It was a nice time of year to be out here. He’d intended to make that walk by himself, to take in everything Montez must have seen and heard on that first trip to the place that would eventually be his home.
Now he was pretty sure all he would be able to think about was Tessa. “Of course, I can also radio him from the boat and ask him to send a car out.”
She probably didn’t want to sit on a minibus and then walk through the jungle.
A single brow arched, and she stood up suddenly. Her shoulders squared as though she was about to perform a task she’d had to build herself up to. “I think I can handle it, Professor, but we should talk about something else. Something that might help us both, but you have to promise me if you choose to tell me no, you’ll still remember that I’m in charge when it comes to the business stuff.”
His gut tightened because she looked so serious. He thought they’d handled all of this. “What is it?”
“I’ve given this some thought and I’ve come to one conclusion,” she said evenly. “I think we should throw down.”
“Throw what down?” She couldn’t be talking about what he thought she was talking about. She wasn’t standing there looking totally professional and suggesting that they have sex.
“Throw down, as in get nasty, do the deed.” She nodded as though confirming to herself that this was the way to go. “I think we should fuck and probably soon because I need my mind on the job, and you need to concentrate on your work. I thought at first that you didn’t care about the whole I-never-called-you-back thing.”
“You weren’t the first woman to not call me back.” She wouldn’t be the last either. Probably.
Or he could be optimistic for once. He wasn’t some shrinking violet when it came to sex. It was often his stealth weapon. Women saw him as an intellectual, and he was. But there was another side to him, the side that had spent months studying in one of Dallas’s most exclusive BDSM clubs. Not the one his mom went to. Yep. Even thinking the words made the world a less sexy place.
“But I am the one who’s been on your mind all day.” Tessa brought sexy back real fast as she moved closer to him, and he wasn’t thinking about the fact that he’d trained at The Club instead of Sanctum. He would bet Tessa went to Sanctum. “I’m the one who’s got you closing those books you should have been studying. Tell me I’m wrong.”
He couldn’t. “I’ve been thinking about you for weeks.”
She let out a breath, and her shoulders relaxed. “And you’re the one I can’t get out of my head. I think we go all in sexually tonight and get it out of our systems. Then you’ll be able to write your book, and I’ll be able to take out the bad guys. If there are any bad guys.”
He did not hate this plan. When he looked at it intellectually it was a good plan. It was logical and practical since they were only spending a couple of nights at the mansion where there would be nice beds and they wouldn’t have to fuck in a tent. The only thing he hated about it was her utter conviction that one night would be enough.
So show her it’s not. Study her like you studied for your freaking GRE and give her something to be distracted by—your talented dick.
Sometimes his inner voice reminded him he’d been around Taggarts for a long time. “Let me see if I have this straight. You think we spend one night in bed and then we’ll be able to forget the chemistry between us?”
“I think we’ll be getting rid of the tension between us,” she corrected. “I think we made a weird connection that night we met. I don’t know what it was about. I think maybe I was vulnerable.”
“Vulnerable?” She hadn’t seemed vulnerable. She’d seemed almost luminous to him. She’d seemed happy and vibrant and bright.
“I was at an anniversary party with the family I could have had, and it reminded me that by this time in her life my mom had been married ten years and had three kids.” Every word that came out of her mouth sounded sensible. It made him wonder how long she’d been thinking about this. Had she sat there on the plane and justified a reason to have him that she could handle?
He did not miss the fact that she’d talked about the family she could have had and not the man. He knew for a fact Michael Malone had been there that night, and yet she didn’t mention him.
“So you think you met me and I felt safe,” he posited.
She seemed to consider that for a moment. “I don’t know that safe is the word I would use. You were easy to talk to, and it felt like somehow we fit together in a way I hadn’t with anyone in a long time.”
“I’ve never felt that instant connection before.” He wasn’t going to play mind games with her.
Her lips firmed, and he realized she didn’t want this part of the conversation. She wanted him to jump on her and probably prove that the sex wouldn’t be as good as she thought it would be and then she could go on her merry way and put him in the box with all the other men who hadn’t quite fit. The sneaky brat was trying to get her taste and get out.
Maybe they would play a few games together.
“Look, that night was special, but we have to live in the real world,” Tessa began. “That’s why I didn’t reply to you. The two of us—it’s not something that’s going to work out, but we’re stuck together for a week. So we should go ahead and do it, and then we’ll see that it’s just sex and we’ll be cool with each other.”
Ah, so he’d called that properly. He’d been blown over by the attraction he’d felt for her. He’d thought this was it and how awesome that he hadn’t had to jump through hoops. But there were always hoops. There was always work to be done, and he had the distinct feeling that she would be worth it. Maybe it was time to stop wondering what had gone wrong and try to make things go right. “And if it’s not?”
“Not?”
He moved in, getting closer to her than he’d been all day. She wanted to fuck him out of her system? He leaned over and brought his lips to her ear, letting their bodies brush together. It was time to show her getting him out of her system might not be possible. She’d seen the soft side of him, the brainy side that was cautious about relationships and ensuring that the woman he was with felt safe at all times. He would still make sure she was safe, but he’d let her lead this for far too long. “What if it’s not just sex, baby? What if it’s something more?”
She stepped back but not before he’d heard the breathy gasp she’d emitted the moment he’d touched her. Her face had flushed, and while the air around them was warm, her nipples were perfectly visible against the material of her shirt. The gentleman in him probably shouldn’t have noticed that, but the gentleman in him had also been the one she’d rejected the first time.
Maybe she needed a hint of bad boy in her good man.
“David, I’m not going to start a relationship with you.”
He couldn’t help but grin because she couldn’t even say the words in a firm tone of voice. They’d come out shaky. Like he’d offered her something she wanted but knew she couldn’t have. “I understand. You’ve made yourself clear. You can’t have a relationship with me because of my jet-set lifestyle. I wish you could have seen my town house with its stunning views of the parking lot. When the wind is right, you can smell the fried chicken from the fast-food restaurant down the block. And you should meet my purebred cat. When I say Hamilton’s a purebred I mean he is one hundred percent grump. I didn’t even pay for my cat. He walked in one day and now he won’t leave. Like my brother.”