After that kiss, he didn’t seem especially worried about her reply, so Callie tilted her head consideringly and said, “I’ll let you know. Maybe I should make you beg for it a little longer.”
“Sweetheart, I never beg.”
“Then kiss me senseless,” she suggested instead. “It seems to work pretty effectively.”
He tucked a finger under her chin and tilted her face up. His gaze lingered on her lips until they tingled with anticipation. Then slowly, so slowly that her heart began to race, he lowered his head until his mouth hovered just over hers.
“Jason, please,” she murmured, suddenly starving for another kiss.
“Now who’s begging?” he whispered back.
Her indignant protest was lost as his lips finally met hers. She savored the mint-sweet taste of his breath, the soft-as-satin caress of his mouth against hers, before shoving him away with all her might.
“You are a dirty, rotten, sneaky jerk,” she informed him, withdrawing to the far corner of the luxuriously wide seat.
He grinned. “I’ve been called worse.”
“By anyone who matters?”
“Not really. I thought you knew by now that there are very few opinions I really care about.”
“And mine obviously isn’t one of them.”
“Oh, I don’t know. I was at the airport, wasn’t I?”
There was an odd undercurrent to the comment that made Callie study him more intently. Clearly he considered meeting her plane to be an overture of some importance.
“Jason, when was the last time you admitted you missed somebody?”
The question clearly made him uncomfortable. He looked as if he desperately wanted to reach into his briefcase and find a batch of papers to hide behind. There was even a hint of a blush tinting his cheeks.
“Never,” he finally bit out.
“But you did miss me?” she persisted.
He scowled at her. “What is it about women that requires a bunch of words to state the obvious? I thought my actions were clear enough. Maybe I should have let you take a damned cab home.”
“Jason?” she prodded relentlessly.
His frown deepened, before he finally sighed. “All right, yes. I missed you, okay? Are you satisfied?”
She beamed at him and slid back across the seat until she was tucked against his side. “Okay,” she said softly, ridiculously pleased by the tiny victory.
When he took her hand and placed it intimately on his thigh, her heart thundered wildly. A sweet and gentle kiss, a daring touch, that was all it took for Jason to drive her senses to distraction. She glanced toward the front seat.
“Exactly how well tinted is that window and how long would it take you to close it?” she inquired lightly, sliding her hand ever so slightly higher. She wasn’t sure who was more surprised by her daring gesture, her or Jason.
“It is there for total privacy,” he assured her. He touched the intercom and added in an ominous tone, “And once it’s closed, if Henry touches the button to lower that window between here and home, I will personally exile him to Siberia for the rest of his days.”
“Ah, gee, boss, and here I was hoping to hear all about Miss Callie’s trip,” Henry retorted, his amused expression reflected in the rearview mirror.
“Impertinent son of a bitch,” Jason commented as he personally closed the window between the two compartments and shut off the intercom.
Callie grinned as she reached for the zipper of his pants. “So much for any interruptions.”
* * *
Straightening their clothes when they reached the city took an almost comical effort of coordination, to say nothing of an untangling of limbs. If Jason had his way, he would have ordered Henry to park the limo somewhere and leave them be for another day or two. It was amazing how inventive two people could be in such a confined space.
As the car slid to a stop in front of Callie’s apartment, Jason was still breathless from her unexpectedly wicked seduction. The woman was clearly filled with more surprises than he’d ever imagined. Her actions certainly confirmed the notion that being honest had its rewards. He wondered what she would do if he ever admitted he thought he might be falling just a little in love with her. Not that he’d ever admit such a thing, he reminded himself grimly. He didn’t believe in love.
He tried to beg off going inside with her, sure that their activities would be plain to Mrs. Gunderson, but Callie insisted she wasn’t going to face her mother alone and try to explain her disheveled appearance.
They’d made it up only two flights of stairs when Terry’s door popped open. The man had to have radar where Callie was concerned. It was an irksome trait. Still, Jason took one look at Terry’s face and saw that something was seriously wrong.
“What’s up?” he asked, keeping his own tone light when Terry’s expression was anything but.
“Come on in,” Terry suggested, avoiding Callie’s gaze.
Apparently oblivious to her friend’s anxiety, Callie shook her head. “I really need to go up and let Mother know I’m back.”
“Actually, she’s here,” Terry said. He opened the door wider so they could see Mrs. Gunderson seated stiffly on the sofa, her hands clasped tightly in her lap.
Callie finally picked up on the undertones that Jason had spotted at once. “Mother, are you okay?” she demanded, looking from her to Terry and back again.
Mrs. Gunderson looked up with a shaky but determined smile that Jason couldn’t help admiring. Clearly she’d passed along that same level of gumption to her daughter.
“Don’t go getting in a tizzy,” she said. “I just had a little scare, that’s all.”
“What kind of scare?” Callie asked worriedly, sitting down beside her and clasping her hands.
Jason stood behind them and willed Terry to look at him, but the other man was clearly every bit as upset as Callie’s mother. Neil walked into the room just then with a tea tray. He took one look at Jason, plunked the tray down unceremoniously in front of the women and headed for the door, beckoning for Jason to follow.
Outside, with the
