Seduce Me

“I’m sure he’s just—”

Another knock. “Hello in there?”

“—in a hurry,” Lorissa finished weakly.

“Yeah, well, he’d better be hot,” Sam whispered, and with one last deep breath, hauled open the door.

And came face to face with her date.

Or more accurately, her date’s broad, wide chest.

“I think he’s got the hot covered,” Lorissa whispered in her ear.

Good thing she was a fairly tall woman herself, Sam thought vaguely, tilting her head back to catch sight of his face, because the guy had to be six and a half feet tall.

“Oh, good,” he said with obvious relief, running his gaze down her own five-foot-ten willowy body. “You’re ready.” He held out his arm, which she didn’t take.

“I don’t go out with nameless men,” she said.

He looked surprised, as if shocked she had no idea who he was. “Jack Knight,” he said in that slightly husky voice.

Okay, not a bad name, she’d give him that. In fact, it sounded vaguely familiar…“Sam O’Ryan.”

“Yes, I know. Nice to meet you.” He was wearing a tux and a frown, and to her relief, wasn’t ugly or fat, but quite…

Actually, Lorissa had put it most aptly. Hot. He had dark hair and even darker eyes, a wide, sensual mouth that wasn’t smiling at the moment but seemed to have good potential, and a strong jaw covered in a barely there five o’clock shadow, all on top of a long, lean, tough body…Nice combo, she’d admit that.

Not that she was hung up on appearances, but on her run to the bathroom, she’d caught sight of the black Escalade out front. The guy was indeed rich and, as she’d told Lorissa, rich guys usually didn’t have much else going for them. So really, she didn’t hold out much hope for this one.

But she was committed to tonight. With a last look over her shoulder at Lorissa, she settled her hand on his arm and let him lead her out of the café.

“We probably should have met at a safer location than this,” Jack said. As they walked outside into air that was no cooler than the café bathroom had been, he favored his right leg, but she didn’t say anything about it because he’d sidetracked her with the “safe” comment. She glanced back at the Wild Cherries sign she’d painted herself five years ago when she’d bought the place from Red.

“It’s perfectly safe,” she said.

“Now, maybe, but I don’t want to drop you off at some isolated hole-in-the-wall later tonight when it’s dark. There are no lights out here.”

“Watch it,” she warned lightly. “I own this hole-in-the-wall, and happen to be quite fond of it, lights or no.” She wasn’t open at night, so she’d never felt the need to add outdoor lighting.

He glanced at her as he unlocked the passenger door with his remote, but she avoided his gaze until he opened the door and turned his body, blocking her way into his SUV with those long arms and broad shoulders.

Not fond of intimidation, she tipped her head up and slowly cocked a brow, then realized…he wasn’t trying to intimidate her at all. Not with his eyes filled with apology and self-deprecation.

“I didn’t mean—”

“Forget it.” She wasn’t willing to fall for a simple sweet look, not when, for all she knew, the man might be full of them.

“No, really.” He rubbed the bridge of his nose and met her sardonic gaze. “Look, obviously, I’ve made a hell of a first impression.”

She felt a smile curve her mouth. “Do you care?”

“Actually, I didn’t plan to. But…”

“But…?”

His gaze danced over her features. “I find that I do care.” His smile was slow and genuine, and made her tummy flutter. “I want to enjoy this evening with you.”

“Why? Because I’m passably pretty?”

“More than passably,” he said lightly. “But no, I don’t suddenly want to enjoy this just because you turned out to be an extremely pleasant surprise, but because we might as well have fun.”

“You mean for two people who didn’t want to do this in the first place?”

His smile went to a grin that jump-started her pulse, startling her. “Yeah, something like that.”

“Stop that,” she said, pointing at his mouth.

“Stop…what?”

“Smiling.”

“Why? Do I have something in my teeth?”

He knew he didn’t. A guy like this knew exactly how good he looked. “Okay, listen. I’m going to be honest with you right from the get-go.”

“Please.”

“I have a long, horrible, nasty history with blind dates, and I’d talked myself into lumping you in with the worst of them, but I can’t do that when you smile.”

The grin only spread. “Really? Well, same goes. I have an idea. Why don’t we start over.” He stuck out his hand. “Hi, I’m Jack Knight.”

“I’m not going to commit to starting over, not yet. You might still turn out to be a blind-date disaster.”

“Yeah.” He rubbed his jaw. “You might be right.”

She climbed into his Escalade. “I usually am.”

His soft laugh scraped low in her belly. “Something tells me this is going to be a much more interesting night than I could have imagined.”

“Is that good or bad?”

He came around and slid his long body in behind the wheel. He looked at her as he started the engine. “Not sure yet.”

“So we’ll leave that up in the air as well.” With that, Sam put on her seat belt and braced herself for the evening ahead.

But she had a little smile of anticipation on her face.

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