Need You Now (1001 Dark Nights)(24)

“No,” I say quickly. “Not after...you know. What we did out there last night.”

He chuckles. “Yes. I do know what we did out there last night. I’ve been thinking about it since I woke up with vivid details. All the more reason to eat out there in my book.”

I shake my head. “I’m not eating out there.”

“No one saw us.”

“I’m not—”

He holds up his hands. “Fine. No patio. We can use the table.” He motions to the living area. “Come eat.”

“I have no clothes.”

“You say that like it’s a problem.”

“Jensen,” I warn.

He chuckles. “Okay. Okay.” He walks to a suitcase on the floor and pulls out a T-shirt, tossing it to me. “How’s that?”

“This works,” I say, the intimacy of sharing his shirt doing funny things to my belly. Cutting my gaze before he guesses my reaction, I slip it over my head. I like Jensen and I try to tell myself to embrace the short, sexy affair for what it is. Great sex. Just like I tell myself when a girl finds the said hard-to-find “great sex,” it makes her a little heady.

Jensen appears beside the bed, yanking the blanket away and pulling me to my feet, giving me a smoldering once-over. “I like you in my shirt.” His voice is low, seductive. “Even better out of it. Too bad we have to wait until tonight.”

“Tonight?”

“That’s right. Tonight.”

“What happened to sending me home?”

His hand slides to my lower back and he molds my hips to his hips, and his obvious erection pressing to my belly says he’s feeling the rather heady sensations himself. “I told you,” he begins, “that was me trying to be honorable. Seems I’ve thrown that idea out, so I’m embracing it.”

“I thought the morning-after regret and your ‘rule’ might come into play.”

“Considering we were up until the early morning hours, I’m pretty sure that idea means nothing. And you leave my ‘rule’ to me.”

“What does that mean?”

He tries to kiss me. I cover his mouth. “My toothbrush is next door.”

He dips his head and kisses my neck, his breath warm on my ear. “Tonight you stay with me. Understand?”

“Hmmm,” I murmur. “I’ll think about it.”

He inches back in the midst of a laugh, his green eyes sparkling in the beam of light, flecks of yellow in their depths. “Play hard to get all you want. I’m up for the challenge.”

“We’ll see about that.”

His lips curve. “Yes, we will indeed. But first, we eat. We’re both going to need our strength today.” He grabs my hand and tugs me forward, but I dig in my heels.

“Bathroom and a hairbrush first.”

“My leather bag on the counter should have what you need.” He kisses my forehead and releases me.

I blink at the very romantic gestures of both the kiss and the invite to use his personal items. It’s just sex, I tell myself. He has a huge career and I have medical school. So what if it already feels better than anything I’ve ever experienced?

Mentally shaking myself, I rush to the bathroom and shut the door, quickly using the bathroom and then staring into the mirror to find my skin brushed and reddened with whisker marks. I smile with the many memories that created those marks, deciding it’s my best morning look ever. Digging through his leather bag, I find a comb and managed to tame the blonde mess on my head. Toothpaste and my finger are next. There’s no real hope for my smeared makeup until I get to my room and can use proper products, so I leave it alone.

In all of five minutes, I exit the bathroom to find Jensen sitting at the dining room table, framed by a window view of the ocean. “Amazing view,” I say. “That has to merit guests just on its own.”

“Every property on the beach has the same view, so we have to be the best property to stand out.”

I move to sit next to him and inspect the ridiculous amount of covered plates on top. “Did you order the entire kitchen?”

“I didn’t know what you would want. Besides, sampling is a good way to check quality. You up to it?”

I glance at him and shake my head. “It sounds kind of fun, actually. What’s first?”

“Coffee?” he asks, lifting the pot.

“Oh yes. We slept, what? Three hours?”

“If that,” he agrees, filling both our cups. “And since the flight to Miami is only an hour and a half, we won’t have much time then to sleep either. We leave at six. The airport is about half an hour from here, so we should try to be out of here by four-thirty.”

I take a sip of my coffee and choke. “That’ll grow hair on your chest.”

Jensen tastes his and those sultry green eyes of his go wide. “Oh yeah. That has a sock-it-to-ya punch if I ever felt one. Let’s hope the food is better.”

“Dinner in the bar last night was good,” I say optimistically.

“Same kitchen,” he comments. “We should be good.” He lifts a tray with an omelet and we both grab a fork, and the look we share is punched with intimacy beyond patio sex. No. That’s not true. It’s not more than sex. How many times am I going to have to repeat this to myself this morning?