Riding the Storm - Brenda Jackson [10]
Instead of concentrating on his food, Storm was becoming obsessed with a question. When he realized that he wasn’t going to be able to eat before he got an answer, he decided to come out and ask her the one question that was gnawing at him.
“So, are you seeing anyone seriously, Jayla?”
He watched her lift her head and met his gaze. She smiled. “No, I’ve given up on men.”
Storm frowned. Her answer was not what he had expected. “Why?”
She leaned back in her chair. “Because there’re too many out there like you.”
He leaned forward, lifting a dark brow. “And how am I?”
“The ‘love them and leave them’ type.”
He couldn’t dispute her words since he was definitely that. But still, there was something about hearing it from her that just didn’t sit well with him. “Not all men are like me. I’m sure there are some who’d love to get serious with one woman and make a commitment.”
She tipped her head back and grinned. “Really? Any recommendations?”
His frown deepened. There was no way he would ever introduce her to any of his friends. Most of them were players, just like him, and his only unmarried brother was too involved with his restaurant to indulge in a serious relationship. His thoughts then fell on his six male cousins, eight now if you counted the most recent additions to the Westmoreland family—the two sons his uncle Corey hadn’t known about until recently. But still, he wouldn’t dare introduce her to any of them either. If she was off-limits to him, then she was off-limits to them, as well.
“No,” he decided to answer. “There aren’t any I can recommend. Where have you been looking?”
She chuckled as she went back to her gumbo. “Nowhere lately, since I’m no longer interested. But when I was interested I tried everywhere—bars, clubs, blind dates and I even used the Internet.”
Storm’s mouth fell open. “The Internet?”
She smiled at the look of shock on his face. “Yes, the Internet and I have to admit that I thought I had gotten a very promising prospect…until I actually met him. He was at least fifteen years older than the picture he had on the Web site made him seem and instead of having two hands, it seemed he had a dozen. I had to almost deck him a few times for trying to touch me in places that he shouldn’t.”
Storm’s hands trembled in anger at the thought that she had done something so foolish as to place herself in that situation. No wonder Adam had asked him to look out for her. Now he regretted that he hadn’t done a better job at it. He could imagine any man wanting to touch her body, since it was so tempting, but wanting to touch her and actually doing it were two different things. “Don’t ever date anyone off the Internet again,” he all but snarled.
Jayla grinned. “Why, Storm, if I didn’t know better, I’d think you were jealous,” she said playfully.
Storm wasn’t in a playful mood. “Jealous, hell. I’m just trying to look out for you. What if that guy would have placed you in a situation you couldn’t get out of?”
Jayla raised her gaze upward. “Jeez, give me the benefit of having common sense, Storm. We met in a public place and—”
“He was groping you in a public place?”
She took a sip of her drink and then said, “We were dancing.”
Storm took a deep, calming breath as he tried reeling in his anger. “I hope you learned a lesson.”
“I did, and there’s another reason I’ve given up on men.”
He raised a brow. “Yeah, what’s that?”
Her eyes turned serious. “Most are too controlling, which is something I definitely don’t need after having Adam Cole for a father. I didn’t start dating until I was seventeen, and I wasn’t allowed to do sleepovers at my friends’ homes.”
Storm frowned. “There