“Christ, woman, you scared the crap out of me.”
She only crossed her arms and spoke in a slow, terse tone. “Why are you standing out here? Are you spying on me?”
He rubbed his chin. “Why is it that I always feel as if I’m being chastised by my mother when I’m around you?”
“You need chastising, Mr. Jennings.” When he began to explain that he’d merely missed her and had wanted to see if she was feeling better, she interrupted him with an imperious hand in the air.
“You’re standing in the dark, staring at my apartment window. Some people would consider that sort of thing creepy.”
“Don’t be so full of yourself, sunshine. I’m not stalking you.” He chuckled. “You texted me, remember?”
“I said you could come over,” she replied. “I don’t remember saying anything about creeping around in the dark.”
He looked her up and down, purposely perusing her figure in a slow, calculated way. Today she wore a pair of jeans. Tight jeans. He could see every supple curve of her hips and ass. “I’m not creeping around in the dark. I was just thinking about some things. People do that, you know?”
Jeanette was beyond glad to see him, and that irked her. The velvety tone of his voice floated over her like a caress, and that irked her even more. “Oh, is that so?”
He angled his head and came within an inch of her face and said, “Yeah, that’s so.”
She had the most insane urge to slap his smug grin, but she decided he needed a good dose of his own medicine. So she changed tactics. All at once, she closed the distance between them, then wound her arms around his neck. “So, your reasons were completely innocent?” His cool green eyes darkened. Jeanette went up on her toes and planted a kiss on his mouth. She put everything she had into it, touching with her tongue, nipping with her teeth. When she felt his arms slowly gliding around her waist and pulling her in against the hard length of his body, Jeanette knew she had him. Trouble was, he had her too.
Oh man, he tasted good. No woman could kiss a mouth like his and walk away with her mind in one piece. But when she felt his hands skimming over the swell of her bottom, she knew she had to put a stop to things before they got carried away.
Pulling back the slightest but still close enough to feel his heavy breathing against her wet, swollen lips, Jeanette murmured, “Innocent, right.”
She stepped out of his arms and hurried to go, but came up short when his arm wrapped around her waist. “You don’t get off that easily, sunshine. You started something here tonight, and there will come a day when you’ll finish it. Eagerly,” he growled.
His voice was gravelly, as if he were as turned on as she was. River might be annoyed with her, but the deep timbre gave away how much she’d affected him with the kiss. She turned around, agonizingly aware of his close proximity. “Yes, I did start something, but one of us has to. Might as well be me.”
He loosened his hold but still managed to keep her from bolting. His mouth crooked up at the corners. “You shouldn’t tease a man that way. It could lead to trouble.”
She reached up and gently removed his hand from her hair. “I can honestly say I don’t have a habit of kissing and running.”
“I know beyond a doubt that you’ve probably only kissed a handful of men your whole life. Am I right?”
His voice was gentle. He wasn’t making fun of her, but she felt like she’d been slapped all the same. Had the kiss been that awful?
Her back went ramrod stiff. “That’s none of your business. And now I’m tired. You might as well go home.” Again she turned to walk away, but she didn’t get more than a step before tripping over the curb and tumbling forward. She lost her footing and twisted her ankle. She cried out, and suddenly River’s strong arms were catching her. If he’d been any slower, she’d have landed on her ass. Lovely.
He caught her up and cradled her in his arms. “See what happens when you try to run from me? Never a good idea.”
Jeanette buried her face in his shirt. “I feel ridiculous.” She squirmed. “Please, I can walk just fine.”
He kept his hold on her and crossed the sidewalk to her apartment. “Are you hurt?” River asked, as he glanced down at her.
“Only my pride,” she muttered.
“Where’s your key?”
She slumped against him, too tired to do anything else. She fished around in her pants pocket and came out with a ring of keys. She turned them over to him with her door key facing up.
River took them and unlocked the door, then flipped on the light. “Why don’t you have an alarm on this place?”
That amused her
. “An alarm? Why? There isn’t anything here to steal.”
“I was thinking of your safety, silly.” He looked around. “Jeez, this place is a wreck. Don’t you ever clean?”