Jackson blinked, then laughed, getting the connection instantly. “Casey Stengel?”
Surprise flickered briefly in her eyes. “I’m impressed that you know the name. Most in our generation don’t.”
Jackson eased into the conversation, realizing he was having a good time. It was more than just her sex appeal, he was enjoying talking to her, too. He couldn’t remember the last time that had happened. “Please. You’re talking to a man who still has truckloads of his old baseball cards carefully tucked away in storage.”
She lifted her drink, put her lips around the straw and sucked. Jackson went hard as stone in an instant. His mouth was dry and his heartbeat thundered in his ears. He wasn’t sure if she was deliberately trying to set him on fire, but whether she was or not, the result was the same.
While he watched, she crossed her legs in a slow slide of skin against skin and one sandaled foot began to swing. One of her hands cupped the bowl of her drink glass while the other stroked the stem, as she’d done before.
Now he was sure she was doing it deliberately. Because her dark blue eyes were fixed on his as if she were measuring his reaction. Well, he’d been playing this kind of game for years. She’d see what he wanted her to see and nothing else.
When she set her drink down, she swept her tongue across her top lip as if searching for any errant drops of liquor. Jackson’s gaze followed the motion and his insides fisted even tighter. Damn, she was good.
“So, Casey,” he asked idly, “what are your plans for the evening?”
“I don’t have any,” she admitted. “You?”
His gaze dropped from her face to her br**sts and back up again. “Nothing special until a few minutes ago. Now, I can think of a few ideas off the top of my head.”
She chewed at her bottom lip as if she were suddenly nervous, but he wasn’t buying it. Her moves were all too smooth. She was far too sure of herself. She’d set out to seduce him and she was doing a hell of a job of it.
Ordinarily, Jackson preferred to be the one making the moves. But tonight, he was willing to make an exception. Mainly because the deed was done and he wanted her more than he wanted to take another breath. “Why don’t you let me buy you dinner at the hotel restaurant? We could get to know each other a little better.”
She smiled, but her heart wasn’t in it. Glancing around, as if to assure herself the two of them were secluded at the shadowy, far end of the bar, she looked back at him and said, “I’m not really in the mood for dinner, thanks.”
“Really?” Intrigued again, he asked, “Then what?”
“Actually, I’ve wanted to kiss you since the moment I first saw you.”
Good. She was going to be as upfront about this as he planned to be. “I’m a big believer in going after what you want.”
“I’ll bet you are,” she murmured.
Her voice sounded breathless and he could feel her tension in the air. A tension he shared. All Jackson could think about was kissing her. Forget dinner. The only taste he wanted in his mouth washer.
Oh, hedefinitely owed Nathan.
“The question,” Jackson said quietly, his gaze linking with hers, daring her to look away, “is whether or notyou believe in doing exactly what you want.”
“Why don’t we find out?” She leaned forward and he met her halfway, more than eager to get a taste of this woman. In mere minutes, she’d driven him to the edge of a raw desire the likes of which he’d never known before.
Their lips met and in that instant, electricity hummed between them. There was no other way to describe it. Jackson felt the burn, the rush, and gave himself up to it. There in the shadows, his mouth moved over hers, his blood practically steaming in his veins.
Her scent—lavender—filled him and clouded his mind. All he could concentrate on was the incredible feel of her mouth on his, even as he told himself to pull back. To not push this too far too fast. This was something he wanted to enjoy. To revel in. And to do that, they’d need somewhere more private than the darkened end of a luxurious bar.
But as he shifted to break the kiss, she reached up, threaded her fingers through his hair and held him in place. Her mouth opened to him, inviting a deeper kiss, even as her fingers pulled hard enough at his hair to pull out several strands.
He jerked back, laughed shortly and said, “Ow.”
She blushed, bit down on her bottom lip and let her hand slide from the back of his head. “Sorry,” she said, her voice a whisper of sound that tugged at his insides. “Guess you bring out the wild in me.”
She was doing the same damn thing to him. Forget dinner. Forget getting to know each other. All he wanted at the moment was her under him. Over him. He’d never desired any woman so desperately as he did this one. And Jackson wasn’t a man to deny himself.
“I like wild,” he said and laid one hand on her knee, his fingertips sliding discreetly beneath the hem of that spectacular dress to touch her bare skin. “How wild are we talking?”
She took a breath, grabbed her clutch purse off the bar and dipped her hand inside as if she were looking for something. Then she snapped the bag closed again, lifted her gaze to his and said, “Um, I think maybe this was a mistake.”
“I think you’re wrong,” he said and smiled to himself as she jumped a little at the touch of his fingertips moving across her thigh. “I think youare feeling a little wild tonight. And I know I am.”
“Jackson…”
“Kiss me again.”
“There are people here,” she reminded him.
“Didn’t bother you a second ago.”
“Does now,” she said.
“Ignore them,” he coaxed. Not usually a man who liked an audience, he couldn’t care less about the sprinkling of people in the bar. He didn’t want to chance her cooling off, coming to her senses. He needed to kiss her again. To remind her what was sizzling between them. Besides, the lighting was so dim, and he and Casey were so far from anyone else, they might as well have been alone anyway. And right now, that was good enough.
Her gaze lifted to his and when he looked into her eyes, he saw her wavering. Good enough. Leaning in close to her again, he kept one hand on her leg, letting his fingers slide higher onto her thigh even as his mouth took hers again.
She inhaled sharply, deeply at the touch of his lips and an instant later, her inhibitions went out the window, just as he’d hoped they would. Her tongue tangled with his and when he leaned in closer, sliding his hand higher, she sighed into his mouth and shivered beneath his touch.