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She smiled up at him. “Are you intimidated because I’m wearing a gun?”
He grinned. “No. I think it’s kind of sexy. I’ve never dated a woman who carries a gun everywhere. It’s nice to know you can take care of yourself when I’m not around.” He tilted his head. “Are you intimidated because I carry a gun?”
Jenna tilted her head to one side. “Actually, I’m more intimidated by how attractive I find you.”
He cupped her cheek and brushed his thumb across her lips. “Attraction isn’t a good thing?”
She leaned her face into his palm. “No. I’m not good at relationships. I’m not good at showing affection, and I think I’m boring in bed.” A weak smile played at the corners of her lips. “How’s that for oversharing on a first date? Not that we’re on a first date, and now, we never will go on a date because I’m weird and don’t know when to shut up.” With a sigh, she pressed her lips to his palm. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that I like having you around. I never realized how solitary my job could be until you followed me for the past twenty-four hours.”
“Running into you in the stairwell has been a game-changer for me. I avoided commitment for a long time. I thought it was because of the job.” He bent and touched his lips to hers. “I was wrong,” he whispered. “It wasn’t the job. I think it was the girl.”
Jenna’s pulse quickened, and her fingers curled into his shirt. “This attraction…doesn’t have to mean anything permanent. I’m okay with that. In fact, I’m used to it. If something…happens between us, you can move on after a night, a week or whatever. I’ll understand. It wouldn’t be the first time.”
Cliff claimed her mouth, stopping her from uttering more inane and self-deprecating comments. Why was she so confident in her work as an FBI agent and pathetic with personal relationships?
She didn’t know. And with Cliff’s lips on her mouth, she didn’t care. As long as he kept kissing her, she didn’t have to think about anything else.
Her hands climbed up his chest and encircled his neck, pulling him closer.
Cliff reached behind him and opened the door.
He bent, scooped her up in his arms and carried her across the threshold without breaking the kiss.
Once through the door, he kicked it shut and brought his head up. “What do you want, Jenna?” he asked. “A night, a week, a lifetime?”
Held in his arms as though she weighed nothing, she stared up into his eyes. “We have tonight,” she whispered. “Let’s get to know each other. If it goes further, we can renegotiate.”
“Sounds so businesslike,” Cliff chuckled.
She laughed, feeling joy for the first time since the baby went missing, maybe for the first time ever. “I feel anything but businesslike with you holding me in your arms.”
“Good.” He grinned. “Because business is the last thing on my mind.”
She looked up at him with a teasing smile. “I thought you were hungry.”
“I am.” His mouth brushed hers. “For you.”
“What about dinner?”
“Do you want to eat now?” he asked, his body tense against hers. “We can.”
“I can wait.” She shook her head slowly, though her heartbeat raced like a grass fire, sweeping through her with molten blood. “Are we going to do this?”
“Completely up to you,” he said, eyebrows rising. “You want to kiss and be done. We can do it.” He tipped his head slightly and grimaced. “It’ll be hard to apply the brakes, but I’ll respect your wishes.”
After the drama of the past twenty-four hours and the uncertainties outstanding with the case, Jenna felt positive about one thing—her need for this man, this stranger.
She pointed to the hallway. “My bedroom. Now. Dinner can wait.” Then she cupped his cheek and met his gaze. “I want the full Monty. No brakes.”
Cliff laughed out loud, making Brutus bark. Then he kissed her hard and carried her into her bedroom, kicking the door closed behind him, leaving Brutus on the other side.
He stopped beside the bed and lowered her legs until her feet touched the ground.
With him in her bedroom, his shoulders so broad they filled the space, Jenna hesitated. “Is it wrong to want this so badly?” She laid a hand on his chest. “We only just met.” Her fingers gripped the opening of his leather jacket and spread it wide and over his shoulders. It slid off his back and arms and dropped to the floor.
“Some people,” he said as he divested her of her jacket, “feel an instant connection. I felt that with you.”
She chuckled as she loosened the buckle on his shoulder holster. “You felt the connection when you plowed into me in the stairwell?”
