you don’t care about your marriage, why would I think you’d care about jeopardizing my career?”
Now, that wasn’t something she should have to worry about. This had gone far enough.
“Just settle down. You’ve got me all wrong—” he began, feeling better than he had since the moment she tore out of the bar.
“Save it. I haven’t got you at all.” With a cock of her head and a patronizing smile, she added, “Nor do I have any desire to get you.”
“No, Cali, really, you—”
“Please! I’m not interested. If you’ll give me the key and the address, we can say goodbye now and get on with the fallout from this freaking disaster.” Her fury seemed to burn away as he watched. She slumped against the wall, her face slackened and her lids closed. “Please.”
Jake caught her chin between his finger and thumb and forced her to look at him. “Let me finish.”
Sure he had her attention, he softened his voice and lowered his face an inch closer to hers. “I didn’t realize Amanda still referred to me as her brother-in-law, because, lawfully speaking, I’m not. The ‘poor wife’ you’re referring to remarried four years ago, and has been living quite happily with Paulo ever since.”
Her mouth dropped open, making Jake’s curve.
“I. Am. Not. Married.”
CHAPTER FIVE
MOUTH dry, head swimming, Cali stared dumbly. “You’re divorced?”
“I prefer single,” he offered, with an all too amused wink. “It has a more pristine ring to it.”
She’d just verbally assaulted the starring member in the hottest memory of her life, humiliated herself with gross misunderstanding, and there Jake stood, as stylish and smooth as the sleek hotel room itself, arms crossed, staring at her expectantly. Waiting for an apology, she supposed. Deserving one, possibly. Probably.
Finally, she let out a huff and reluctantly met his eyes. “This is awkward.”
“Isn’t it, though?” Again with that smirk.
So he wasn’t married. That was good. But somehow the knowledge did little to alleviate her tension as his gaze slipped down to her mouth and then back up to her eyes.
That was bad.
She might not have earned the unsavory title of Other Woman, but she wasn’t out of the woods. “Amanda still thinks of you as her sister’s husband.” Or possibly she’d earmarked him as intended for her own use. Either way, mouth-staring was a serious breach of etiquette.
“I assure you, she does not.” He sounded confident, but men could be obtuse when it came to seeing, or not seeing, what was right in front of their faces. Like a sister-in-law’s crush.
Cali needed to look away, because the arrogant curve of those lips she’d test driven the night before was doing things to body parts that wanted in on the action.
No!
Regardless of Jake’s proven ability to deliver on the promises he was making without words, she shouldn’t be eyeing him as anything more than a ride to her new place. He was off-limits.
“Settle down, Cali. We didn’t actually sleep together, so you can stop hyperventilating and turning beet-red every minute and a half.”
“I am not—” Clearing her throat, she glanced down at the carpet, across to the low-profile coffee table and couch, then up to the recessed lighting. Anywhere but into his eyes. Suddenly that shame she hadn’t been able to muster a mere hour ago was on hand and in abundance. She’d begged Amanda’s brother-in-law for kisses. Revealed her desperation by admitting to how long she’d been without. And then used him until she—oh, the humiliation.
“How’s that feeling?”
Her head snapped up to see Jake jut his chin toward her injured arm.
Cali glanced down, almost surprised by the patchwork of Band-Aids. “It’s fine, thanks.” Honestly, it barely registered. “I suppose I owe you an apology.”
His thumbs hooked into the pockets of his jeans. “We both jumped to conclusions. Let’s just forget about it.”
That seemed fair, but with his body so close to hers she wasn’t exactly thinking straight. Which had her temper kicking back into gear. “Why didn’t you just tell me?” she demanded.
“That I was divorced?” He chuckled, shaking his head. “It didn’t come up last night and I didn’t realize you thought I was married this morning. Why didn’t you just ask?”
“Amanda calls you her brother-in-law. She raves about you—and I’ve never even heard of this Paulo before.“
“Well, Amanda and I have been friends since we were kids. More like family, really, even back then. And she doesn’t particularly care for Paulo, though as far as I know he’s a decent guy.”
The whole situation was absurd, and yet Jake was staring down at her, his Prince-Charming-gone-bad smile spreading by the minute. Irritating her. She was writhing with discomfort and he looked immensely entertained. The nerve! “Are you having fun?”
Something in his expression turned serious. His endlessly blue gaze washed over her, drawing her in deeper as his fingers moved to the side of her face, brushing lightly over her cheekbones. His chest rose on a long, slow inhalation before he answered. “Not nearly as much as I’d like to.”
The air was charged. Suddenly the comfortable suite Cali had spent the night in felt claustrophobic and confining. Her breath sucked in as Jake closed the distance between them. She should stop him, say something, only her mind had disconnected from the body that leaned forward, aching to touch. A million things ran through her mind. Laughter and need. Frustration and desire. Tastes and textures from the night before that made her mouth water and her pulse jump.
His lips stopped a scant breath from hers. Their eyes locked, held.
“Just one.” It was neither question nor command. Just the deep rasp of Jake’s warning an instant before his mouth closed over hers.
She should have been able to resist. Pull away. Turn her head. At the very least ride it out with stoic indifference and a stiff lip. Anything! Except the familiar blade of his tongue teasing the seam of her lips—the coaxing pressure of a kiss barely begun—had her opening to him, trembling. Lost. Instantly desperate for his taste. Her body heated, tightened and went lax all at once as he slipped between her teeth. Stroked slow and deep, and dragged a helpless moan from the depths of her desire.
Jake angled his head, and she melted against the hard planes of his body, let him fill her with his claim. Gave in to the heady rush of energy that surged like molten desire through her veins. It burned and branded, scorched with an irresistible heat that made her want to scream. More.
His hands moved over her, hot and demanding, pushing over the swell of her breast, teasing the beaded tip of her nipple with his palm, grasping the base of her bottom to pull her closer to the hardening contours of his body. Hungry lips pulled at the tender skin beneath her jaw, found her earlobe and sucked. “What is it about you?” he growled into her curls.
Her breath coming in ragged bursts, Cali’s eyes opened as his gruff demand penetrated her psyche. What was it about him? Last night had been an honest mistake, but today there was no excuse. She knew who he was. Knew he was Amanda’s…Amanda’s…Well, whatever he was, he was Amanda’s. Or at least that was how her boss saw it, which was all that should matter to Cali.
She pushed at Jake’s shoulders. Tried not to think about replacing her hands with her mouth to nip at the solid muscle beneath. “Jake. This is a mistake.”
His gaze bored into her. If he’d sunk back into the kiss she would have been lost. Utterly. But