Perv (2 page)

Damn. Jenna’s face heated, and she jerked her gaze toward the front. The preacher droned on about where everyone would be standing when the service started. Jenna’s ears rang with embarrassment. She couldn’t concentrate on anything coming from the minister’s mouth.

Her only thoughts were,
God that man is hot
and
Holy hell, he caught me ogling him
. Her brain flipped back and forth between the two until she felt dizzy.

A quick glance back at Mr. Sexy showed he hadn’t moved a millimeter. He still stared at her. Perhaps his eyes were a bit more narrowed, but that was it.

And man, his face. Chiseled to perfection, his dark tan made his blue eyes bluer and his dark hair darker. What there was of it. He kept it very short, almost bald, though the shadow was there to indicate he could grow it out if he wanted. And he hadn’t shaved his face in several days, either. The growth was sexy.

He belonged on the cover of…well, any magazine on the planet. His right eye, the one she couldn’t see as well, seemed to be tinged darker as though someone had punched him in the face before he entered the church. Maybe she imagined it.

“Jenna?” Katy’s whispered voice made Jenna jerk her gaze toward her friend. She flushed deeper, feeling intense heat spread down her chest and arms. Great. Now she would be splotchy. Her pale skin always looked
so
fantastic when she was embarrassed…or aroused.

God, no
. Definitely not aroused. Embarrassed yes. But no way could some man get her all hot and horny by entering the room. She was way too straitlaced for anything of the sort.

Jenna glanced down at the expanse of her chest above the maroon, low-cut, fitted, smart dress she wore and almost groaned.
So attractive, Jenna. Nice
.

Katy shoved the bouquet of ribbons at her and mumbled under her breath. “Earth to Jen, are you there?”

Jenna swallowed through her suddenly very dry mouth and scrunched her face sheepishly at Katy. “Sorry.” She grabbed the bouquet. Apparently it was time for the bride to pass it off and move on with the practice ceremony.

The rustle of fabric told Jenna everyone was moving, and she glanced behind her to see the other two bridesmaids had shifted toward the center, facing the bride and groom now instead of the minister.
Right
…

Jenna mimicked the action, holding the gaudy flounce of bows up a bit higher than necessary to attempt to cover her splotchy chest.

And the damn man still stared at her. Now he seemed to be laughing inside. His eyes were lit with mirth, and his smile broadened.

Jenna was completely, irrevocably flustered, and the bastard knew it. In fact, he relished it. Damn him. He stood there completely at ease, his form perfectly in line with the other groomsmen.

She knew he enjoyed her squirming mess of nerves far too much to pay any more attention to the mock service than she was, but he managed to keep himself from appearing to be a total idiot.

Damn him again. They’d never met, and already she wanted to slap him and run from the room for being so…fucking sexy and distracting. Didn’t matter a bit it wasn’t his fault she reacted to him so strongly. She still wanted to punch him.

Since he’d chosen to stare her down, she decided to return the favor and give back as good as she was receiving. Why should she be the only one feeling flustered from the weirdest standoff in history?

Jenna caught his eye and matched his gaze. She tried to stand still and keep from fidgeting.
Relax your shoulders
. She knew they were hunched, in part to hold on to the bouquet higher.
Breathe. In. Out. Slow the fuck down
. Her blood pressure had to be the highest ever, and her heart beat at a pace that couldn’t be safe.

All Jenna managed to do was drop the fake bouquet, which tumbled down the three steps and landed at the beginning of the aisle. “Shit,” she muttered before she could filter herself and keep the expletive from escaping. She whipped her gaze up and decided no one heard her before she quickly crept down the steps and grabbed the wad of ribbon.

When she resumed her spot, she found Mason biting his lip, his eyebrows raised in question.

Glad I can be of such comedic relief for someone
. She blew out a deep breath and turned toward the minister, intent on paying attention for the rest of the rehearsal.

What had to have been less than twenty minutes seemed to go on for hours before the bride and groom finally took each other’s hands and headed down the aisle.

Jenna almost fell down the three steps when it dawned on her she would need to take Mason’s arm now and follow the happy couple.

“You okay?” he muttered toward her as she grabbed his arm tighter than necessary. He grinned and then chuckled.

“Fine.” Her voice squeaked. That one word sounded too high-pitched and sharp. She swallowed and tried again. “You must be Mason.”

“Indeed. Last time I checked my driver’s license. And you must be Jenna.” He said her name as though he were making love to her as they walked. It rolled off his tongue sensually with more syllables than the two it warranted. Or maybe she dreamed that part.

Jenna gripped his arm tighter, completely aware she was hanging on to his bare warm skin and not layers of dress clothes. She didn’t doubt she would leave marks from her fingernails, and she didn’t care. It was his fault for making her all flustered. He deserved to be marked.

She was impressed he knew who she was. Men weren’t known for sharing all the details of which bridesmaid they would be paired up with. Then again, Rafe wasn’t like most men. She could imagine him making sure his friends were all armed with the details. He seemed…obsessive-compulsive.

Jenna had only met Rafe a handful of times. She didn’t know him well, but she did find him to be a combination of high-handed and doting. She’d never been able to put her finger on it, but something about him was different. It wasn’t that she didn’t like him. On the contrary, she thought he was a marvelous choice for Katy. He clearly adored her and thought she hung the moon. But at the same time, he seemed to have changed Katy in some way. The woman catered to him more than Jenna ever pictured her friend doing with any man.

Mason jerked her from her thoughts as they exited the sanctuary. “You can let go now…if you want.”

Jenna yanked her hand free of his bicep. “Sorry.” She took several paces to one side to separate herself from the aura that surrounded the huge man and then turned and fled the room without glancing back.

She beelined for the restroom, ducked into a stall, and locked the door.
Holy shit
. Her breathing came out in heavy gasps as though she’d been running instead of standing still for half an hour at the altar. Sweat beaded on her temple, and her knees threatened to buckle. Maybe she had a fever.

Or maybe you got bowled over by a ten-ton hunk of testosterone that took over your brain cells and turned you into a pile of Jell-O
.

Either way, she needed to pull herself together before she embarrassed herself any more or ruined Katy’s weekend.
This isn’t about you. It’s about your friend. Get your head in the game
.

But the only thing occupying her mind was the feel of Mason’s warm, smooth, hard skin. The man didn’t have an ounce of fat on him. His muscles flexed with each sway of his arm as he’d walked her down the aisle. She could smell his scent lingering on her skin, and she pressed her palm against her nose and closed her eyes to inhale him again. Whatever combination of soap and aftershave and…Mason…he wore, she liked. In fact, she moaned as she realized she was squeezing her legs together against the tight ball of need that had taken up residence inside her.

She’d never reacted like this to any man. Ever. And it unnerved her to think all her blood had congregated in her pussy, making her stupid. No wonder her brain cells wouldn’t organize and cooperate. The man had a spell on her.

Jenna Mathews did not do spells of any kind. She was an organized, deliberate woman with goals and plans that didn’t include falling on her face over a guy.
Yep, keep repeating that mantra
.

What the hell was wrong with her today? Maybe she didn’t eat enough before the rehearsal.
Yeah, that’s it. Keep telling yourself that also. A snack will erase all your hormones
.

Jenna set her forehead on the cool metal door to the stall. It soothed her heated skin and helped her find her wits. Half of them at least.

“Jenna?” Katy’s sweet, gentle voice rang in the small restroom. “You okay? Mason said you were in here.”

Shit. Jenna hadn’t heard her friend enter. “I’m in here.” She tried to sound normal. Just a gal using the toilet.

“You feeling okay? You’re acting kinda strange.”

“I do feel a bit warm, actually. I’m sure it’s nothing. Give me a second. I’ll be right out.”

“Okay. I hope you aren’t coming down with something.” Katy’s worry was palpable in the enclosed space. Jenna pictured her friend biting her lip and knew her mind would be scrambling to figure out how the next twenty-four hours would play out if her maid of honor were sick.

“No worries. I feel better already. I think I got dehydrated maybe. I didn’t drink enough water today.” Jenna bit her own lip at the lie and cringed.
Or I sweated off everything I drank for a week when your fiancé’s friend entered the room and sucked up all the oxygen
.

“All right. Well, we’re all heading to the restaurant now. Everyone’s in their cars. Mason is going to wait for you and bring you over, okay?”

What? Shit. Shit. Shit
. It wasn’t as though she could say no. Katy was freaked out enough, what with Jenna paying no attention to the rehearsal, dropping the bouquet, and fleeing the lobby as though she had ants in her pants. She gulped past the lump in her throat and squeaked out a reply. “Got it. Okay. Tell him I’ll be right out.”

“You sure you’re okay? You sound…off.”

“Yep. I feel better already.”

She could kick herself for not driving to the church in the first place. Why had she let Katy and Rafe pick her up? That idea now sucked big time. The last thing she needed was a long drive across town alone in a confined space with a man who left her no air and made her panties wet.

•●•

Mason leaned against the wall outside the women’s room as casually as he could manage. His body wasn’t listening to the commands from his brain, but he hoped everyone else was oblivious to his plight. Especially the woman who had yet to emerge from the restroom.

Jenna Mathews. Holy fuck. Rafe had told him about Jenna. Of course he had. Rafe wasn’t a man to leave out any sort of details about anything. He’d rambled about Jenna’s tiny frame, her long straight dark hair, her smooth white skin. They were simply details about a random chick.

Not anymore. That woman punched him in the gut as soon as he sidled up next to Rafe at the front of the church and lifted his gaze. Whatever she lacked in grace, she made up for in body. At least as far as Mason was concerned.

And God, how he loved the way he rattled her. He grinned to himself alone in the hallway. She’d been interested all right. More than interested. She’d soaked in every inch of his body with her gaze. The blush she wore when she caught his eye was so alluring his cock hardened right in front of the minister.

This was so unlike him. Mason never let a woman get under his skin. But something about Jenna undid him. He still sported a hard-on from hell that wouldn’t go down.

And what was the woman doing in the restroom, anyway? Everyone was gone. Mason had been assigned the job of getting the maid of honor to the rehearsal dinner. He wasn’t sure if he was a lucky bastard or if he would regret this task in a few hours.

Jenna was a looker all right. That wasn’t the issue at all. He wanted her like he’d never craved any woman before from across a room. But she was off limits. Rafe had given him the evil eye when his sweet bride made the suggestion of leaving Mason behind to wait for Jenna, and then Katy had been swept out the door by her family.

“Don’t even think about it,” Rafe had growled. “She’s Katy’s best friend, and I have to live with her for the rest of my life. I can’t have my best friend fucking her in the car and then leaving the pieces for me to clean up.”