“Sorry about that,” she said.
He had pulled on his jeans, but the rest of him was still gloriously bare. “No problem. I should have grabbed one of those terry cloth robes in the bathroom.”
She just nodded. “Yeah.” Her fingers curled into the palms of her hands as she walked past him toward the counter where he had brewed a pot of coffee.
“Mind if I use the shower?” he asked.
“Of course not. You’re paying for the room.” When he opened his mouth, she held up a hand. “Sorry, no more talk about money.”
“Exactly.”
She took a mug down from the cabinet above the sink and filled it with coffee, her hands still a bit unsteady.
“Why don’t you order us something to eat?” Bran suggested as he crossed the room toward the bedroom. “I won’t be too long.”
“Bacon and eggs?” she asked.
“Sounds great.” As he disappeared through the door and closed it behind him, Jessie sank down onto one of the chairs at the dining table, coffee mug gripped tightly in her hands. At least now she knew the abduction hadn’t completely destroyed her desire for the opposite sex.
Or at least one member of the opposite sex. She grimaced. She just wished the man who had rekindled her long-dead fire wasn’t Brandon Garrett.
Bran turned on the shower, set the nozzle to cold, and climbed in beneath the icy spray. He clenched his jaw, fighting to block a memory of the look on Jessie’s pretty face when he had caught her watching him. Trying to block the erection he got every time the image reappeared in his head.
Bran knew women. He knew when a woman wanted him. He swore softly, cursing the fate that had brought the two of them together, putting them both in a situation that could only get worse.
So far he had managed to suppress the desire he’d felt from the moment Jessie had walked into his office. With her fire-touched blond hair and fine features, she was beautiful. He liked her body and admired her brain. In a softly feminine way, she was sexy as hell, and he wanted her—no doubt about it.
But aside from the erotic dream he’d had about her last night, he’d been doing an admirable job of controlling his lust.
Until this morning. When the flush in her cheeks and the heat in her eyes had made it clear that the desire he felt was returned. She wanted him. Which meant he had to be the strong one because no way could he have her and just walk away.
Jessie wasn’t the type he usually slept with, women who didn’t require exclusivity and didn’t expect to give it in return.
He was fairly sure Jessie hadn’t been with a man since she was abducted. He sure as hell didn’t want to be the first, didn’t want to deal with whatever trauma she had experienced, maybe make it worse.
He turned off the freezing water, reached for a towel and ran it over the goose bumps on his skin. At least the bathroom was warm when he stepped out of the shower and towel-dried his hair.
Instead of thinking of Jessie, he needed to focus on the case. He needed to find the people behind the stolen chemical weapons and clear the colonel’s name. Once he’d done that, she could go back to Denver and he could go back to Dallas, to the life he’d had before. Jessie would be safe from him, and he would be safe from temptation.
He’d dish out retribution to Duran/Cummings when the time was right.
Determined to stay focused, he grabbed one of the white terry cloth robes hanging on the bathroom door and slid it on, walked out of the bedroom into the living room.
“I need the rest of my clothes,” he said to Jessie, who sat at the dining table. He ignored the flush that rose in her cheeks, rummaged through his carry-on, grabbed a rust-colored Henley and a pair of clean underwear, and walked back into the bedroom to put his jeans back on.
When he came out again, room service was busily setting breakfast on the dining table. It smelled delicious. He looked at Jessie, noticed sunlight glinting on the ruby strands in her long blond hair, the soft blush in her cheeks, and felt a tightening in his groin. Inwardly he cursed.
Looked like he’d be taking a lot more cold showers before this was over.
