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She blushed and stared out the window. Finally she looked back over at him to find his expression neutral. “Just for tonight, for old times’ sake?”
He looked out at the parking lot, and in the silence, Jane’s nausea returned. He had every right to say no, but she’d be crushed if he did.
“Okay,” he finally said. “I’ll come home with you tonight.”
13
Sex should be the physical evidence of love that exists between two people, not a pop quiz that determines whether you’ll go on a second date with him.
—Jane Langston, from Chapter Eight of The Sex Factor
IT TOOK ALL of Luke’s willpower not to tell Michael the truth or escort Brad out of the building and beat him senseless in the parking lot. He held it all in only because he’d told Jane he would do so, at least until morning.
By the time they made it back into the restaurant, Heather had told everyone she’d heard Jane getting sick in the rest room, and that she wasn’t feeling well. It turned out to be the perfect lie for the occasion, causing everyone to leave Jane alone, and allowing her to slip out of the rehearsal dinner early. Luke begged off attending the bachelor party, claiming he wanted to follow Jane home and make sure she got settled in okay.
So what if everyone mistook him for the doting boyfriend? Under different circumstances, that’s what he might have been. He didn’t entertain any more illusions that Jane would ever want a relationship with him, but at least he’d given it his best try. And tonight, for whatever it was worth, had the feel of an ending—a long, drawn-out goodbye. She was inviting him to bed one last time, and he was powerless to turn her down.
As he followed her back to her place, he steeled himself for the inevitable and vowed to put any goodbyes out of his head until tomorrow. He tried not to worry about Jane’s physical safety, resistant as she was to any more of his professional help. He’d done as much as he could in the past month, anyway. Regardless of the fact that she’d relieved him of his duties as her bodyguard, he’d still conducted random surveillance of her house, without ever seeing anything suspicious. And he’d checked up on her as discreetly as he could to make sure she was okay.
The past month apart from Jane had been a long, slow form of torture. He’d forced himself not to call or make any kind of direct contact with her. After the way she’d said goodbye to him, as if they had nothing more than a business relationship, he could only wait and see if she came to her senses. Obviously, she hadn’t, but he had one last night to show her why they were meant to be together.
Tonight, he wanted to think only about the two of them, and like Pavlov’s dogs, his body responded instantly to the pleasures that awaited when he imagined a night in Jane’s bed…or on her floor, or in her bathtub.
When they pulled into her driveway, Luke parked behind Jane, and his pulse began to race. By the time they were at her front door, his entire body pulsed with anticipation. Jane said nothing as she let him into the house and closed the door behind them.
They stood in the darkness, and Luke understood by the way she made no move to turn on the lights that she didn’t intend to waste any time with small talk. Her face, illuminated by the porch light outside the foyer window, was a calm mask hiding what he suspected was a torrent of emotions.
He had no intention of just doing a wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am. There were things that needed to be said. If she wanted to say goodbye, she needed to understand what she’d be leaving behind—what she’d be missing out on.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked.
“Yes. Are you?”
“I wouldn’t be here if I weren’t sure.”
She lifted up her dress and tugged it over her head, then let it drop to the floor. Luke watched, mesmerized, as she removed her bra, then her heels and panty hose, and finally her panties. She stood before him naked, as tempting as ever.
He reached out to touch her, but she dodged his hand.
“No, no,” she chided. “Tonight, I call the shots. You’re not my bodyguard anymore, so I don’t have to do as you say.”
A little smile betrayed her act, but Luke was more than willing to play along.
“Hmm, I do whatever you say?”
“That’s right.”
“You’re not going to tell me to do anything scandalous, are you?”
“I’m afraid so. Will that be a problem?”
Luke pretended to give the question some thought. “I think I can deal with scandalous.”
“Good, then come with me to the kitchen.”
“The kitchen?”
“I’m hungry. I was too upset to eat at the restaurant.”
