Just for the Night

by Tawny Weber

  “Don’t choke on your hilarity,” she muttered.

  “I’m sorry. But what’d you think you were going to do? Beat me with a hollow stick because I got under your skirt?”

  Deciding that sounded more reasonable than the ax-murderer theory, she just shrugged.

  “Where’d you go?” she asked, still out of breath as she pressed her hand against her chest to keep her heart from exploding.

  Still grinning like a naughty little boy, he pointed at the hotel’s entrance to the mall. “I remembered seeing phones by the elevators when we came through. I wanted to see if they worked.”

  Larissa’s chin shot up. The first thing he thought of after sexing her up was an escape route? Wasn’t that so freaking typical.

  “And?” she asked coolly. It didn’t matter. It wasn’t like she was hoping he’d stay around or anything.

  She suddenly realized she was still clutching the dick, her fingers gripping it so tight that if it’d been a man, it would have twisted clean off. She tossed it to Jason, who easily caught it. To his credit, he didn’t say a word, either.

  “And they are on a closed-circuit system, only connecting within the hotel itself,” he said with a shrug. “I double checked all the doors on that end. Nada. We’re still stuck.”

  “This must be your worst nightmare. Stuck in one place, unable to run off and play when you get bored.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  She remembered his disgust the time she’d confessed that she thought all his trips were his way of escaping the responsibility of their relationship. It’d been their last argument before their breakup. Well, the last one before he’d accused her of cheating on him, of course.

  But even then, he hadn’t sounded this angry.

  Nibbling on her bottom lip, she stared. His face was a study of shadows, giving him an intimidating look she’d never associated with Jason. Before, he’d always been a sexy, fun, sanity-threatening charmer. Someone dangerous to her heart, but otherwise completely safe.

  But now? Her heart was still pounding but not from any ax fears. Looming over her, his shoulders twice the width of hers, he looked like he’d be able to kick any ax-murder’s butt.

  And wasn’t that a turn on. Heart still beating way too fast, she turned away to retrieve her candle.

  “Larissa?”

  “I’m hungry,” she said, ignoring his question. He gave her a long look, then shrugged. It was his way of letting her know he saw the game but was willing to let her play.

  He fell into step beside her as she hurried back to the store.

  “I just ate, but I could go for seconds.” Between his mild expression and even tone, it took her a few beats to get the innuendo.

  “Cute,” she dismissed as if the idea of his tongue between her legs again didn’t make her clitoris quiver. She hurried over to the box of food.

  She pulled out a couple of sandwiches, a sleeve of cookies and some fruit. With a quick scan, she decided to eat at the bench outside the store instead of at the counter. No point giving Jason any more fuel to tease her over.

  “I forgot how hungry you got after sex,” he mused, leaning against the arched doorway watching.

  “We didn’t have sex,” she corrected meticulously.

  “It tasted like sex to me.”

  What was she supposed to say to that? Denying it was churlish. Or was it? This was why she wrote rules for romance. Not for sex. Romance was easier to figure out.

  She decided that ignoring any references to sex was the only way to handle this situation. At least, it was if she didn’t want to end up in that same position again—on her back, legs wrapped around his shoulders.

  And she was doing her best to pretend that’s not exactly what she wanted.

  “ARE YOU HUNGRY? Did you want a sandwich or some fruit?” Larissa asked, giving him a wide berth as she headed out of the store toward the center of the mall. He watched her hips swing temptingly in that damned skirt again, and sighed. She was clearly unwilling to discuss what he’d already eaten. Since he had no clue what to say, either, he let it go.

  They’d just go back to pretending all this sexual tension zinging through the hot, heavy air was brought on by the storm outside. One thing you could always count on with Larissa, she was good at keeping those little fantasies alive.

  He watched her choose a leather bench situated in the center of the mall, huge frothy green plants flanking her on either side. With the growing humidity and greenery, it was starting to feel like lunch in the tropics. Larissa set the candle on the center of the bench, then placed food around it like a candlelit picnic.

  “Jason?” she asked with a frown, reminding him of her invitation to eat. He glanced at his watch. Seven-thirty. Only a couple hours since the power had blown, but long enough that he was pretty sure they were stuck for the night. Might as well fuel up.

  “Sure, thanks.” Unsure of his next move, or even his next thought, he slowly straightened from the doorway and sauntered over. He took a few seconds to wrap the koteka in its cotton cloth again before shutting it away in its box. Then he slid the box beneath the bench and sat across from her, the food a safe barrier between them.

  “So tell me what you’ve been up to,” he said after a couple bites of mediocre ham and swiss on rye. It needed mustard. He’d eaten tree-bark stew and beetles in his time, so the fact that this sandwich basically sucked was ignorable. But ignoring was easier with a distraction. “I thought you’d have your bookstore long before now. What’s the deal?”

  She gave him a long look. He could almost see the mental debate going on behind those pretty brown eyes. Did she take him up on the safe, innocuous conversation topic? Or did she risk ignoring it, knowing he’d bring the discussion back to something more dangerous, like how much better she’d tasted than this sandwich.

  For a few seconds, he wasn’t sure if she was going to answer or not. Finally she gave a little shrug and set the sandwich down in exchange for an apple.

  “I realized that I’d be able to build a more successful store, have a better chance at success, if I laid a stronger foundation. So I took some classes, worked on a few sidelines that will enhance the reputation of the store and bring in more customers.”

  He shook his head, both impressed by how smart she was at business stuff and baffled that she could wait so long to go for something she wanted.

  “You already have a degree in English. So what kind of classes did you need?” he asked.

  Her mouth full of apple, she gave herself time to finish chewing before explaining, “Marketing, business and some computer courses.”

  All that to sell a few books? His confusion must have shown on his face because she leaned forward to explain.

  “Bookstores are an endangered species these days. I knew I had to change with the market, and to do that I needed a stronger skill set and a better handle on marketing. The business classes just made sense. After all, I’ll be running my own and it pays to know how to do it correctly from the get-go.”

  “Can-Do is doing great, and I never had to take a bunch of classes,” he said, his spine stiffening. He didn’t know why Larissa’s intellectual approach always made him feel defensive. Maybe because he tended to fly by the seat of his pants instead of obsessing beforehand. Which usually worked out just fine.

  Except when it didn’t, and his business was in jeopardy.

  Like now.

  He snapped off a bite of his sandwich, grinding it between his teeth.

  “Can-Do is a specialty business that’s been built on your charm and reputation,” Larissa said, her tone dismissive as if she hadn’t just given him a huge compliment. “You honed in on a niche market and made it your own. Between your reputation and your connections, you’re obviously going to succeed.”

  Jason frowned, wondering if she actually thought he was a success and not just a lucky asshole.

  “Unless, of course, you do something crazy and ruin it,” she added, taking another
bite of her apple.

  Tossing the tasteless sandwich aside, Jason leaned back on the bench and folded his arms over his chest.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Huh?” She’d tucked the apple core on a napkin and was now wiping her fingers with another. “What? Oh, you mean ruining the business?”

  “Right. What makes you think I’m ruining my business?”

  Larissa rolled her eyes. “I didn’t say you were. I said you were a success and would stay that way.”

  “Unless I ruined it,” he ground out.

  “Feeling a little defensive?” she guessed, poking at her sandwich again before taking a tiny bite.

  He gave her a long stare.

  “All I meant was that even successes can fail if they aren’t careful. You’ve built a consistent message with Can-Do. Adventures with a smile. Fun trips, affordable deals, appealing locales.”

  She waited for him to nod, which he finally did with a short jerk of his chin. He felt like she was luring him into a corner, waiting to spring the trapped door open so he landed on his ass.

  “You’ve got a solid brand. You always were good about keeping your customer database current, so I’m sure you have a list you can tap anytime to tempt them with some special trip or other.”

  He shrugged one shoulder. “Yeah. That’s all SOP. Actually, you’re the one who setup our database way back when,” he reminded her. “We’ve added a few search options. We can pull up preferences, like time of year, continents and even travel style. It is pretty solid.”

  “See,” she said. “You’ve got it handled.”

  He’d feel a lot better if she’d met his eyes when she’d said that.

  “But?”

  “But, what?”

  “But you think I’m screwing something up. You’re tap dancing around it, but I can tell. So spill, what’s the problem?”

  Larissa avoided his eyes, instead making a show of rewrapping her barely eaten sandwich. She tore open the sleeve of cookies and chose one with delicate precision.

  Jason wanted to grab the cookie and send it skittering across the floor, but he knew it wouldn’t make her talk any faster. Larissa was gathering her thoughts, marshalling her arguments and adjusting her presentation.

  Why couldn’t she just blurt it out, tell him what she thought the problem was? It wasn’t like he was unreasonable. He’d hear her out. He welcomed insight and constructive criticism, dammit.

  Not that there was anything wrong with his plans. He knew his business best. But it would be entertaining to hear whatever crazy problem she’d dreamed up.

  If she ever got around to telling him. He bounced his fist off his thigh impatiently. The girl spent more time in her head than she did in real life.

  She drove him nuts.

  He watched her nibble her way around the circumference of the cookie. Her teeth took tiny little bites of the crisp chocolate studded wafer. Her pink tongue glistened as she licked a crumb off her lip. He swallowed hard. His dick stirred resentfully, since it was still suffering from painfully unrequited sexual frustration.

  Oh yeah, she drove him totally frigging nuts.

  “Well, I’ve already said that I think you’ve created a solid business,” she finally said.

  Jason’s fist bounced harder.

  “And I haven’t been following your business the last few years or anything, but from what I know, you’re one of the best at what you do. So if you had to make adjustments, you could. Unquestionably.”

  She took another tiny bite of that cookie. A piece broke away, dropping into the deep vee of her partially rebuttoned jacket. He imagined licking that crumb off her cleavage and felt a light sweat break out on his forehead.

  “Adjustments? Why would I have to adjust anything?”

  Besides the erection pressing painfully against his belly. A slight shift to the left would ease the pressure, but groping himself seemed a little inappropriate.

  “Well…”

  “Well, what?”

  She wrinkled her nose, grabbing another cookie from the sleeve. She bit it in half with a snap.

  “Well, you’re obviously already making adjustments, aren’t you? You’re looking at shifting from depending on your reputation and word-of-mouth to setting up shop in a hotel mall.” She glanced down to brush crumbs from her lap and noticed the bit of cookie nestled in her cleavage. With one finger, she scooped it out. It was all he could do not to grab her wrist and carry that delicious crumb to his own mouth.

  She glanced back up and caught the look on his face. Even in the dim light, he could see her fingers tremble as she tossed the crumb onto the napkin along with her apple core.

  “So if you’re already adjusting, you must have a reason, right?”

  He could barely hear her over the rush of lust buzzing around his head. Heads. Then her words filtered through the hunger and he blinked.

  “Sure. I wouldn’t do it without a good reason.”

  “And?” This time she was the one doing the prompting.

  “And I told you. Peter is settling down. He’s cutting his trips down to a dozen or so a year.”

  “So why change things? Your trips pay for your expenses, right? So you’re financially secure. And if Peter’s not traveling with Can-Do, won’t he get another job?”

  “Sure. He’s already got a job lined up.” He ignored the part about financial security.

  “So why tie yourself to a storefront? That kind of long-term anchor seems at odds with the business you’ve built.” Her words were neutral. But her eyes shone with a fervid curiosity.

  He couldn’t blame her. After all, his refusal to change was one of the core reasons they’d split up. That, and her dating another man. Jason had sometimes wondered if she’d gone out with Conner to push his buttons and force him to choose between her and his traveling.

  Jason just stared, his face impassive as he debated answering. It wasn’t like his financial responsibilities were a secret, but she didn’t know how bad the situation with his mom had become over the last few years. And he didn’t like to talk about it. Or to admit, even in a roundabout way, that there was something dragging on his dreams and calling the shots from behind the scenes. It did major damage to his self-image of a free and easy kind of guy.

  That, and thinking about it usually made him want to beat the hell out of something.

  8

  LARISSA’S BODY WAS SO TENSE, she felt like she was going to have bruises. She didn’t know what was going on in Jason’s head, but he looked furious.

  She shouldn’t have talked to him about business.

  Her stomach cramped and tension danced in little black dots in front of her eyes.

  They were locked in here for who knew how long and now he was pissed. A tiny trickle of sweat slid down her back. The room, so cool when they’d come in, was starting to take on the damp heat typical of a South Carolina evening storm. And now she could add an angry ex-lover to the mix, just for a little extra discomfort.

  She wished they could go back to before, when it’d only been shock and sexual tension filling the air between them.

  She should have kept her mouth shut. She knew better. Larissa’s romance rule number five: Men are like glaciers—frozen solid and slow to change. Trying to resculpt one was a lesson in frustration, so why bother?

  She’d learned that the hard way when she’d thought he’d actually be able to commit to a relationship between them. Instead, he’d found the first excuse to bail, running back to his freedom as fast as he could.

  It wasn’t until she saw the crumbs falling from between her fingers onto the leather bench that she realized she’d crushed her cookie.

  She grimaced, opening her hand to stare in dismay at the mess. Chocolate, even the kind in crappy mass-produced cookies, deserved more respect.

  “Look, forget I asked, okay?” she blurted out, needing to fill the silence. “Obviously you’ve been running Can-Do for a long time and you know what works and what wo
n’t.”

  Like watching an ice cube melt in the hot sun, the taut line of his shoulders slowly eased and his face relaxed. Then he shrugged and looked away with a deep sigh.

  “No. I’m the one who pushed the subject. Which means you deserve to have it answered.”

  Her mouth dropped.

  “Who are you and what’d you do with Jason Cantrell?” she asked.

  That dispelled the last of the tension. He laughed and reached over to take her crumb-filled hand. He locked his gaze on hers. His blue eyes filled with mischief as he turned her hand over to shake the crumbs into a napkin. Crumpling it, he then lifted her palm to his mouth and licked the melted chocolate from her skin.

  His tongue was hot. Fire flamed low in her belly, making her suddenly damp lips tremble with need. His tongue slid fingers of her free hand into a fist, nails cutting into the skin, and tried to convince herself that jumping him was a really, really bad idea for a really long list of reasons.

  They had no future.

  She’d hate herself in the morning if she gave in to meaningless sex.

  He’d walked away from her once already and broke her heart.

  They didn’t have a condom.

  His tongue swirled over the soft, meaty flesh between her thumb and her forefinger, then he sucked softly.

  Her list went up in flames as her brain shut down. Her breath shuddered, molten heat making her thighs damp. Two more seconds of this and she’d rip her own clothes off and climb all over him.

  “I thought you were going to answer my question,” she gasped.

  His mouth paused its delectable torment to frown at her words. She used his hesitation to pull her hand away, tucking it under her hip to hide it until the tingling stopped.

  The look of sexy mischief left his eyes just before Jason looked away. She winced, then told herself to stop being such a wimp. She wasn’t trying to fix his business or find a way for him to stick around this time. She was just asking a simple question—one that he’d insisted he was going to answer. It wasn’t like she was breaking any rules.