Need You Now (1001 Dark Nights)(19)

“The manager is very nice.”

“Great. We have a * manager.”

I glower. “Stop saying that word. I hate it and nice isn’t bad.”

“Nice is average. It’s unexceptional.”

“My father was nice and he was exceptional in every way.”

“Doctors can be nice. They hire office managers to be the tough ones.”

The waitress appears with our wine, making a big deal of opening the bottle and letting Jensen taste a small serving before she fills our glasses. The appetizer arrives before she departs, delivered by another waitress.

Starving, and not much on the prissy girl routine anyway, the instant we’re alone, I grab a cheese stick and take a bite. Jensen seems to time his bomb of a question for the moment my mouth is burning with scorching cheese. “Let’s talk about Meredith.”

I all but choke and manage to swallow, gulp water, and dab at my mouth. “What about her?”

“The operation has tumbled in the past eighteen months. Why?”

“Her husband got sick and then he died. It was hard on her and it’s part of the reason I stayed.”

“And the management and financial team should have been strong enough beforehand to hold together the ship while she was sinking.”

Suddenly, I’m no longer hungry. “You sound like you’ve made up your mind to side with the board.”

“She’s working up a plan to turn things around that I’ll look at if I feel the hotel locations are salvageable.”

The waitress returns and we place our order and once we’re alone again, he sets his iPad down between us. “Let’s review the management staff one by one.”

Reluctantly, I accept his position as business and allow myself to be drawn into communication as we eat. For a full hour, he urges me to drink wine and talk, while he loosens his tie and jacket. Remarkably, considering the topic, the conversation is easy and I’m surprised at how much he seems to value my opinion. But the more wine we drink, the more ways we find to laugh that we shouldn’t, the more the sexual tension builds between us until it’s an invisible band about to break.

He listens as I speak, prods as I pause, but somehow I gather tiny tidbits about him as a person. Like how much he hates fish but loves his mother, hamburgers, and dessert that he rarely indulges in. He’s a control freak and I understand him because I am one, too.

Inevitably, our table is cleared and he tries to fill my glass again and I wave him off. “No. Enough. I am lightheaded and you saw me tipsy last night. I don’t want to go for night number two.”

“You have me thinking I took advantage of you last night.”

“Oh no,” I say quickly. “If anything, I took advantage of you because I...and you...and that’s it. I really did hit my limit of wine.” I slide out of the booth and stand, and he follows, towering over me as I add, “I have to go to my room before I embarrass myself.”

“You won’t embarrass yourself with me,” he assures me softly.

“And while I appreciate the thought, I don’t want to take a chance. I should go to bed.”

“As should I,” he agrees, and we share a look that says we are both thinking the same thing. One bed would be better than two. “Our bags are already in our rooms, so,” he waves me forward, “ladies first.”

I walk toward the exit and he falls into step with me, rounding a corner to take the elevator to the room and beach level. Inside the car we face forward, not looking at each other, but I am impossibly aware of this man. Exiting, we travel an impossibly long hallway in silence, as if we are both afraid of what we might say. We stop at our rooms and Jensen accompanies me to mine, lingering close while I unlock the door. Swiping the key, I’m aware of my heart beating too fast, and crazily, my thighs are slick, my body tense with the denial of what it wants, which is this man.

The door buzzes and I open it, propping it open with my body as I turn to face Jensen. His hands come down on the frame above my head, and the scent of him, so masculine and addictive, teases my nostrils. “For the record, last night was my pleasure, I promise you. I just wanted more of you. Much more.”

“I’m not sure what you want me to say to that.”

“Nothing. Don’t say anything. Look, Ms. Wood. Danny. I have to send you home in the morning.”

“What? No. No I’m here to help. I’m staying.”

“No” he insists, his voice a steel rod. “You aren’t.”

“But—”

“No debate.”

“Why? Why put me through coming here so at the last minute you can send me away?”

“Because I spent the entire dinner tonight thinking about all the ways I want to f*ck you, lick you, and have my way with you, and if you stay, I will do all of them and more.” He pushes off the wall abruptly. “I’ll make arrangements for your travel and text them to you.”

I gape, unable to process what just happened.

“Go into your room, Danny, before I do something we’ll both regret.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. I won’t regret it.”

“Until morning.”

“I regret leaving last night.”

“I’m right there with you on that one, baby, but everything changed this morning. Go inside.”