For the life of him he couldn’t understand this unusual brand of sexual chemistry. It wasn’t as if he didn’t come into contact with beautiful women. He’d once dated a former Miss Georgia for heaven’s sakes. So what was there about Dana Rollins that had him counting the minutes, the seconds before he would see her again?
He hated admitting it, but the women he’d dated in the past were usually self-centered, aggressive and accustomed to getting their own way. But not Dana. She was strong-willed, but although he had witnessed her explosive temper the first day they’d met, he knew she was a kind person. She had cared enough about his mother’s welfare to go along with his outrageous proposal of a fake engagement.
And speaking of his mother, Sarah Westmoreland definitely liked Dana. Yesterday she had gone so far as to suggest they have a short engagement and a June wedding. He had immediately burst a hole in her bubble by letting her know that was out of the question. But still, seeing the look of happiness on his mother’s face made him realize that no matter what, this pretense of an engagement with Dana was worth it.
Jared rubbed the top of his head as he remembered his conversation with Dare last night. He’d meant what he told his cousin. Nothing, and he meant nothing, would develop between him and Dana, no matter how attracted he was to her. It wouldn’t be the first time he was attracted to a woman and it wouldn’t be the last.
His meeting with Sylvester had reaffirmed his conviction that marriage wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be and he intended to enjoy his remaining days on this earth as a single man.
Whatever pep talk he’d given himself an hour earlier stood on shaky ground when lust took control of his body. A jolt of sexual awareness raced up his spine when he pulled up and saw Dana standing in front of her office building.
She was the model of professionalism with her upswept hairdo and two-piece navy-blue powerhouse suit. Her knee-length skirt was longer than the one she’d been wearing yesterday, thank goodness. He wasn’t sure he’d been able to resist putting his hands on her bare thighs again.
She opened the car door and slipped inside. “Hi, Jared.”
He swallowed. The air was suddenly charged with sexual energy. “Dana.”
He watched as she snapped her seat belt in place and tried not to notice how her skirt inched up a little, exposing those thighs and long, shapely legs he had dreamed about. He breathed in the scent of her, a womanly fragrance that was just another sexy detail for his fantasies.
“Were you waiting long?” he asked, adjusting his sunglasses and trying to control the rapid beat of his pulse.
She smiled as she pressed back against the car’s leather interior, unintentionally showing more leg and thigh. His heartbeat raced right along with his pulse. “No, I walked out a few minutes ago. Your timing was excellent.”
His grip tightened on the steering wheel as he eased into traffic. There were cars everywhere, and he needed to focus on his driving and not on how firm Dana’s breasts looked against her blouse. And heaven forbid he thought about her mouth and how it had parted under his yesterday, inviting him to deepen their kiss.
“Were you able to get the ring?”
He allowed his gaze to travel over to her when he came to a traffic light. “No. They had already sold it so I had to buy another one.” He watched as that sexy mouth twisted into a frown.
“What will we tell your family?”
“That I liked this one better.” Jared sighed deeply. That was the truth. He still didn’t understand why it bothered him to see Cord’s ring on her finger. Probably because he knew the whole story and felt she’d deserved better.
He glanced over at her again and watched as she pursed those same sexy lips and saw the frown lines appear between her prettily arched eyebrows. “It’s going to have to sound convincing when you tell them that,” she said.
He chuckled as he shifted his gaze from her to stare straight ahead. “I’m an attorney, remember. My job is to be able to convince people.”
A grin spread over her face. “Yes, you’re right. Sorry, I forgot.” She was quiet for a few moments then said, “It was for the best anyway.”
He lifted a brow. “What was?”
“Getting a different ring. That article in the newspaper this morning has my office buzzing and of course everyone wanted to see my ring. It didn’t occur to me that had I kept Luther’s ring they would have remembered it.”
Jared blew out a breath. That hadn’t occurred to him, either. “What did you tell them?”
“That it was being sized.”
He nodded. “Sorry you were put in a sticky situation like that.”
She shrugged. “No problem. I just hadn’t expected that announcement to appear in the papers. I thought I only had to pretend this engagement for your family, not all Atlanta.”
“Will that cause you problems?” he asked, seeing how deep the extent of their deceit was going.
“No, not as long as it doesn’t cause you any problems.”
Jared’s forehead furrowed in confusion. “What kind of problems?” The car came to a stop at another traffic light and he glanced over at her.
“Your livelihood. You’re one of Atlanta’s most eligible bachelors. Being engaged takes you off the market for a while.”
One corner of his mouth curved slightly. Being engaged would definitely change his life, but only temporarily. “Umm, I guess it does, but only for a short while.” He held her gaze, studied it, looking for something, anything that would indicate she wished otherwise.
He let out a slow breath when he didn’t see anything. He was glad that she understood that nothing could and would develop between them. Those hot and heavy kisses hadn’t meant a thing and he didn’t want her to get lust confused with love. Not that he thought that she would. But still, he had to be certain they were on the same page.
Their engagement was a game and nothing more.
Dana was very much aware of the man who sat across from her in the exclusive restaurant, and had been since he had picked her up for lunch. The twenty-minute ride had been taxing when all she could do was remember what Cybil had asked about their physical relationship.
The thought that Jared might expect them to become intimate was confusing and something she knew they should discuss. But she hadn’t been able to bring it up. During the drive they had talked about several things but had played it safe and avoided mentioning their engagement. Instead they had discussed the weather, the new movies that had come out over the Easter weekend and Georgia’s recent elections.
She wasn’t surprised to learn that he lived in Country Club of the South, an affluent subdivision in North Atlanta, in the suburbs of Alpharetta. The houses were priced in the millions and a number of celebrities and sport entertainers lived there.
“You’re quiet.”
Dana glanced up and met Jared’s dark gaze. He had been watching her. Something flickered in the depths of those eyes that made her catch her breath, made something unbearably hot flow through her veins. She picked up her coffee cup to break eye contact. Cybil had warned her not to get in too deep and she had assured her friend that she wouldn’t. When she said it she had been sure, confident, but now all that assuredness was skating on thin ice. Jared Westmoreland was not a man to take lightly. He had made it clear in the car that their arrangement was temporary. She was smart enough to read between the lines. He’d been letting her know that he was not a man to whom any woman should give her heart. “Umm, I was just thinking about things,” she finally said.
“Are you thinking of changing your mind about this?” he asked quietly.
She looked up and met his gaze again. Although she couldn’t read his expression she really didn’t have to. She knew how much keeping his mother happy meant to him and she couldn’t help but admire the lengths he would go to for her. “No, I’m not, but there’s something I think we do need to discuss,” she said softly.
He nodded. “All right. What would you like to talk about?”
Dana sighed deeply. Even now she felt it, the hot, sultry passion that radiated between them, that was always there whenever they were together. It was that passion, the sexual chemistry, the strong attraction that let her know she was walking on dangerous ground with him.
“Our kisses,” she said, almost in a whisper. But the sudden intensity of his expression let her know he had heard her.
“Our kisses?”
She looked down at her coffee cup again when she saw the desire that darkened his eyes. After pulling in a deep breath she met his eyes again. “Yes.”
He tilted his head at an angle that seemed to make his gaze focus in on her. Only on her. “What about our kisses, Dana?”
Her palms were beginning to feel sweaty and her insides felt like molten liquid with his question. She wished she could respond by stating that she wanted more of them, but knew that would definitely be a wrong answer. She could barely handle the ones she had gotten so far.
She cleared her throat. “I—I don’t want them to lead to other things.”
He stared at her a moment then asked, “Does your definition of other things include what you and Cord never got around to doing?”