Page 69 of At the Heart of It
Jonah smiled and spun his beer around on the counter. A pair of lacy black panties hurtled through the air and landed on the bar next to him, but he never broke eye contact. “Thank you.”
“You’re selfless,” Kate continued. “I know you don’t parade around shirtless because you want to show off your hot bod, though you obviously have one.” Kate hesitated there, watching his eyes flicker. Watching his response. She held her breath, hoping she hadn’t crossed some line. “You know it’ll help find homes for the animals at your sister’s shelter. Hell, you created a cat sanctuary in your bookstore, even though you flat out admitted you’re not a cat person.”
“I might be becoming one,” he admitted. “Marilyn’s been persuading me.”
“And that’s another thing I admire,” she said. “You’re not afraid to change your mind. You don’t dig your heels and insist the thing you’ve always believed is the only way it can be. You let your heart be open to a cat when the right one came along. You listened to me tell you all the reasons you should do the show, even though you’d already decided not to do it. You allow yourself to be persuaded.”
Jonah took a swallow of beer, then set down the glass. He held her gaze for several long seconds, not saying a word. Kate held her breath.
“Maybe I just wanted to sleep with you,” he said slowly. “Did you consider that?”
Kate felt dizzy. She was still holding her breath, and her pulse throbbed in her head. The air felt electric. Music throbbed and laughter trickled and sighs of pleasure drifted from somewhere far away, but all of it was background noise behind the echo of Jonah’s words in her head. She took a slow breath, wanting to savor these last few seconds before she said something with the power to change everything.
“Do you?” she murmured.
“Want to sleep with you?” Jonah nodded once. “Most urgently.”
Kate licked her lips. “But we—can’t.”
He said nothing. Just held her eyes with his, not blinking at all. In the dim lights of the bar, his amber-green eyes looked molten. Kate watched him, marveling at the stillness.
Nothing in her felt still at all. Every nerve fired at once. Her skin prickled with energy, and the damp heat behind her knees made her crossed legs slip apart.
The ball was in her court. She knew that. And she knew she wanted to grab it with both hands and run as fast as her shaky legs would carry her.
“Let’s go,” she whispered, then slipped off her barstool and headed for the door.
Jonah drove faster than he’d ever driven in his life, worried Kate might change her mind. Worried he might.
But as she pulled him out of the elevator and practically dragged him down the hall to her hotel room, it occurred to him she might want this as badly as he did.
“For the love of all that’s holy, not now! Motherfucker!” Kate was jamming her card key into the lock with such force that Jonah considered the safety of his own appendages.
But a little risk seemed worth it at this point.
“Let me,” he said, and gently pried the card from her hand. He had the door open in two seconds, and then she was clawing at his shirt. Clothes went flying—shoes, belts, a bra Jonah hardly had time to appreciate before it was sailing across the room to land on the television.
But the view of Kate standing naked in front of him was worthy of much more appreciation.
“You’re so beautiful,” he said as he reached for her.
She gave a nervous little laugh and slid her fingertips over his pecs. “So are you. It’s no wonder women line up to watch you walk dogs down the street.”
“You’re the only woman I want watching me right now.”
God, that sounded cheesy. But she smiled anyway, and the heat in her eyes was enough to make him forget he was hopelessly out of practice at this. At taking his clothes of in the presence of another person and giving everything he had to mutual pleasure instead of standing like some motionless statue to be admired.
Somehow they made it to the bed, kicking aside covers and pillows as they fell into each other. He couldn’t get enough of her, touching arms and hips and belly and breasts and a few body parts whose names he couldn’t recall in his lust-addled state.
“Condom,” Kate panted as she let go of him and fumbled open a red plastic trunk the size of a small cooler. It was filled to the brim with foil packets, and Jonah felt alarmed again.
“How long are we planning to be here?”
Kate laughed and tore open a wrapper. “They’re for the show. It’s in the rider for all relationship-driven reality shows to have condoms on set at all times. I doubt they’ll miss one or two.”
“So it’s product-testing, then.” Jonah groaned as she rolled the condom on, then rolled Kate onto her back. “Research.”
“Unexpected job perks.” Kate gasped as he slid inside her, and Jonah watched her fingers twist into the sheet. Then she let go and ran her hands up his back, holding on tight as he moved in and out of her.
