He chuckled nervously. The perfume on her wrist reached his nose and it instantly set off a hard response. Shit, he hated being so attracted to her. She was obviously very messed up. Why hadn’t he seen the delusional side before?
“Why do you ask?” She placed the napkin back in her lap and waited for his response.
“Ask?”
“If I’m okay.”
“You were really acting strange back there.”
“I was? In what way?”
“You’re kidding right? Christ, you were talking to yourself — and the walls. You would look around like you expected someone to jump out at you. It scared the hell out of me.”
He reached for his drink and took a sip. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were on something.”
“No,” she said.
He swore her face went pale. Was she going to deny it? Her Adam’s apple bounced as she swallowed. An accompanying thrust of her chest up and down stirred another burn deep in his groin.
Shit. What the fuck is wrong with me? This woman is a complete nut case and I’m wondering about kissing her again. About getting her alone.
“Look,” she said, “I guess my imagination was just playing tricks on me — seeing things.”
“Seeing things? What kind of things?”
“Nothing. Okay, I know it sounds stupid. Forget about it. I’m fine. I’m sorry.”
A fog of steam rushed to cloud the space between them as the waitress dumped plates of food down on the checkered cloth. His face heated. They both picked at their meals. Jenny held her head back and tossed her hair, adjusting the bangs out of her eyes. A small yellow hue remained on her forehead.
Ahhh.
Grant paused his fork. “Did you go to the doctor after your car accident?”
Jenny nodded as she sawed a piece of lasagna free and scooped it. She held it in front of her mouth and blew. “I was taken to the hospital afterward, then discharged with nothing but a moderate concussion.”
“Were you supposed to go back for a checkup?” he asked.
She slipped the food into her mouth and started chewing in a motion that, somehow, turned him on. “Yeah, but I skipped it. I was already back at work and there wasn’t time. Besides I’m fine.”
Right.
She played with the napkin in her lap, rolling up the corners then pushing them flat again.
He frowned. The seductive movement of her mouth had him speechless. And frustrated.
“Stop staring at me like I’m a freak, Grant. I’m fine. Really, I am. I’m sorry if I scared you.” She turned her head toward the television over the bar, then lowered her eyes to the guy behind the counter and motioned to him. A few seconds later, the waitress reappeared and Jenny ordered a draft.
“I think I need a drink. What about you?”
He nodded and she held up two fingers to the waitress.
“Does it hurt?” he asked.
“My head? No.” She ran a finger over the yellow spot. “Not at all. Which is why I didn’t go back
. I’m fine
.” The last word came out a bit strong.
Grant considered the faded bruise and the completely erratic behavior from earlier.
“You need to go for a checkup.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Yes — you do. Monday morning. I’ll come by and pick you up. I know a guy who can fit you in without an appointment. We’ll go before you head out for work and it won’t interfere with anything else you’re doing.”
She started to argue but he held up a hand and turned his head as if to squelch whatever came next
. God, she’s cute. A little crazy but definitely cute.
“Subject closed.” He smiled and pointed his fork at her lasagna. “Eat.”
“You’re annoying, you know.”
“Yeah, so I hear.”
“You’re growing on me, though. Kind of like that stupid monster dog of Hodge’s. At least you don’t slobber on everyone.”
“Not everyone, but I probably would drool under the right circumstances. Certain kinds of food, too much beer, or thinking about what you have on under that dress.” He raised a brow in question. “You’re not going to tell me, are you?”
“Nope.”
“Can I take a peek?” He reached a hand to her knee under the table, half-expecting her to yank away like she did earlier. She didn’t. She laughed.
That’s a good sign, right?
“Nope.”
“Is that a nope, not right now — or a nope, not ever?” She slipped another bite in her mouth and started chewing. Seconds passed.
“I’m not sure yet, but it’s leaning toward the first one. I’m waiting to see what happens next. You don’t have any more accidents planned, do you? Say another dog or wayward musician forcing you to cop a feel, or a crowd rushing the room and pushing us into the wall, crushing us together? Or maybe something more dramatic?”
“Look, I know it all seems pretty damn convenient how all that worked out, and I can’t complain. It turned out pretty well from my perspective, but that’s not how I normally do things.”
He thought for a second. How, exactly, did he handle things with a woman? He wasn’t sure. There wasn’t really a
modus operandi —
he just went along with whatever happened, whatever seemed right at the moment.
“How do you
normally
handle things then? Because this has been a real show. If I were a suspicious person, I’d say you have an odd way of being very forward.”
Grant grinned. “I never thought about it that way, but forward is not something that most people would use to describe me. So back to you and the nope thing.” He rubbed a thumb across her knee, admiring the softness of her skin. His fingers barely extended far enough to touch her. He reached down and grabbed the bottom of the chair and yanked on it. There was a screeching of wood on the tile floor as the chair slid toward him so that he could cradle a knee between hers. The family in the booth across from them glanced their way. He flashed them a smile. “Is there a timeframe on the ‘not now’?”
Jenny shrugged and dropped her fork. “Not forward? Really? I’m done.”
“Does that mean time’s up?” He was getting a good feeling about this.
“Don’t get your engines running just yet, buddy. I have to get to work tonight, remember? I only had a few hours off, and that time
is
about up.”
So much for the good feeling.
He made a
tsking
sound, and then signaled for the check. He kept his hand up and looked for their waitress until she noticed him from behind the counter and nodded. “Speaking of work, how did things go with the bank? I forgot to ask. Have you heard back yet?”
“Not yet. I don’t have a lot of confidence though. I have zero credit so the chance they’ll approve us for a loan is slim. I should hear back on Monday. Keep your fingers crossed.” She held up two entwined fingers.
“I could help you with that, you know.”
“No. I’m not asking anyone for money. Besides you don’t even know me, why would you want to take that kind of chance?”
“You helped me. I could help you.”
“There’s a huge difference between giving someone a ride and giving them money.”
“I have no intention of
giving
you money. Investing in your business, maybe. I don’t really give money away for no reason. I’d be broke if I did that. I’m not Hodge. I have enough to invest in something if I have a reason to do so, but not enough to just throw it away.”
“So, what would the reason be?” She arched a brow.
“A peek at the panties?” He grinned. It was worth a try.
She met his gaze with a strange look. “What panties?”
Shit.
With a lump in his throat, he grabbed her hand and pulled her out to the car. She shouldn’t have said that.
• • •
She didn’t want to admit it, but Jenny found Grant’s insistence to go to the doctor sweet, and in odd conflict with his normal caustic temperament. Maybe she did need a checkup. Perhaps Shilo really was a hallucination brought on by head trauma — or at least that would certainly be a nice way to explain it. What other logical reason would explain her talking to an imaginary person?
Jenny slipped from Grant’s car as soon as they reached her apartment and clipped off to her door in the heels she couldn’t wait to ditch. He trailed quietly behind her. She turned and caught his eyes on her behind.
He shrugged when he saw her watching him. “I’m a guy. You can’t tell me something like that and expect me not to think about it.”
“Yeah, I’m a little surprised that you think money would help you with that. I don’t need the loan bad enough to prostitute myself for it.”
“What? I never — ” His mouth dropped. His face turned crimson. “You may think me pretty awkward, Jen, but I’ve never paid someone to have sex with me in my life. In fact, there’ve been plenty of opportunities, and, so far, I can’t recall anyone complaining about how I’ve treated them. Just because I find you interesting in some stupid, hate-me-love-me way, it doesn’t mean I need to buy your attention.” Grant’s brows furrowed as he turned to leave.
Jenny panicked. Sometimes, she should just swallow her tongue. There’s nothing wrong with
thinking before you speak
. In fact, most people consider it a very wise practice. But no, she had to just blurt out whatever came to mind. How stupid. “Wait.”
He turned back to her and jammed his hands into his pockets, a very safe two feet between them. She thought about it for a second — what to do? Let him leave and maybe not talk to her again? Ask him in? No, she had to work. Just say she’s sorry? Nix that one too; she wasn’t good at apologies, never had been. She’d also never been one to admit she was wrong. Still, she wasn’t ready for him to leave. Especially angry.
“What, Jenny?” His voice held a hint of exasperation.
Okay, he wants to know so I’ll show him.
She turned sideways, looked over her shoulder at him as she put the key in the door, and lifted the hem of her dress from behind. Lifted it very, very slowly. Inching it higher over her hip until the indention at the curve of her spine was partially visible. She thought she heard a soft expletive but her ears were ringing just a little from the way he stared. When he stepped toward her, she smiled. And slipped inside and clicked the door shut behind her.
“Go away!” Jenny shouted at the banging as she pulled the pillow over her head. “You’ve got the wrong apartment,” she added before pressing the fabric and fluff to her ears. More banging. She lifted the corner and peeked at the clock. 8:30. She vaguely remembered setting the clock for 10:30 when she pulled herself into the bedroom at 3:30 this morning. What a night. Her last customer had puked all over her door and tire. Luckily, she pulled over fast enough that he didn’t erupt inside the car. Still, she’d had to stop on the way home and hose it off at the car wash. Nothing worse than letting that nastiness crust on the paint of your car. Yuck.
More banging. She thought she heard a voice, too. “All Right! Dammit! I’m coming.” She already knew who it was. No one else in their right mind would think of waking her at this time of day. He seemed to enjoy it. It really pissed her off how much he glowed when he needled her. Monday morning. He could have at least called first.
“Get up, Jenny!” His voice boomed from the landing outside. Yep, that was Grant. She opened the door at the same time as the neighbor across the hall.
“Good morning!” She waved at the woman with her face screwed up in knots. “Don’t you just love Mondays?” Jenny swung the door wide and gave the woman a syrupy grin as Grant passed into the living room. With a loud “humph” old lady Margaret slammed the door and Jenny closed hers too.
“Are you genetically incapable of calling before you show up? Just once, it would be great if you’d give me a little warning before you bring your irritating smiley face to my door.” Her voice raised a bit. “My neighbors would probably appreciate it too. This was a pretty quiet floor until
you
started stalking me.”
“You’re not ready.” He ignored her tirade and frowned.
“Ready for what? For you to bang my door down? To go buy new hinges since they’re getting loose from your pounding? What the hell?”
Grant chuckled. He chuckled! This guy had the nerve to blast her out of bed after the worst night ever at work, and then he laughs? She couldn’t help it; she lunged at him, fists clenched.
“Whoa, hang on there now.” Grant clasped his hands around her wrists and twisted them behind her back, which forced her against his chest. “You’re going to the doctor this morning, remember? I told you Friday night I’d take you.” He was inches from her face and, dammit, he smelled good. Clean and … oh, hell. Jenny wrestled a hand free, grabbed his shirt, and yanked him down to her mouth.
That’ll teach you to get me out of bed. How do you like kissing morning breath?
“Is that supposed to scare me?” he asked when she finally let go of him. “A toothbrush might be nice, but I can stand it if you can.” He laced his fingers into her hair and smoothed it back from her face, catching in the tangles.
“Hey, if you can’t bother to give a girl warning, you deserve what you get. I only wish I’d had garlic on my breath or something else equally disgusting.”
“So, this is punishment then. Hmmm. Okay. I like that idea.” He pulled her back to his mouth. “Punish me some more, woman.”
Well, that backfired.
He kept his mouth against hers until she inched her lips open a bit, then he worked his tongue into the mix.
Damn.
When he finally let go, her breath was coming in short spurts. One of her knees had involuntarily inched up his leg and her ankle was wrapped around his thigh. How did that happen? She shook her head.
“Punishment over,” she said. “It doesn’t seem to work with you.”
“Oh, it worked. It worked just fine.” He slid his hand up the leg that was coiled around him until he met the fabric of her pajama shorts. He paused only briefly before slipping his fingers under the fabric and continuing up. His hand splayed across her rounded hip and he pressed her against him.
Jenny backed up. Or at least she tried to. Grant didn’t let go.
“You can’t just flash me your entire backside and then run off for two days without expecting me to think about that, you know.”
“I didn’t flash you my entire backside — just one hip. And barely that.”