“I don’t mean putting on a sexy dress for a wedding and getting all gorgeous-”
She laid her index finger across his lips, but it was too late. The image was already coursing through his brain. And the touch of her finger put a physical element into the fantasy.
He was going to kiss her again.
Unless lightning struck him dead, he was going to lean in, capture her lips and drag her into his arms all over again.
From the poker table, Cole gloated in triumph, reminding Mitch that they were in full view of five other people. But he didn’t even care.
He captured her hand, holding it tight against his cheek. When he spoke, his voice was strangled. “What am I going to do about you, Jenny?”
A beat went past.
“Take me to a hotel.”
For a split second, he misunderstood and desire roared to life. But then he got it. “You meant without me.”
Her cheeks flushed bright, and her lips flattened together, her entire body stiffening with anger. “It’s not fair for you to send me mixed signals like that. What is it you want, Mitch?”
“What I want, and what I can have are two completely different things.” He knew he was wrong. He was doubly wrong to say it out loud, and it was unforgivable to say it to Jenny. But that didn’t change the way he felt.
“You were the one who called a halt to everything,” she reminded him.
The heated air suddenly felt stifling. “I explained to you why I had to do that.”
“You never did.”
He cataloged their conversations through his brain. Of course he’d explained it to her. What exactly had he said to her? “It’s because you are you, and I am me.”
She came to her feet, expression closed off. “Nice. You’re the big celebrity, and I’m a boring small-town girl.”
“No, you don’t-”
“I understand perfectly, Mitch.” Her eyes blazed, and she held up her hands. “Do me a favor. Let’s keep it strictly professional from here on in. I don’t want to know about your childhood, and I don’t want you to know about mine.”
“I threw smelly socks in the corner.”
She blinked in incomprehension.
“When I was a kid,” he elaborated, for some reason, refusing to let the conversation end. He wanted to know about her, and he wanted her to know about him. “And as a teenager. I used to drop my socks, my jerseys, shorts, pretty much anything, wherever they fell, and let ’em sit.”
“Why are you-”
“It ticked my mother off something fierce. And my dad yelled at me for doing it. Then again, he yelled at me for every little mistake. Especially on the football field.”
“Mitch-”
He ignored her interruption. “From the time I was nine years old. It didn’t matter if a receiver was out of place, or if a blocker screwed up. Everything that happened on that football field was my fault. The pass wasn’t long enough. It wasn’t accurate enough. I should have run. I should have faked. I should have found a hole, handed off or cut back.”
Mitch couldn’t believe the words were tumbling out of him. He’d never shared this with anyone. “When I wasn’t a first-round draft pick, he called me an abject failure. He said I hadn’t put my heart into it.”
Jenny was looking at him with pity now. He hated pity. But from her, he’d take it. It was better than indifference.
“But your interviews,” she put into the silence. “The two of you go on camera together. And you rave about his inspiration and support.”
Mitch gave a cold laugh. “I do, don’t I?”
“It’s all an act?”
“We have an unspoken agreement to revise history.”
Jenny sat back down. “Are you trying to make me care about you?”
“Yes. No.” What the hell was he trying to do here?
He took her hand, and mustered every scrap of honor in his disreputable soul. “I’m a cad and a womanizer, and I can smooth talk my way into or out of just about anything. Like touchdown passes, most things in life come way too easily to me, and I don’t appreciate them nearly as much as I should.”
Her eyes had softened, and he felt the danger of her compassion right down to his toes.
“Is that what your dad told you?” she asked.
“He was right.”
“What if he wasn’t?”
Mitch shook his head. “Don’t do it, Jenny. Don’t convince yourself that I’m worthy.”
“Don’t convince yourself that you’re not.”
“I’m-”
“You are a glib smooth talker, Mitch. You’re smart and you’re diplomatic, and I know you’ve been handling me just like you handle everyone else in your life. But there’s more to you than that. You just proved it.”
“Hate me, Jenny.”
“I can’t.”
“If you could see inside my head right now, you’d have no trouble at all.”
“Tell me what’s inside your head.”
No way, no how was he going to do that.
But her gaze was steady, and the heated air thickened between them.
“You are,” he finally said, determined to put an end to this once and for all. It was true that he could talk his way out of anything, and right now he was going to talk his way out of Jenny. “And you’re naked. On top of me. Your hair is wild, and your breasts are gleaming in the moonlight.”
Her eyes went round, and her lips parted.
“You’ve kissed every inch of my body, and I’ve kissed every inch of yours. You’re crying out my name, begging for more, harder, deeper. Your nails dig into my shoulder, but it feels good, because it’s you. And we come together, and it lasts forever, and it’s the best freaking sex I’ve ever had.”
She gave a long, slow blink, her cheeks flushed red, and her shoulders drooping in the still, heated air.
“But guess what, Jenny?” he spat. “It’s a one-night stand. The next day I go back on the road, back to the team, back to the parties and the girls, and I leave you far behind.”
He let his words drop to cold silence.
Her eyes narrowed, and her lips pressed together. “You’re lying.”
He gave a harsh chuckle. “That’s the bald-faced truth, darlin’. I’d be lying if I told you anything else.”
She straightened and drew away from him.
He hated the suspicion in her eyes, but he knew it was for the best. “You’re right to suspect that I’m handling you, Jenny. I can talk my way into your pants then out of your life without breaking a sweat. When it comes to sex, don’t trust me for an instant.”
She rose shakily to her feet, and took a couple of backward steps, staring at him in obvious shock.
It was only then that he realized Emily, Cole and Jeffrey had overheard the tail end of his little speech.
Emily quickly swooped in and put an arm around Jenny, ushering her swiftly toward the front door.
Cole gave Mitch a glare of disgust and followed the two women.
Jeffrey ambled onto the deck and took a seat as the front door slammed firmly behind the trio.
“Harsh,” Jeffrey observed.
“Necessary,” Mitch responded, feeling lower than turf grass.
“I’ve sure never seen you do that before.”
“She deserves to know the truth.”
“That wasn’t the truth. That was you protecting someone you care about,” said Jeffrey. “You were trying to
