How many times had Kevin crept up behind her while she was working and pressed his lips to her neck? It had taken little more than a gentle kiss and some sweetly whispered words before they were both stripping out of their clothes and making love among the dusty construction material.
Shesowas not going there again.
“Look, Jamal. I won’t deny that there was some chemistry between us during Mya and Corey’s wedding—”
“Not just at the wedding,” he interjected.
“Okay, fine. The chemistry is still there. But I’m just not in the right place. Getting involved with you, withanyoneright now…it’s not going to happen. And don’t even think about suggesting no-strings-attached sex,” she added.
The broad grin that flashed across his face was pure sin. “I wasn’t going to,” he said. “But apparently you’ve been thinking about it.”
Phil knew her face was as red as a fire engine. Why did he have to be so damn sexy?
“You’re making a mistake,” he said. “You and I both know that there’s a lot more going on here than just the potential for no-strings-attached sex.” He leaned forward and whispered in her ear, “Although that would bea lotof fun.”
Lord, how she wanted to take him up on his offer!
It had been way too long since she’d had fun of any kind. And despite how doggedly she’d tried to suppress her body’s outright craving for this man, all she had to do was look at him and she went liquid. More and more, the hazy figure that entered her nightly fantasies had started to solidify in her mind, and its strong jaw and deep brown eyes resembled one man. The one standing before her.
A slightly calloused thumb grazed her cheek then tipped her chin up. Phil stared at his sensually soft lips and stifled a needy moan.
“I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable working here,” Jamal said. “If your answer is no, then I’ll just have to accept it. I’ll survive. This isn’t the first time I’ve been turned down by a pretty girl.”
His noble capitulation only made her decision harder to swallow.
Phil was tempted to apologize for having to take such an uncompromising stance, but with everything else going on in her life, she could not summon the strength to deal with the complications that came with a relationship, even a casual, no-strings-attached kind.
Because she didn’t do casual sex. Her heart always managed to get involved. And eventually broken.
Stupid heart.
“Is this the last time we’re going to have this conversation?” she asked.
“Yes,” he answered. “I won’t bring it up again. I don’t think my tender ego can take another rejection.”
He said it jokingly, but Phil was sure she saw genuine regret ghost across his face. For a moment she nearly relented, but that self-preservation instinct that had shielded her heart since Kevin’s betrayal came to her rescue. She knew it was unfair to make Jamal suffer for another man’s wrongdoings. She also knew she was cheating herself, as well. But it was a price she was willing to pay. She would not put herself through the pain and humiliation she’d been through with Kevin. A person could take only so much.
Chapter 6
Phil pulled intothe driveway of Mya and Corey’s massive home in one of Gauthier’s newer subdivisions. She parked behind a familiar black-and-chrome truck, and her heart rate immediately shot into the stratosphere. It had been three weeks since she’d started working with Jamal, and her infatuation with him had only intensified. Thoughts of the man invaded her mind on an embarrassingly frequent basis: while working at Belle Maison, as she browsed the aisles at LeBlanc’s Supermarket.
In bed.
Oh, Lord. How she thought about him in bed.
If Jamal Johnson was half as good in real life as he was in her dreams, Phil doubted she could survive a night under the sheets with him. But that would never happen, so she was not entertaining the idea. Period.
“You are so weak,” she mumbled.
Frustrated, she grabbed the spinach dip and chips she’d picked up from the grocery store and headed for the house. She could hear the raucous yells streaming in from the partially opened front door.
She stepped into the foyer, which quickly opened into a huge den. Every piece of furniture was occupied, with all eyes glued to the football game in progress on the television mounted over the stone fireplace. Phil instantly spotted Jamal. He was the only person not garbed in the New Orleans Saints’ colors of black and gold. Instead, he stuck out like a sore thumb in a red-and-white Arizona Cardinals jersey.
“You made it,” Mya called from the loveseat.
Jamal looked back from his spot on the sofa and flashed a smile. Phil’s blood started pumping faster.
She mentally groaned. She really had to work on controlling her body’s reactions to him.
