Jack relaxed in his chair across the table from Meg the following night, his attention flicking between her animated face and hands as she regaled him with a bad-date story from her past.
They'd finished dinner about an hour ago, and the hotel restaurant was almost empty. Live music drifted through the open windows as a waitress busied herself setting tables for the breakfast shift in the morning. Only one other couple remained, huddled in a corner booth on the opposite side of the room.
The breeze stirred Meg's hair as she spoke, and he remembered it flipping up the bottom of her dress on the walk over here. She'd caught him hanging back to check out the visual then laughed and grabbed his hand, tugging until she brought him level with her again.
At first, Jack thought she was embarrassed, but then she leaned in and suggested he keep his hand on her ass just in case it happened again.
"I don't see the problem," he said, tuning into the conversation. "Sounds like he was a decent guy."
"The man asked me to marry him," she said, raising her eyebrows for emphasis, "on the fourth date."
Jack smiled, understanding how someone might get caught up in the whole Meg experience. "I guess I can't blame the guy. He obviously knew a good thing when he was onto it."
She circled the base of her wineglass with her fingertip, apparently lost in thought. When her eyes met his again, they were filled with pleasure. "Sorry to break it to you, but he never got onto it. I'm not that easy."
"Well, I hate to point out the obvious..."
Meg shot him a scowl, but she appeared to be holding back a smile. "You're different."
It shouldn't please him so much to hear that, but it made him grin. "So, that was five years ago." He rested his elbows on the table and leaned in closer. "Don't tell me that was the last time you had sex?" He'd never dream of asking another woman that question, but this was Meg, and he knew her limits--mostly because he liked to push them as often as possible.
She let out a breathy laugh and toyed with the strap on her dress. "I should probably be offended you went there, but for some reason, I like the fact you're direct. The last time I had sex was this afternoon. You were there, remember?"
Memories flooded him and the surge of heat took him by surprise. They'd spent a couple of lazy hours in the pool before heading back to her room to supposedly rest. As soon as he shut the door behind him, Jack discovered she had other ideas.
She started by dragging him into the shower where she soaped and massaged his body amid a cloud of heat and steam. He lost it and came apart in her hands embarrassingly fast, then again when she worked more of her magic on him in bed. The woman was insatiable. "I'm talking about before that," he said, "before we started this... thing we have going."
Her eyes widened. "You're calling amazing chemistry and mind-blowing sex a thing?"
His mouth tilted at one corner. She was so cute sometimes he could barely stand it. "Mind-blowing?"
She smiled and tipped her glass to finish off the rest of her wine. "Don't be coy. You know you're good."
The laugh he'd been trying to hold back burst free. "You're not so bad yourself. You're also evading the question."
Meg put her glass down and gave him a direct stare. "All right, you want to know the last time I 'slept' with someone?" She made air quotes with her fingers.
Jack wanted to pull her onto his lap and kiss the smirk from her lips. He captured her hand instead. "Now who's being coy?"
He lowered his voice and met her eyes, waiting until he had her full attention. Leaning in close enough that their mouths were almost touching, he said in a husky voice, "I'm talking about fucking, Meg. When was the last time you were well and truly fucked?"
The way her mouth dropped open and her breathing turned all ragged nearly snapped his self-control. Her amusement fled, and she stared down at their joined hands, working her bottom lip with her teeth.
Jack rubbed her silky skin with his thumb and watched a shiver pass over her. He should have felt guilty for encouraging the troubled expression on her face, but he was too turned on to think straight.
She took a slow breath then looked up at him and held his gaze. He should have known that she was about to poleax him. "This afternoon," she said. "No one else has ever made me feel the way you do."
He groaned before he could stop himself. It felt as if she'd just kicked his chair out from under him. Jack tightened his fingers around hers as the hunger inside him grew. "Meg, honey, you make me want to bend you over the table and take you right here."
She pressed her lips to his in a short, sweet kiss. "And you make me want to let you."
They'd barely touched, yet she still had his heart pounding and his erection throbbing in his shorts. He'd never known a woman to have such a physical effect on him with words. It should have triggered his usual need to back off and put some distance between the two of them, but he surprised himself by curving his hand around the back of her neck and drawing her closer.
His mouth met hers and relief travelled through him. The kiss began with slow, soft touches, taking the time to explore rather than arouse. Sighs sounded, tongues caressed--hers tentative at first, his demanding more--until finally she shuddered and surrendered to him, seemingly lost in the sensations.
His elbows rested on the table to keep himself steady, while his palms moved to cradle her face and hold her close. He stroked her cheeks with his thumbs and breathed her in, reveling in the softness of her.
She moaned deep in her throat and moved her hands to his shirt. Her fingers were about to curl into fists when he realized he couldn't keep this up much longer without doing something wholly inappropriate in public.
Jack reluctantly broke the connection, breathing hard as he pulled back to look at her. The fact that she was shaking and barely able to meet his eyes filled him with longing. He couldn't resist giving her another kiss just to fluster her some more. When he separated from her the final time her gaze swept over his features and her tongue darted out to taste her lower lip.
"I like it when you do that," she finally said, her voice still husky.
He gave her the faintest of smiles. "Do what?"
She glanced briefly at his mouth before meeting his eyes again. "Take over like that. It makes me feel like you can't get enough of me, and then I want to tear your clothes off and get you naked all over again."
He couldn't get enough of her. He hadn't been putting on a show to impress her.
