Yours Seductively

Chapter 5.5 (Part 2)

   It was nice to think that maybe, just once, he had managed to rattle her a little.

   "Why, Ty," she said, her voice a shade huskier than usual. "Was that an impulsive action?"

   "I've been known to indulge in them occasionally."

   She slid her fingertips across his mouth. "You should do so more often."

   "Maybe you're right." He pulled her toward him again.

   The second kiss was no less spectacular than the first. Tyler was startled again by his own reactions to it—the rush of heat, the surge of hunger, the ache of need. Maybe he'd managed to be satisfied with a few stolen kisses in the past, but he knew it would never be enough now. Not if he stayed here much longer with Jane curled in his lap, her arms around him, her mouth moving so willingly beneath his.

   Because he allowed his impulse to lead him only so far, he brought the kiss to an end.

   Jane studied his face for a moment, then slid off his lap to sit beside him on the couch. "The coffee's getting cold," she said, her voice as matter-of-fact as if nothing had just occurred between them.

   Tyler dragged his gaze from her moist, kiss-darkened lips. "I think I'll skip the coffee, if you don't mind," he said, trying to imitate her casual attitude. "It's getting late."

   "All right. Thanks for dinner."

   He couldn't tell if she was at all disappointed that he was leaving. Resigned to never knowing exactly what she was thinking, he stood and took a step backward—out of the reach of temptation. "Good night."

   She rose gracefully. "Say hi to the kids for me."

   He nodded, though he didn't plan to say much to his children—especially Tom—about Jane. He still didn't really expect this thing between them to go anywhere, and he didn't want the children's lives to be disrupted again when it ended.

   She walked him to the door and opened it for him. "Good night, Ty."

   Before he could respond, he found himself on the other side of the closed door. Even as he drove away, he knew he would be spending part of the night sitting in his darkened living room, thinking about Jane.

   It bothered him that he didn't know whether he would even cross her mind now that he was out of her sight.