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“Yes you do,” he crooned roughly.
We stopped in front of my house, and my hand shot toward the handle as my heart leapt into my throat. Part of me didn’t think he’d let me go.
“This is me,” I said.
“I see that.”
“I’ll see you later. The driver will take you back to your car.” His hand was still on my neck and showed no signs of dropping. “Good night, Jake.”
He slowly shook his head, his eyes never leaving mine. “You haven’t said yes.”
“I’m not going to. Not tonight.” Leaning forward, I touched my lips to his. I’d done it so suddenly he didn’t have a chance to take more before I moved away again.
“Clara…” he growled.
“I have plans this weekend, and you probably have Sage next week. We can take that time to reevaluate whether we actually want to see each other again. You know, when everything isn’t so fraught. If you take a pause, I think you’ll most likely find you’re in this limo to prove a point, not because you actually want to date me.”
“What point?” he asked, a jagged edge to his tone.
“That I want you more than Trevor—”
“Who the hell is Trevor?” His hand on me was as gentle as ever, but his question carried a sharp bite.
That made me grin. “The lawyer boy. Trevor.”
He scoffed. “Trevor doesn’t stand a chance with you.”
“You think you do?”
“Yeah, sweetness, I do. I’ll give you the next week to take a breather, then I’m coming for your yes.”
A wave of desire shot to my core at his cockiness. It should have been a turnoff, but I’d found there were few things about Jake Hayes that turned me off. Right now, I couldn’t name any. Not with my thighs pressed together and him inching toward me. As he got closer, I tipped back until I hit the door.
Then there was nowhere to go.
He spoke to me in a low, private tone, just for me, even though there was no one else around. “One thing you need to know? When you say yes, you’re going to be safe with me. I want you to think about that. Think about the first time you took me back to your room, how your instinct guided you into trusting I wasn’t going to hurt you. You were right then, and when you say yes, you’ll be right again. You take all the time to think about that. I’m for damn sure going to be thinking about you—and it’ll have nothing to do with that pipsqueak Trevor.”
As quickly as he’d advanced, he retreated, leaving me alone against the door, my chest heaving, lips tingling from the kiss that never happened.
It took me a moment to collect myself, and all the while, Jake watched, satisfaction tugging at the corners of his mouth.
“Don’t be smug,” I murmured as I grabbed my purse and opened the door.
“When you look at me that way, I can’t help it.”
Ugh. He had to stop. I was one heartbeat away from mounting him right here. Luca didn’t pay his driver enough to bear witness to that, and my suburban neighborhood would be scandalized by the rocking limo parked on the street.
With those thoughts, I stumbled out of the car and scurried up my driveway. When I got the door open, I took a chance and looked back.
Jake was still there, the window down, gaze pinned on me. When I didn’t move, he jerked his chin as if telling me to get in there. So I did. Only when I was locked behind the door did the car pull away.
He’d waited to make sure I was safe inside.
That was nice.
So nice.
I pressed my back against the door and groaned. This was supposed to be over. Jake Hayes shouldn’t have even been a thought anymore. But he was a devious man. If he’d kissed me like I thought he was going to, I could have easily written all this off as physical.
