Lauren shuddered around him and collapsed with a cry of pleasure on his chest.
While she got her breathing under control, Jack held her. When her body stiffened in his arms, he knew the realization of what just happened had sunk in.
Lauren pulled away from him with wide eyes and fumbled with the clasp on her bra. She slid the straps of her dress back into place and lifted herself from his lap as clumsily as someone with two left feet.
“Jack, this shouldn’t have happened.” Turning her back to him, she straightened out her clothes.
“It seems to me like we can’t help ourselves.”
Swinging back around to face him, she frowned. “You need to stay away from me.”
Jack rose and took a step toward her. She took one back and held up her hand like a stop sign.
“I mean it, Jack. When you get too close funny things start happening inside me, and my brain turns stupid and I can’t control myself.”
“Sounds like you should shut that brain of yours off now and then, and let your body do the thinking,” he said, trying to lighten the mood, because she looked as skittish as a newborn foal.
“I don’t know why it doesn’t work with you.” She placed her hand on her forehead like she was checking for a temperature. “It’s always worked before.”
Jack had no idea what she was talking about. “What doesn’t work?”
“I’m not supposed to evennoticeyou.”
Again, he had no clue what she meant. “Why?” he asked with confusion.
“Because you’re aMr. Pretty, that’s why.” She dug her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes like it was something he should understand.
If he hadn’t felt a strong pull of attraction, he might have gone running for the door, silently screaming ‘crazy woman’, but instead, he slowly said, “I’m aMr. Pretty?” “Yes.” She blew out a breath.
“Am I supposed to know what that is?”
She paced in front of him. “You’re good-looking...great-looking actually. You’re wealthy and you’re famous. They are all the characteristics of a Mr. Pretty.”
“And that’s a bad thing?” So there was some truth in what his mother had told him. But he still didn’t understand why it was a problem. Women loved that about him.
“Yes, that’s a bad thing.” Shaking her head, annoyance flickered across her face.
Well and truly confused now, Jack blew out a long, frustrated breath. “You need to explain in simple sentences, for the dummies in the room, why those characteristics are bad.”
Lauren stopped pacing and stared at him likehewas the crazy one. “After Graham, it was like something inside me broke, and I’ve never noticed anyone like him again. Then you come barging into my shop, andbang, there you are, all big and sexy with everything I don’t want in a man.”
Jack ran his fingers through his hair. “So, let me get this straight. You’ve had a bad experience with one man, and as a result, all men who may appear to be like him don’t register on your radar?” Then he remembered what his mother also said about Lauren on New Year’s Eve. She’d mentioned how Lauren went for the ‘nerds’. Well, that was Jack’s description anyway.
“Yes, and now you’ve broken it.” She actually looked pissed at him.
“I’m glad I have. I’m sorry about what that jerk did to you and what you had to go through, but seriously, you think all men who are successful and good-looking are going to screw you over like Graham?”
“I know it probably doesn’t make sense to you—”
“It sure as hell doesn’t.”
She frowned. “But it’s the way it is. I’m going to have to fix it, and by ‘fix it’, I mean stay away from you.”
“Good luck doing that. You work for me now.”
She nibbled her lip, and it looked like she was trying to think of a way around the problem. “Well, we can conduct most of it by phone and email.”
“Lauren, there’s nothing wrong with doing something about this attraction.”
