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“Did you want to come in?” she asked, her body ablaze from having put herself out there, opened herself up to rejection, and exposed her soft underbelly.
His throat moved. His lips twisted. His bright green eyes turned … apologetic.
Shit.
Before he could even say anything, she started to backpedal. “Sorry. Never mind. I’m sure you have a girlfriend. I thought … never mind. Thank you for the ride, Jordan. I appreciate it. Merry Christmas. Happy New Year. Drive safe. I’ll see you around.” She shoved the key into the lock and turned it, but didn’t have a chance to open the door before she was flipped back around and her back was pressed to the door.
“Shut up, Rayma,” he said, his growl dark and dangerous and sending flames licking up the inside of her abdomen. The goody-goody cop was nowhere in sight.
She swallowed and blinked up at him.
“I don’t have a girlfriend. I’m also not going to come in. I like you. But if we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it right.”
She went to open her mouth, but he shook his head and she snapped her lips shut.
No man had ever made her stop talking like that. With just a barely discernible head shake.
But something in his green eyes made her want to obey.
“My next full day off is the twenty-eighth. Do you have it off?”
She nodded.
“I’ll take you on a proper date.”
She nodded again and licked her lips, her eyes falling to his mouth and the way it moved when he spoke.
“Give me your phone.”
Like her neck was made of springs, she just continued to nod, but did as she was told and grabbed her phone from her coat pocket. She unlocked it and handed it to him.
Still bracketing her against the door with his frame—a frame she somehow hadn’t realized was so big—he used his right hand to punch his number into her contacts and send himself a text message. “Now we have each other’s numbers. I will call you tomorrow. Not text, but call.”
“Okay,” she breathed, more aroused than ever.
“It was nice meeting you, Rayma. Obviously, this was a set-up, by Joy, right?” Her eyes were still focused on his mouth and the way the lips tipped up on one side ever so slightly. “Hmm?”
Her eyes flipped up to his. “Sorry? What?”
That half-hitched grin turned into a blinding smile, a blinding smile with a splash of cockiness. “This was a set-up, right?”
She nodded for the millionth time. “Absolutely. Joy is tired of seeing me with idiots and bad boys.”
“Right. So who better than the law-abiding rookie cop for her precious Rayma?”
The way he said precious Rayma sent something hot and sharp through her spine and she straightened her back and narrowed her eyes at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
He shook his head, seemingly unaffected by her change of attitude. “You’re the youngest, the only one unattached, and the way they allprotectyou says that you’re precious to all of them. Or … there’s another reason they’re all protective of you.”
“That’s tenth date information,” she said, tossing some steel into her voice as heat infused her cheeks. There was a reason her sister Pasha and the rest of the Hart family were so protective of Rayma, but she wasn’t about to divulge that information to a complete stranger. Particularly when they both still had their clothes on.
He smiled. “Well, I look forward to hearing about it on our tenth date.”
“And I look forward to hearing all your dark secrets and what makes you tick on our tenth date, too.” She flashed him a cheesy smile, but it dropped off her lips like a stone in a pond when something quick and dark passed behind his eyes again.
Unease made an icy trail down her spine, but she dismissed it or at least tried to when he tossed back his own grin, and shoved away from her, finally giving her some much-needed breathing room. He stepped off her welcome mat and onto the pavers that made up her small patio.
“Gotta make it through dates one to nine first, though, right?” she retorted, determined to lighten the mood again, and appreciative for the space between them and how it gave her the clarity she needed to find her spark and outspokenness again. When his body was that close to hers, his heat, his scent, and his warm breath on her cheek muddied her head until it was thick like pea soup. She hadn’t been able to think clearly, let alone come up with any witty rebuttals.
