Kissing Under The Mistletoe (The Sullivans #10)(21)

Again, that voice in the back of her head scolded her with reminders of caution. Maybe, she found herself thinking as she reached up to stroke her fingertips over the dark shadow across Jack’s jaw, she was still the same foolish and headstrong girl now that she’d been at nineteen.

“You’ve already gone above and beyond tonight, dancing with me in the rain, holding me while I cried. I know I shouldn’t ask for more, but—”

Before she could say anything more, or ask for all the things she shouldn’t allow herself to desire, his mouth covered hers, hard and hungry.

Moments ago, Jack had kissed her as a friend.

Now, he kissed her as a lover.

One hand threaded into her hair, the other cupped her hip as he slid her from the seat to pull her against his body. My God, he felt good. Hard and strong, his caresses just wicked enough to make every nerve ending spike to life inside her.

His tongue slid across her lips once, then once again as if he hadn’t gotten nearly enough from the first taste. And then, a moment later, she knew for sure that he hadn’t because he was sucking her lower lip into his mouth and making her moan with pleasure as he scored it gently with his teeth.

Their first kiss had been a shockingly sweet press of lips that had sent pleasure humming through her. But this kiss—and the sharp, hot, deep rush of being so close to him—was setting off an entire fireworks show inside of her.

Both of them were breathing hard when he finally drew back an inch. “I’ve never tasted anything as good as you. Not even close.”

He dipped his mouth down for another taste that had her toes curling in her boots, but too soon he pulled back again. She could feel the tight rein he was trying to keep on himself.

“I’m trying to be patient, Angel. I swear I am. I should go before I forget everything except how much I want you.”

She’d asked him to see their business relationship through before asking for more. But that was when she’d assumed she could hold on to her own control when being around him.

“Please,” she found herself begging him now, “before you go, give me one more kiss.”

She expected him to draw her close again, to thread his hands roughly into her hair and devour her once more. But Jack Sullivan had surprised her from the start, and though his gaze ran hot with desire, the light brush of his fingertips over her lips was so gentle, so sweet, that she was stunned by the force of emotion that rocked through her as he touched her. She could feel herself melting into him and knew that if he kissed her again tonight, it wouldn’t end there.

“I think we’ve tested our restraint enough for one night.”

She wanted to argue with him, wanted to wrap herself around him and convince him with more kisses. She longed for bare skin against bare skin and to forget the rules she’d laid down.

But Mary sensed Jack wasn’t the kind of man who second-guessed himself once he made up his mind. And she knew he was putting on the brakes not because he didn’t want her, but because he respected her too much to let a moment of heady passion destroy the friendship growing between them.

A friendship that might, if treated with the proper care, become the foundation for something much, much bigger.

As a model, she’d learned how to exercise a great deal of control over her body so she could hold difficult poses for hours on end, sometimes in brutal heat, other times in biting cold. It was that control she called upon now. She forced herself to slip out of Jack’s arms and pick up his jacket from the radiator across the room.

“Next time I invite you in,” she said with a small smile as she gave him his coat and walked him to the front door, “I’ll let you drink your coffee.”

He was standing on her front step when he said, “Next time you invite me in, I’m going to make love to you.”

He covered her gasp of surprise with that last kiss she’d begged for. Before she had a chance to catch her reeling heart, he was gone.

She didn’t know how long she stood at the front door, staring out at the people walking on the sidewalk below and watching the cars and taxis and buses move slowly through the Friday-night traffic. Jack Sullivan was everything she’d ever looked for in a man. Smart. Sexy. And with a heart full of so much warmth it stunned her.

And yet, she realized as she finally closed her front door with a soft click, instead of being calmed by that realization, she was more frightened than she’d ever been before.

Frightened and utterly enthralled.

Her heart still pounding hard, she headed for the phone. “Gerry, it’s Mary. You know how you were saying you were hoping to work together again? Is there any chance you might be able to squeeze in a last-minute shoot this Monday for a really interesting ad campaign?”

Chapter Seven

On Monday morning, Jack walked onto the set where Mary would be shooting their first print ad. When he caught sight of her dark hair swinging over her shoulders and her long, toned legs that seemed to go on forever, for the very first time in his life, Jack could not figure out how to remain rational. In all honesty he couldn’t remember why he should even keep trying.

The speed with which his heart was racing made him feel as if he were on a racetrack in one of the stock cars he’d retooled over the years. Race cars, he’d discovered back in high school, were the perfect antidote for the slow pace of invention and engineering development. Jack’s experience on the track had taught him how to embrace not only the rush and the thrill…but the danger, as well. If you weren’t risking on the track, you had no business being out there.