Forged of Steele Bundle (Books 1-4) - Brenda Jackson [130]
A half hour later, Jocelyn was returning Bas to the job site so he could get his car. It was almost ten o’clock. “You aren’t thinking about going over to the office, are you?” she asked when she brought her truck to a stop next to his parked car.
He shook his head and chuckled. “No, not tonight. I think I’ll go home and come up with a game plan to beat you at pinball the next go-round.”
She returned his chuckle. “Come up with any game plan you want. The outcome will still be the same.”
“We’ll see.”
She looked at him and said smartly, “Yes, we will see.”
More than anything Bas wanted to kiss her. He still had memories of their last kiss, but he wanted to replace them with new memories. “Maybe,” he said, leaning a little closer to her across the truck’s bench seats, “we should consider a wager.”
“A wager?” she asked, her voice soft, low.
“Yes.”
“Sorry, but I don’t make bets.”
“But what if it’s for something you might like?” he asked, lifting his hand to cup her cheek and feeling glad that she didn’t pull back.
“Like what?”
“You tell me. What is it you want?” he asked, leaning even closer and hearing her suck in a deep breath.
“How about letting me buy you out so you can leave here by the weekend?”
He shook his head and released an easy chuckle. “Sorry, can’t do that. Think of something else.”
“What if I don’t want anything else?”
“Then you need to think harder.” His hand left her cheek and moved to the back of her neck.
“Can’t think harder.”
“Why not?”
“Because when you’re this close to me, you make it impossible to think at all.”
“Aw hell, Jocelyn.” The words slipped from between Bas’s lips just seconds before he captured her mouth with his. The moment their lips touched he remembered how good she had tasted the last time and was getting his fill of how good she was tasting now. That intangible chemistry they had been dealing with from the first day was back full force. If truth be known, it had never left. It was even more potent, compelling and intoxicating. That passionate moan she was making wasn’t helping matters one bit. But what really made him lose it was when she laid a hand on his thigh to keep her balance. Whether she realized it or not—and he believed she didn’t—her hand was too damn close to a part of him that was aching for her.
He deepened the kiss, their tongues mating, and he thought she was better than the dessert he’d had at dinner. They continued to kiss and for a while he thought he could spend the rest of the night doing just this. But he knew the last thing they should be doing was sitting in a parked truck at a vacant job site kissing, so he fought to regain control and slowly, with all the reluctance in the world, pulled back.
In the semi-darkened cab he saw her moist lips tremble, and he was tempted to lean forward and take them with his again. But he couldn’t do that. He needed to go somewhere to clear his head and figure out what there was about Jocelyn Mason that made him want to take her somewhere and make love to her. All night and all day.
And that wasn’t a good thought.
He sighed deeply. “I’d better go.”
“All right,” she said brushing her hair from her face and resnapping her seat belt. “I had fun with you today, Bas. You’re not such a bad guy.”
He smiled over at her. “Friends, then?”
She chuckled. “I wouldn’t go that far. I’m not Cameron Cody. I don’t make friends easily with the enemy.”
He lifted a brow. “And you see me as the enemy?”
His question hung over them for a few minutes before she said, “I don’t know how I see you,” she said honestly. “I don’t want you here and now you’re beginning to complicate things.”
“Why? Because of a few kisses?”
“Yes, because of a few kisses.