CHAPTER THREE
BRIANNE WALKED to the array of windows that offered a perfect view of the East River. Norton followed, his dog tags jingling behind her.
The sun’s rays were strong through the thick glass, heating her skin as well as the room. Not that she needed any more body heat. There wasn’t a part of her that wasn’t already on fire, thanks to Jake. A sexy name for a sexy man. A sexy, single and unattached man, she thought, again taking in the marble floors, sculpted works of art and modern paintings adorning the walls in the apartment he shared with his sister. From the mundane to the more in- depth aspects of his personality, there was a lot she didn’t know about Jake Lowell. She wondered what he did for a living, even what he liked to eat for breakfast.
Basically, she questioned everything about him, but she decided here and now, she wouldn’t ask. She couldn’t afford to find out. Jake excited her, but she’d have to keep their relationship professional. It wouldn’t be easy. This man, this apartment, this chemistry between them-all were the stuff from which fantasies were made. But fantasies didn’t come true; she knew that firsthand.
She’d wanted loving, concerned parents, and she’d gotten world travelers, more interested in their dangerous adventures than their children. She’d wanted security and the opportunity to live a normal life. To go out when her friends did, to date and to have fun. Instead she’d gotten the responsibility of a brother she loved more than life itself and the emotional and financial burden of seeing to it that he was raised right. More than most people, Brianne understood fantasies were necessary to ease life’s burdens, but they never came true.
Her aching desire for the man in the other room would remain in the realm of impossible dreams. It had no place in her real life. The less she learned about Jake Lowell, the safer she would be. As it was, taking this job would be hazardous to her mind, her heart and, most definitely, her body. How she would live here with him and survive the summer, she had no idea.
Physical therapy itself was extremely hands-on. Her palms would cover his upper back and shoulders, and ease around to the front of his chest. Her fingers would massage his strong muscles. She’d be getting up-close and personal with a man who sent her senses soaring and who’d unexpectedly touched her emotions as well. Brianne saw scars and injuries every day of her life, yet when she’d looked at Jake’s, an aching tenderness had risen to her throat. She didn’t know why he affected her so, but she knew it didn’t bode well for her vow to remain detached, to be the professional she was being paid to be.
But she would if it killed her.
“I’m ready.” His deep voice sent tremors of awareness racing through her.
He might be ready but she wasn’t. Brianne turned to face him. She could have handled it if he’d dressed in a Polo collared shirt and starched khaki pants. That would have created distance. Instead he wore his standard ripped sweatshirt, this one in navy, which brought out the depth of color in his eyes, and a pair of sweat shorts that didn’t come much lower than the towel had earlier.
At the sight of him, her heart began a steady, rhythmic beat. She sighed. Time to get things between them settled. “You’re ready. How interesting. Rina led me to believe you’d be a difficult patient. In fact, she said you’d be a hard sell. That you’d resist therapy.”
He shrugged. “And Rina was right. I meant I’m ready to talk.” He stepped over to the couch in the living room and seated himself on a velvet sofa. With his day’s growth of beard and his casual clothes, he appeared ridiculously out of place in the formal room, and yet nothing could detract from his rugged, bad-boy good looks.
“Join me.” He patted the space beside him.
Knowing she had no choice if she wanted to persuade him, she walked over and lowered herself onto the soft cushion, not as close as he’d suggested. But his masculinity couldn’t be denied, and even with a good amount of distance separating them, Brianne felt his powerful presence.
“Tell me something, Jake.”
“Say that again.”
She tipped her head to the side. “What?”
“My name.”
He leaned forward until he was too close. His breath held a refreshing hint of mint, and her stomach curled with a delicious warmth.
“Jake,” he said. “Say it again.”
His gaze locked with hers and held. She couldn’t have turned away if she wanted to, and, heaven help her, she didn’t want to. Because she understood. They’d spent the past couple of weeks in silken, seductive silence. Her name on his lips had sounded so very sweet. She couldn’t deny him the same pleasure.
“Jake,” she murmured.
His eyes glazed and he inched closer, kissing distance away. The tingling scent of mint surrounded her, tempting her, teasing her.
“I’ve been curious for so long.”
His masculine voice reached deep inside her, and she couldn’t lie. “Me, too.” And curiosity was the only reason she’d allow the inevitable kiss, or so she told herself.
He touched her beneath her chin, holding her head in place as his mouth settled over hers. Strong and sure, yet achingly gentle, his kiss was everything she’d dreamed about, yearned for. And when his searching tongue traced her lips, moistening before slipping inside, her entire body shook in reaction. Pulsing began in her chest and settled lower, between her legs, strengthening the desire that had built between them from across a crowded room.
His breath was warm and minty, his mouth hot and needy, just as she was, and a sigh of pure pleasure escaped her throat. He caught her sigh in his mouth and used it as permission to deepen the kiss. But the sound she’d made shook her out of the haze of desire and back into reality.
Unfortunately, the motion took longer than she’d planned, as she first curled her fingers around the soft cotton and his flesh beneath. She allowed the prolonged kiss to go on for another sweet minute before breaking contact.
Shaking off the temporary insanity that had overcome her wasn’t as easy. “We can’t do this.”
He swallowed, his throat moving up and down before her eyes, his breathing as ragged as hers. “Can’t do what? Get acquainted?”
She licked at her damp lips, his lingering taste fueling the desire still flickering inside her. “That was more than getting acquainted.” Then the rest of his words registered. “Are you saying you’ve changed your mind about rehab?”
He shook his head and laughed. “I like your strategy. Kiss me and lower my defenses. Are you trying to take advantage of me?” A smile tipped the corner of his mouth.
“You kissed me first,” she reminded him.
“You didn’t stop me.”
They sounded like squabbling children, but there had been nothing juvenile about that kiss. “Let’s just say we got it out of our systems. Now we can move forward.”
“And you can move in?” He shrugged with his one good shoulder. “That was Rina on the phone. She just explained the new living arrangements.” His gaze intense and curious, never left hers, as if he were trying to read her thoughts.
But she couldn’t deny that he looked surprised by his sister’s call and revelation. As surprised as he’d appeared when he’d discovered her in the apartment earlier. “Obviously you didn’t know about that, either?” she asked.
He shook his head. “No.”
“I think this is called manipulation,” she muttered.
“Blatant,” he agreed. “But that’s Rina. Always with the best intentions, but not always thinking up here.” He tapped the side of his head. “She’s a romantic.”
