“Enough,” he said. “She’s sincerely sorry and won’t do it again. Isn’t that right, Brook Lynn?”
“Right,” she said with a jaunty salute as she peeked around Jase. “Consider me the room’s new chastity belt.”
Beck drew in a deep breath and slowly released it, his animosity draining. “Let’s not get carried away. I’m allergic to chastity belts.” Just like that, Beck the Sweet and Charming was back. He noticed the array of desserts and shook his head. “As many strawberries as you country girls eat, you’d think someone would taste just like the fruit. So far no luck.”
“You’re taste-testing your way through the residents?”
“And loving every moment of it.” Beck helped her close her mouth before he sauntered off.
“What about you?” Brook Lynn asked, unable to stop the words from escaping.
Jase turned and met her gaze. He sobered instantly, the intensity of him suddenly crackling, her awareness of him suddenly smoldering. She found herself pushing to a stand, facing off with him. A battle. But what was the prize?
“What about me?” he asked softly.
“Who do you want to taste-test?”
His pupils expanded, the black spilling over the emerald. “Are you offering?”
Yes. “No.” She shook her head, determined to mean it. “Never.”
He ground his teeth and took a step back, breaking the spell. “Good.”
“Yeah. Good,” she repeated softly. She scratched at her ears, cleared her throat. “Well,” she said and cleared her throat again. “Like you said, I should go.”
His nod was clipped. “I’ll walk you out.”
She offered no protest, knowing it would do no good. “Thanks.”
Outside, the air was a perfect blend of warm and cool. The moon hid behind clouds, a few stars glinting from their perch of black velvet. The only swath of light came from the single-bulb lamp on the porch.
Jase opened her car door, and as she moved around him, misjudging the distance, she accidentally brushed her shoulder against his arm. Both of them hissed, as if they’d just been burned.
Tremors rooted her in place. She stood in the open space between door and car, peering up at him. In the darkness, with thin ribbons of golden light seeping from the car’s interior and falling over him, the wind caressing strands of his hair over his brow, he could have stepped straight from her fantasies.
The scent of him enveloped her...honey and oats, like the soap he used...and it was both pleasant and comforting; she only wanted to get closer to him. Her blood heated, and her skin tingled. She forgot the discomfort in her ears. Forgot all the reasons she’d told herself to avoid this man.
Like he’d done in the kitchen, he reached out and pinched a lock of her hair between his fingers. A compulsion? She hoped so. A lance of pleasure sped through her, and breath snagged in her throat. What would he do next? What did she want him to do?
His head lowered...lowered a little more...coming closer and closer to hers. Anticipation consumed her, the heat and tingles growing worse.
His fingers moved to her jaw and tipped up her face. Preparing her for his kiss. She knew she should close her eyes, but she didn’t want to miss a moment of this.
For a long while, his mouth hovered over hers.
She breathed him in. He breathed her in. She tensed, eager for contact. Ready for it. Her belly quivered. She’d been kissed before—of course she had—but this would be her first kiss with a man so intense, so closed off, yet seething with such quiet savagery. And it would be wrong for her, wrong of her, but almost...necessary.
“Jase.” Do it. Please.
The sound of her voice caused him to stiffen. He dropped his arm to his side, severing contact.
“See you tomorrow, Brook Lynn.”
Just like that, he walked away. Leaving her confused, angry. Determined.
The only problem was, she didn’t know what she was so determined to overcome. Her attraction to him...or his resistance to her?
CHAPTER NINE