She hadn’t had a chance to fall in love because she compared every damned man she met with Jazz Lancing. She was terribly afraid what she’d thought was a crush when she was seventeen went far deeper and ruined her for any other man.
He chose that moment to set the now empty beer bottle on the front bumper of his RV and stepped farther into the shadows, closer to her.
She should leave, right now. Kenni knew she should leave. She should run from him so fast and hard that she left dust in her wake. Instead she stood there like some foolish twit too stupid to get out of the path of danger.
She had so thought she had better control of herself than this.
“Are you frightened of me, darlin’?”
Oh God, he was so close.
Kenni stared up at him, his gaze holding hers as his fingers settled at her hip, drawing her slowly closer until she was flush against his much larger body.
“Frightened of you? No, Jazz, I’m not frightened of you.” Fear was the last thing she felt, but what she did feel was more dangerous than fear.
It was hunger. It was the overpowering need for touch. For his touch.
His hold tightened further on her as his head lowered, his lips brushing over her jaw.
Instantly sensation shot across her flesh. Like fingers of incredible pleasure sinking beneath her skin to nerve endings she’d never known could be so sensitive. The slightest brush of those well-molded, sensual male lips had her lashes fluttering in helpless, hopeless need.
Helpless. She couldn’t allow herself to be helpless. Helpless meant dying. And she wasn’t ready to die.
“What is with this need of yours to seduce every single female you come in contact with?” she questioned him desperately. “Find another playmate, Jazz. I’m unavailable.” It nearly killed her to step back and place several feet between them.
“You’re always running away,” he drawled, the slight curve of a grin at the corner of his lips. “Keep doing that, you’ll hurt my feelings something awful.”
Really?
She simply couldn’t believe that the statement, no matter how teasing, had actually fallen from his lips. There was a hint of frustration there as well. She could see it in the narrowing of his gaze, the way the muscles ticked sexily at the side of his jaw.
“Poor baby.” The patently false sympathy she offered him wasn’t helping if his glare was any indication. “I’m sure you can find someone to soothe your poor hurt feelings. I hear you could actually start your own harem.”
Oversexed ass!
He was so damned powerful, her fascination for him far too strong—yet she had to deny herself. Where was the fairness in that?
“There’s an opening if you’d like to apply for a position,” he offered teasingly. “Tryouts could start now if you like?”
Kenni could sense far more than just amusement and irritation now. There was something deeper in his gaze. Darker. Something that made those tingles start playing through her body again.
She really needed to get the hell away from him.
“You’re obviously far drunker than I suspected to actually try that one,” she accused him as her fingers dug against her palms to keep from smacking the daylights out of his smug face.
“Or not drunk enough,” he grunted, watching her closely now. “Hell, I should have known better, right? You have to be the most irritable woman I’ve come across in years.”
Irritable?
Kenni glared back at him, her ire beginning to heat to anger at the accusation. “If I’m irritable then it’s because you can’t help being an ass. Besides, no one’s holding a gun to your head and forcing you to make such idiotic offers.”
“Did I say you were irritable?” he questioned. “I’m sorry, I meant irritating. You’re damned irritating.”
“Because I won’t sleep with you?” Disbelief whipped through her senses like a storm. This man was completely unreal. “What? No one’s ever turned you down before, Jazz?”
The smug, too-knowing expression on his face made her teeth grit.
“Nope, not till you,” he shot back, the growl in his voice matching the irritated look he shot her.
“Then you’re far overdue for the experience, aren’t you?” Kenni kept her voice sweet as she stepped back to the path leading to the parking lot, and escape. “Rejection can ultimately be a wonderful character builder, I hear.”
The way he looked at her then sent a rush of warmth spreading through her body. The reaction was surprising. As angry as she was, her body shouldn’t be reacting to him with such sexual warmth. Then again, Jazz had a way of making a woman just want to melt with a look. The lowered lashes, so thick and long they should be illegal on a man. The sexy smirk that tugged at the corners of his lips and the wicked sensuality that filled his expression were simply, almost, irresistible.
“Then again, I haven’t actually been rejected by you, have I?” he pointed out before she could escape, his tone resonating with complete, sensual confidence.
That was Jazz, he couldn’t help himself, she decided. For all his confidence and arrogant certainty in himself, he was also right. She had yet to truly reject him. She couldn’t seem to make herself do it.
“If that’s what you have to convince yourself of, then you go right ahead.” She had to force the amusement into her voice as she forced the hunger out of it. “I won’t argue with you. Besides, it’s time I head home.”
She turned her back on him.
She should have known better. The second she actually did it she remembered what a bad idea it could be.
Kenni had barely taken that first step when she found herself hauled around, lifted to her tiptoes, and her back pressed against the side of Jazz’s RV.
Neon-blue eyes snared hers, refusing to allow her to escape his gaze or his hold.
Perhaps bad idea was the wrong description. Not a good idea, but definitely a move that showed her exactly why fighting Jazz was going to be so damned hard now.
Her fingers curled against his shoulders, nails pressing into the dark material of his T-shirt as he gripped her rear with both hands, lifted her, and pushed one hard thigh between hers.
Kenni’s breath caught. Oh God, that wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right that she get weak like this, that her flesh betrayed her common sense and gloried in his touch. Need surged through her with catastrophic results. The feel of him, hard, aroused, pressing into tender flesh far too sensitive and aching for touch, nearly destroyed any hope she had of resistance. Let alone control.
“You’re not rejecting me, darlin’,” he stated, his voice deeper, darker than ever. “Say it now. Tell me you don’t want me.”
He was so warm, so powerful. For just a moment she wanted to relax against him, to allow that heat to just sink inside her and ease the awful chill that filled her, kept her cold no matter the heat surrounding her.
She had to get away from him before he made it impossible for her to escape the need she could feel building. Because he made her feel safe, heated, and oh so hungry for his touch.
“Why do you keep running, Annie? You want me. I can see it, feel it. You want me until you hurt for it. Almost as bad as I hurt for it.”
Annie.
He had to call her Annie. He just had to remind her of who she wasn’t, and in doing so emphasize that she couldn’t allow anyone to know who she was.
“Enough…”
“Jazz, let the little teacher go for a minute so we can talk.”
Kenni froze, the shock of the voice behind her sending fear racing through her. She hadn’t even known anyone was there. For the first time in years her senses had betrayed her at a time when it was most important. With someone far more dangerous to her than any other could hope to be.
“Let me go.” Hissing at his ear, Kenni pushed demandingly at Jazz’s shoulders. “Dammit, I knew not to let you catch me in the dark.”
He grunted at that, but lowered her to her feet and slowly released her, allowing her to step away from him.