they could slip out. Truth was, she’d completely underplayed the whole sex thing during their discussion earlier. She found sex so boring and unsatisfying that she’d even raised the subject with her old therapist. For a long while she’d thought there might be something wrong with her, like maybe she was an asexual weirdo who’d never be able to function like a normal sexual being, yet the fact that she could give herself wild, breathless orgasms without any trouble contradicted that.
She was just so apprehensive about getting intimate with anyone again. She’d slept with four men in her life, and each encounter had been more disappointing than the last.
“Y’know what, I’ve got an idea,” Jackson said before she could respond.
She shot him a questioning look, but rather than elaborate, he took her hand and started leading her toward the side of the building. The warmth of his fingers seeped into her palm and made her feel achy again. God, she didn’t understand this effect he had on her. At all.
But although she was incredibly tempted to explore it further, she didn’t want to set herself up for any more disappointment. It wasn’t as if she’d never experienced arousal before. She did, all the time. The second she acted on it, however, the sensations seemed to dull. And forget about achieving orgasm. Only one lover had made her come before, and getting there had been a struggle, to say the least.
“What are you up to?” she asked warily.
He practically dragged her into the small parking lot behind the restaurant, which was packed with cars. Jackson scanned the lot, then broke out in a grin. “Look at that,” he drawled, “even our vehicles know we make the perfect couple.”
Mia followed his gaze, groaning when she noticed the black pickup truck parked right beside her blue one. “Let me guess—that’s your pickup?”
“Sure is.” Still grinning, he led her toward the trucks, then let go of her hand and crossed his arms over his broad chest. “Here’s the deal, sugar.”
“There’s a deal?”
“Yup. I want to go out with you again. You’re being difficult. So here’s what I propose.”
“Gee, I can’t wait to hear this.”
He ignored the sarcasm and swept his tongue over his bottom lip, an act so sexy she shivered.
“I’m goin’ to kiss you.”
Her breath hitched. “What?”
“I’m goin’ to kiss you,” he repeated. “And if you like it, then you have to agree to see me again.”
Damned if her heart didn’t start pounding. The heat in his whiskey-colored eyes seared right through her clothing and sizzled her flesh, making her feel hot and dizzy.
“You’re nuts,” she stammered.
“Maybe, but that’s the deal, sugar. You claim that nothin’ gets you goin’, not even a kiss. You also said you had a good time tonight, did you not?”
“I did, but—”
“The reason you don’t want to pursue this is because you think I’ll never be able to turn you on—”
She felt herself blush. “That’s not what I—”
“—so it stands to reason that if I can prove to you I’ve got the moves, you’ll have no choice but to give this a shot.”
Mia’s mouth closed. His reasoning was certifiably wacky, but she couldn’t seem to argue with it.
“Do we have a deal?” he prompted, shooting her an adorably crooked smile.
It was sheer curiosity that had her nodding.
“Good. Then here goes—prepare to have your world rocked.”
The laugh that flew out was cut short by the feel of Jackson’s mouth on her neck.
Her neck?
Surprise jolted through her at the same time a flurry of shivers danced across her skin. His lips were warm against the side of her neck, his dark hair tickling her chin as he bent his head to latch his mouth on to her bare flesh.
“Um…is this what you…consider a kiss?” she murmured between shivers.
“Quit distracting me. I’m busy,” came his muffled voice.
Mia’s neck was on fire as he trailed soft kisses along its column. The rasp of his stubble scraped her flesh, leaving tiny pricks of pleasure in its wake.