She lifted her chin. ‘I don’t need help, but thanks for the offer.’
He stood aside to let her pass. ‘From where I’m standing, Brooke, it looks as though you need all the help you can get.’
She reached the bottom of the stairs and turned to face him, her eyes blazing. ‘If you’ve finished what you came to say, you can go now.’
He shook his head and closed the distance between them, his powerful frame dominating her narrow hallway.
‘I haven’t even started.’
Brooke swallowed. ‘We have nothing to say to each other, Jed—’
‘I’ve got plenty to say. I want to know why you left me that night.’ He was standing so close to her that she could hardly breathe. She felt smothered, totally surrounded by his male presence.
‘I don’t know what you mean—I’ve already told you it wasn’t me.’
He swore softly and a muscle worked in his lean jaw. ‘So we’re back to the glass-slipper routine, are we? All right, then let’s see if it fits.’
His strong hands slid into her hair and held her face firmly while his mouth came down on hers.
CHAPTER THREE
JED’S kiss.
The demands of his mouth sent a wicked thrill surging through Brooke’s body, and she forgot everything except how this man could make her feel.
It had been six years.
Six years since that incredible night, but nothing had changed between them. His kiss still had the power to control her. To cloud her head with wild excitement. To make her want what she couldn’t have.
With devastating precision his mouth seduced hers, rough and yet not hurting her, an all-consuming act of male possession stirring her senses until her head swam.
Jed’s kiss.
Jed’s kiss was the reason she’d acted out of character that night. His kiss had made her discover a part of herself that she hadn’t known was there, and his kiss was the reason she’d run from him.
Drugged by the touch of his mouth, she murmured a protest as he lifted his dark head and would have lost her balance if he hadn’t steadied her.
He still held her face, forcing her to meet his gaze.
‘Well, Cinderella…’ His voice was deep and husky. ‘I’d say the slipper fits perfectly. Wouldn’t you?’
She closed her eyes, hating her weakness and her reaction to him. Why did it have to be this way? Never before and never since had any man made her feel the way he did.
She swallowed hard and opened her eyes. ‘Jed—’
‘Scary, isn’t it?’ He was looking at her with total comprehension. ‘What happens between us is so powerful it’s scary.’
‘You’re just a good kisser.’ Her voice shook as she tried to casually dismiss what had happened between them.
‘You think so?’ He smiled and his eyes teased her gently. ‘You think that happens with every woman I kiss?’
She blushed. ‘Well, yes—why shouldn’t it?’
‘Are you really still that innocent?’ His voice was soft and he gave a sigh and pulled her against him, running his hands up her back. ‘It isn’t anything I do, Brooke. It’s us. Something we create together. What happens between you and me is like a miracle, and I can assure you I’ve never felt it with a single other woman.’
She stared at him, her heart thumping. She had to ask—had to know. ‘Are you married?’
‘Married?’ He looked stunned by the question and then lifted a brow, a smile playing around his firm mouth. ‘You think I could kiss a woman like that if I was married to someone else? Ouch.’