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Could she? Why did she have so much trouble mustering up the energy to pine after him these days? And why was it so hard to produce a picture of him in her head?
Jane swallowed the sudden dryness in her mouth. “You just want to be around here all the time so you can keep me from writing another book that might ruin your sex life again.”
He smiled. “There’s that, too.”
Jane squirmed out of his grasp and tried to laugh off the situation, but she couldn’t shake the sick feeling in her gut. She didn’t want Luke to get emotionally involved, if she wasn’t willing to do the same. And yet she felt a tug deep inside herself to go wherever their attraction took them.
It was just the sexual attraction muddling her thoughts. That was all.
“So, I guess you’ll need to go home and get some of your belongings or something? How does this twenty-four-hour bodyguard thing work, anyway?”
Luke shrugged. “However we want it to work. I’ve already got the bags out in the car.”
“You didn’t know if I was going to say yes.”
“I figured I’d do whatever it took to convince you.” He loomed over her, and then he reached out to slide one hand along her jawline. “I have my methods of persuasion.”
Oh, yes, he did. Her body came alive with liquid sensation at the look in his eyes. She forgot everything except the fact of his body, and hers, so close together.
Luke slid his hand lower and cupped her breast, let his thumb tease her erect nipple. Jane felt herself instinctively arching her back, and she did a mental headshake.
This was all wrong.
It took every ounce of her willpower to place her hand over his and move it away from her breast.
“Believe me, I know all about your methods of persuasion,” she said, her voice strained.
“But you’ve become immune?”
If only. Jane slipped out of Luke’s grasp and put some distance between them.
“Maybe.”
“I guess I’ll grab my suitcase then.”
Once he was out the front door, tension drained from Jane’s shoulders. She’d barely survived five minutes trying to resist Luke. How could she possibly resist him for days or weeks? She paced across the living room, chewing her thumbnail. She had to think of something fast. Something that would get to him, that would appeal to his sense of…duty. Yes, above all else, she sensed, Luke really did want to keep her safe.
And that thought made her insides melt all over again. Having a guy like Luke feel so strongly about her safety gave her a ridiculously giddy feeling. But he was simply doing his duty, she reminded herself. Doing what he was being paid to do, what it was every good bodyguard’s job to do.
And if Luke thought it would distract him from his job to pursue their sexual attraction any further, then she was pretty sure he’d be willing to put the brakes on. That, she suspected, was the key.
Luke reappeared in her doorway carrying a black suitcase and a black leather overnight bag. And the question suddenly arose in her head—where to put his stuff?
“Um, I guess you can put your things…in my bedroom.”
“I could store them in your office, if that would make you more comfortable.”
“No! I mean, I use that space to work, and if it’s disrupted in any way, I tend to get a little cranky.”
He raised an eyebrow. “A suitcase would make you cranky?”
“Don’t ask. It’s a creativity thing.”
“Okay, so I’ll use the bedroom.” And he took off down the hallway, headed for her private space.
Jane wondered if she should offer to clear out a few drawers. An image of his Jockeys mingling with her intimates popped into her head, and she banished it before her traitorous thoughts could turn erotic. She should, at the very least, clear out some room in the closet, so she hurried down the hallway after him.
“I’ll make some space for you in the closet,” she said.
He was unzipping his suitcase on the bed. “You don’t have to.”
Jane went to the closet and began pushing aside clothes. “I forgot to clear out a drawer, but I can—” She didn’t get to finish the sentence, because when she turned back to Luke, she found the solid wall of his chest.
He grasped her by the waist. “Are you going to let me move into your bed, too?”
Jane took a deep breath—through her mouth, to avoid inhaling his intoxicating scent.
Now. She had to lay down the ground rules pronto.
“Luke, if you’re going to be living here, we have to stop this.”
“Stop what?”
“This sexual thing between us. It’s going to get out of control if we don’t stop it now—and how will you do your job properly if you’re constantly distracted by some sexual attraction?”
