Chapter 3
Jayce wasn’t surprised his cock was hard and straining his zipper. That happened whenever she smiled at him. But this feeling—this instinct to mate—was almost overwhelming.
He didn’t want to scare her, and if he wasn’t careful, he might. A stray lock of strawberry-blonde hair was blowing across her eyes. He reached out and tucked it behind her ear. Instead of leaning away and fixing her hair herself, she actually leaned into him.
Was he getting the go-ahead signal? Since when had he ever had trouble figuring out what a woman wanted? Some girls gave mixed signals, but he didn’t think she was doing that. For whatever reason, he sensed she was as ready to go to the next level as he was.
There was only one way to tell. He held her gaze and let her know how he felt. “I don’t want this night to end.”
“Neither do I,” she said breathlessly.
Leaning close to her ear, he whispered, “It doesn’t have to.”
She turned her face toward the city and chewed her lip, as if trying to make up her mind. He waited as patiently as he could.
At last she said, “I live with my mother.”
“And I have the tiniest hotel room ever built,” he said, trying to lighten the mood and take the pressure off. She chuckled as he’d hoped she would, but he wanted to make sure she didn’t think he was trying to discourage her. “But…I think I can squeeze you in, if you want to spend the night together.”
“I—” She took a deep breath and let it out with a whoosh. Her gaze dropped to her toes. “I really shouldn’t.”
He made an effort to keep his disappointment from showing. “I understand. You barely know me. There’s the distance—”
“No. It’s none of that.”
When she didn’t elaborate, he told himself to back off. To not pressure her. If she wasn’t ready, she wasn’t ready. But he could have sworn…
“I should tell you that I made a vow.”
Shock rippled through him. “You’re a firefighter and a nun?”
She belted out a laugh. “God, no! I just meant that I vowed not to sleep with firefighters.”
“Oh.” He chuckled at himself. “I see. And why is that?”
“For one thing, living and working together is stressful enough. Add in spending our spare time together, and there’s no separation at all. If we ever had a fight, it could not only affect our cooperation with each other, but could make our coworkers uncomfortable. Considering what we do, staying on good terms with everyone is highly recommended.”
“All good points. But I don’t hear anything that applies to the two of us. We’d never end up in the same firehouse or even on the same job in a city-wide disaster.”
“I know, and that’s the only reason I’m considering…” She gazed out at the city again.
Waiting for her to make a decision was killing him. He was just about to say “Never mind, there’s no hurry,” when she grabbed his face and took a deep breath.
“Okay, yes. But I might only go part of the way, and I can’t stay all night.”
“Good enough.” Without another word, they grasped each other’s hands and headed for the elevator.
Jayce wanted her badly, but he was also having some niggling second thoughts. He pretty much stayed out of relationships, but he wasn’t a love-’em-and-leave-’em kind of guy either. He glanced over at her a couple of times, and she looked up at him shyly. Maybe “part of the way,” as she put it, was a wise decision.
He was tempted to offer to wait, but his body wanted to slap him just for thinking it. Why this girl made him want her so much he couldn’t fathom. There were women who could rival her in the looks department, but that wasn’t the deciding factor. He’d dated models and a couple of beauty queens, so if looks were all he needed, he could have proposed to any of them.
No, there was also the absolute need to find an open-minded woman he could trust, who would trust him completely in return.
By the time they reached his hotel room, he was good and confused. And yet she seemed to have convinced herself to go full speed ahead. She was yanking his shirt out of his jeans and pushing his jacket off his shoulder at the same time. Her anxiety made him chuckle, but he wondered if she was trying to get it done before she could talk herself out of it.
“Relax, Kris. There’s no need to rush.”
“Oh. I thought you wanted this.”
