Kiss Me by Kristine Mason

pulling his boxers up in the process.
    If she hadn’t been resting her rear on her heels, she would have tumbled to the carpet. Dumbfounded and confused she stared up at him.
    All of those warring emotions he’d worn earlier collided into one.
    Disapproval.
    She wiped her lips and looked at the hand he offered. Her chest tightened, her mouth grew dry. Tiny prickles of heat bombarded and pinched her skin with embarrassment and humiliation.
    Luke had taken a special moment and turned it into something awkward and awful. Feeling stupid, unsexy, and beyond uncomfortable, she took his hand anyway. As much as she’d like to, throwing a tantrum, and bawling her eyes out wasn’t an option. To bare that vulnerable side would show too much. Besides, she was stronger than that.
    With wobbly legs, she rose. Her high heels seemed slutty and ridiculous now, and she wished she could kick them off and kick him out the door. She squared her shoulders, instead. She’d experienced enough rejection in her life, she could handle another. Although this one might not be painless, she hoped to God it would be quick.

Chapter 5

    As Jenna stood, Luke looked to the wall. He couldn’t take the embarrassment flushing her cheeks, or bear the hurt in her eyes, especially because he’d been the one to cause it.
    Stepping away from her had taken every ounce of his willpower. He hadn’t wanted her to stop. Had loved every moment, every hot touch of her tongue, her hands, her mouth. But from the moment he’d walked through her front door tonight, he’d known what she was up to, and it had pissed him off. He refused to give in to his needs and her seduction. Sex was not an option. Not until she admitted what she felt for him was more than physical, and he couldn’t walk out of here tonight without making her understand that.
    “Jenna, I —”
    She jerked her hand from his. “Just go,” she said, her tone belying the fury tightening her lips and blazing in her eyes.
    He gripped her hips, swiveled her in front of the dresser mirror, then held her to his chest. “Look at me. Look at us.”
    She met his gaze in their reflection.
    “We look damn good together, don’t we?” Her body fit perfect against his, especially in those sexy as sin, red heels.
    Instead of answering him, she drifted her eyes to the floor. He touched her chin. “Don’t. Keep looking at us.” When she did, he trailed his finger across her cheek. Pausing at her temple, he stroked and circled, then said, “Such beautiful eyes. Did you know that they change color? When you’re aroused, they’re gold, but when you’re mad they turn a deep bronze…like now.”
    Tension straightened her spine and seeped into his chest. She let her eyes drift shut and clenched her jaw. She was shutting him out and shutting down — predictable and nothing new. In the four months he’d known her, he’d witnessed her go into pissed off mode as a way to hide her emotions. He didn’t need Cosmo to figure this one out. He needed a wrecking ball to smash through the walls she’d built. Make her understand she didn’t have to hide anything from him.
    He ran his fingers through her hair, loving the soft thick curls. “The night I asked you to date me,” he said against her ear and gave her hair a tug, enough to arch the column of her throat, something he’d love to nip and kiss. “I knew you were looking for a sex buddy.”
    Her eyes widened and she tried to pull her head away.
    “Don’t. Darci didn’t tell me. I’d overheard you two talking. And I have to tell you, something inside of me twisted. From the moment we’d met, I wanted you.” He sighed against her neck wishing this didn’t have to be so hard, and at the same time admiring her strength, the way she protected herself.
    She met his gaze in the mirror, and shifted her body. “Please, don’t do this.”
    He held her still, wrapped his arms around her waist and nuzzled her ear. “Uh-uh. Don’t shut me out. I told you the