“I’m not curvy enough. I’m too tall.”

“You don’t look too tall from where I’m standing.”

“Most men aren’t as tall as you.”

“My sister stands near six feet tall. I’m used to tall women. I like tall women.”

She said nothing, just chewed on her bottom lip.

“Listen, I’m attracted to you, and I know you’re attracted to me. Okay, so we both have issues. Maybe we both need some therapy. But can’t we get to know each other? It’s been a long time since I met a woman who I want to get to know, Melanie.”

“I’m not who you think I am.”

“I know you’re brilliant. I know how far you brought my brother in just a few months. And I know you’ve done that for others as well. So you’re feeling a little inadequate right now. Don’t we all feel like that from time to time? I’ve felt inadequate for the last twenty-five years of my life.”

“I have no business being in a relationship with you or anyone.”

Fine. “Who said anything about a relationship? Why don’t we just go to bed?”

She blushed from her forehead down to the tips of her fingers. My guess was she was pink all the way to her toes, though she was wearing pumps and I couldn’t see them.

“So I’ve embarrassed you?”

“I’m not used to men being so forward.”

“Hey, you started this. You kissed me the other day, remember?”

She blushed even rosier.

“Melanie, I’m not asking for your hand in marriage. I’m not even asking for anything beyond tomorrow. But why not? I fucking want you so much I can’t see straight. Let me take you to a hotel. Let me take you into my bed. I promise you that you won’t regret it.”

Chapter Eight

Melanie

I was too weak to resist him. He wanted me, and I wanted him. No reason to look beyond tomorrow.

In a pink haze, I somehow ended up in a suite at the Carlton with Jonah removing my clothes. I hadn’t said more than a few mumbled words since we’d left my office.

He brushed my blouse off my shoulders, and his breath caught on an audible inhale. “I don’t know why you said there is nothing special about your body. You’re beautiful.”

I warmed all over. With my pale skin, I easily colored like a raspberry.

He unhooked my bra, and my perfectly average breasts tumbled free.

Again I heard his breath.

“My God.” He sighed. “So fucking beautiful.”

He set me down on the bed. Then he lifted my hips and pulled my stretch pants and beige panties over them, down my legs, and off.

I sat there, naked, forcing myself not to cover my chest with my arms. Thankfully, I had shaved my legs yesterday, but my dark-blond bush was in full glory. I didn’t shave down there. What would he think about that?

I ceased worrying when he began to take off his clothes. He unbuttoned his paisley western shirt, and I bit my lip. With each new inch of bronze that was exposed, my heart beat faster. And then a little faster. A smattering of black and silver chest hair grew around his coppery nipples. He removed his shirt and slung it over the back of a chair. He sat down next to me, and I sneaked a look at his crotch. Sure enough—the bulge.

I squirmed. I knew I was wet. I knew what he’d find when he looked between my legs.

He stood again, unbuckled his belt, unsnapped his jeans, each tiny zing of the teeth on his zipper growing louder. He pushed his jeans and boxers down and stepped out of them. And then he turned to face me.

I gasped.

He had the biggest dick I’d ever seen. For a minute, I wasn’t sure it would fit inside my thin body. As wet as I was at this moment, though, there probably wouldn’t be any trouble.

He smiled at my gasp. “See anything you like now?”

I warmed again. Was I capable of getting any redder?

He pulled me up to him and clasped my naked body to his. He kissed my neck, nibbling on it lightly, and then tugged on my earlobe.

“I’m going to fuck you every way possible this afternoon, Melanie. I’m going to have you up against the wall, on the bed, cowgirl, missionary, doggy—every position there is. We’re going to do it on the table over there. I’m going to fuck your brains out in every corner of this room.”

My knees buckled. Luckily he held me steady.

“I wanted to do this when I first laid eyes on you in that hotel bar. I wanted to take you back to my room. Everything I wanted to do to you that night, I’m going to do to you now, Melanie. Believe it.”

I had no reason not to believe it. I saw it in his eyes. Eyes never lied. I’d learned that through my business. Right now, Jonah Steel’s eyes said that he wanted me, and he was going to have me.

And I wouldn’t resist.

He took my lips with his. I opened for him immediately, and he swept his tongue into my mouth. Our lips were fused together, our tongues engaged in a duel. My God, I couldn’t get close enough to him. More. I want more.

He kissed me hard. This was no sweet kiss. This was the kiss of two people denied human contact for far too long. It wasn’t a kiss of passion. It was a kiss of need. Of urgency.

This was physical, purely physical. We didn’t know each other well enough for it to be anything else. As a professional, I knew that. This was chemical and nothing more.

But that didn’t stop me from melting into his kiss. My nipples hardened, poking into his chest. I swore I could feel the juices dripping down my thighs.

He cupped my breasts, thumbing my erect nipples. God, it felt so good. No one had touched me intimately for so long.

I moaned into his mouth.

He groaned back, and I felt the vibration of his voice all the way to my toes. When he finally broke the kiss, we were both panting.

“I want you,” he said. “I swear to God I’ve never wanted a woman so much.”

I opened my mouth, but no words emerged. Didn’t matter anyway, because he sealed his lips to mine again, and his tongue filled my mouth, taking me, spiraling me beyond control.

We kissed again—kissed and kissed and kissed—and he moved his hand down from my breasts to between my legs.

He broke the kiss and sucked in a breath. “God, do you have any idea how wet you are? You’re soaked, Melanie. You’re soaked for me.”