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He smiled, and the corners of his eyes crinkled slightly. “They’re big boys,” he said with a chuckle. “I think they can figure it out for themselves, don’t you?”
Another round of raucous male laughter drifted toward them. Her mind took a definite left turn down a treacherous path as she imagined exactly what had been so uproariously funny. To her dismay, she felt heat creep up her neck and settle in her cheeks. “Yes, I imagine they can.”
Oh yes. She most definitely could imagine what they’d said, and couldn’t help the wave of embarrassment rising to the surface and nearly strangling her with dread. Dare or no dare, she couldn’t go through with it.
She inched toward the edge of the booth, preparing to make her escape before she humiliated herself further. “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea,” she said, trying to keep the edge of panic from her voice. “I’m sorry.”
“Wait!” The urgent tone of his voice stopped her, but he still reached over the table and grabbed her arm before she slipped away.
“Don’t go,” he said, gentling his tone as he released her. “It’s okay. You don’t normally do this sort of thing, do you?”
She wanted to ignore the sparks skittering along the surface of her skin from his touch, but failed miserably. Her insides tingled, too, with acute awareness. When was the last time something like that had happened to her? Not in recent memory, of that she was dead certain.
“You mean pick up men in bars?” The laugh she managed sounded more caustic than casual, but she slid back to the center of the booth anyway. Apparently women were as ruled by their hormones as men were. “That obvious, huh?”
“A little,” he said with a confirming nod and a smile that reached his eyes, yet failed to chase away the shadows she suddenly sensed lurking there. “So why did you?”
A waitress appeared to take their order. Since Jana had bucked tradition enough for one night, she decided on a safe glass of chardonnay. “A dare,” she said, once Ben placed his order for a beer.
He settled back against the imitation leather booth. The laugh lines bracketing his eyes deepened, as did his smile. “A dare?”
“Yes,” she admitted sheepishly. “A triple, double-dog dare.”
His robust laughter salved her badly dented pride. “I haven’t heard that one since I was a kid.”
“Yes, well, no one ever said grown women had to behave rationally or exhibit maturity at all times.”
“That’s still tough, though, even at the ripe old age of…”
“Twenty-seven,” she told him, wishing she had as smooth a method for him to reveal his age. She figured he couldn’t be much older than thirty-two or three.
He leaned forward and folded his arms on the table-top, the smile still lingering on his handsome face. “Everybody knows you can’t back off from a triple, double-dog dare.”
“Exactly,” she said, relaxing somewhat. “Chloe and Lauren weren’t playing fair, but I had no choice.”
“Of course you didn’t. Your reputation was under fire.”
Jana reached into her purse for her wallet when their drink order arrived. “I’m so relieved you understand,” she said, paying the waitress.
He waited until they were alone, then asked, “Why did your friends feel they had to resort to such drastic measures?”
Because she’d found him incredibly attractive, and if her friends hadn’t dared her, she never would’ve approached him. Because now that Lauren and Chloe knew the truth, they’d stop at nothing to see she became one of the sexually enlightened. Because she really did want to see the size of his hands for herself.
“Ah, now if I told you that,” she hedged, “then I’d be putting the feminine mystique in jeopardy.”
“Risk it.”
Those two words, combined with the pure male interest in his magnetic gaze, had the power to send her into sensory overload, effectively obliterating her common sense in the process. “We were discussing orgasms.”
“I’m intrigued,” he said slowly. The deep, rich, velvety smooth tone of his voice made her think of whispered words lovers shared after midnight. Sated lovers.
She wished.
“I suppose now I have to explain why we were discussing orgasms?” From this day forward, nothing but a single glass of house wine—preferably white and boring—will ever pass my lips.
He shrugged his big, wide shoulders, and Jana reached for her wineglass, reminding herself not to gulp the contents. “I really should’ve ordered coffee.” She drained a third of her glass in one swallow. Forget name, rank and serial number. If she had the keys to Fort Knox, she’d hand them over.
“Because I’ve never had one,” she admitted, and she didn’t even blush.
Much.
Ben nearly choked on his beer. He stared at her long and hard, struggling to comprehend her outrageous statement. “You’re a virgin?”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” she blurted. “No. I’ve just never…” She shrugged. “You know.”
Heaven help him, he still couldn’t believe what he’d just heard. In fact, he couldn’t believe she’d told him something so intensely personal. He had a million questions, but only one managed to get past his shocked-to-the-core mind. “Why not?”
She let out a sigh. “If I had the answer to that, then we probably wouldn’t be sitting here because there’d have been no need for Chloe and Lauren to issue that stupid dare.”
“Can I ask exactly what this dare consisted of?” An endless stream of sensual possibilities swamped him, all of which concluded with him, Jana, tangled sheets and bodies glistening from exertion—sexual exertion.
Her big green eyes widened. “Oh! No. Not that,” she said quickly. “Your virtue is perfectly safe with me.”
Disappointment nudged him. Especially with that tangled-sheet fantasy still going strong.
“So. Ben.” She made a huge production out of folding her napkin into a small triangular shape. “What is it you do for a living?”
“I think I’d rather hear you talk about orgasms.”
She reached for her wine, her slender fingers wrapping around the tall, slim glass.
He shifted in his seat.
“That does appear to be the hot topic tonight, doesn’t it?” she mused.
“It could be a very hot topic.” The only thing more dangerous than lust was ego, and both of his had just redlined.
Her eyes took on a sassy glint and she raked her nails over the damp napkin she’d been folding, shredding it.
He swallowed. Hard.
“Read any good books lately?” she asked him.
“You’re changing the subject.”
“I’m trying to,” she said, then let out another sigh. “You never did tell me what you did for a living.”
He slipped his hand over hers, settling his fingers over her wrist. The rapid cadence of her pulse was a huge turn-on, not that he had far to go in that department. The night suddenly held a wealth of possibilities, and not a single one of them included him returning to his place alone for the night. He was starting to understand why people needed to reaffirm life in the face of tragedy. Maybe, for once, he could forget about being the responsible one, the one always in charge. Maybe Jana could help him forget.
“Let’s not talk résumés when there are so many other interesting subjects up for discussion. Like that orgasm you’ve never had, for instance.”
“Ooh,” she practically purred. “I bet you’re great at seducing women. Do you seduce a lot of women, Ben?”
He detected a hint of apprehension in her voice and understood the import of her question. “No,” he told her honestly. He’d never been accused of being a player. In fact, just the opposite. “Not a lot.”
The tip of her tongue slid across her bottom lip. His libido spiked.
She dropped her gaze and slowly twisted their hands until his was cradled, palm up in hers. She traced the tip of her finger over his ring finger as if feeling for an impression. She continued her inspection of his hand, spanning the length with her fingertips. A sultry smile curved her mouth. “Very impressive,” she said, her voice a low, throaty whisper.
Drawing his next breath took a concentrated effort. When she lifted her gaze to his, his heart stuttered dangerously at the desire he detected in her gaze. One word from Jana was all it would take for him to open the door to a night of incredible pleasure. A night he wouldn’t have to spend alone with his own miserable hide for company.
One word.
“Ben? Let’s talk orgasms.”
She’d just said the magic word.
3
“WHAT WOULD YOU like to know?”
Can you make the earth move?
Got any fireworks in your pocket?
Pertinent questions, Jana thought. At least in her painfully uninformed opinion. Darned appropriate, too, considering the sparks still skimming along the surface of her skin.
Risk it. Those two words held more meaning for her than Ben could possibly know.
“Well…” She drew in a deep breath, gathering more courage. “Are orgasms really everything everyone says they are?”
She hardly thought it possible to surprise him more than she already had with her earlier admission, but obviously the feminine mystique was hardly in danger. Not if she used the distinct hike of his eyebrows and the curiosity filling his pale-blue eyes as a barometer.
He took a long, slow drink from the amber bottle of beer clutched in his hand. “You seriously don’t know?” he finally asked. A dark lock fell across his forehead and he rammed his fingers through his hair to push it back in place. His hand stilled at the back of his neck a moment before dropping to the table.
She shook her head and twirled the stem of her wineglass. “Nope.”
“Not close?” His long fingers flexed, tightening around the bottle. “Not even once?”
Did he have to sound so shocked? “Well…” She considered her answer for a moment. “Maybe. Once.” She shook her head. “No. On second thought, I don’t think it was the real thing.”
He stared at her with that intense, icy gaze, as if she’d just spoken in a foreign language.
“You don’t think?” He laughed. Full, robust laughter that made her smile despite the difficulty she was having discussing her malfunctioning G-spot. “This I do have to hear.”
She held up her index finger and gave him a look of mock sternness. “Hold it a minute. I thought I was the one supposed to be asking the questions here?”
His grin deepened. “Yeah, but your answers to mine are very interesting.”
“More like embarrassing,” she muttered, then took a sip of her wine.
His expression sobered. “Don’t be embarrassed, Jana. Inexperience is nothing to be ashamed of.”
She set her glass on the damp napkin. “I never said I was inexperienced. There’s a difference.”
“Not if you’ve never had an orgasm,” he said as he leaned forward. “Your lovers must’ve been damned selfish.”
She cleared her throat. A sharp stab of self-consciousness pierced her, then she quickly chastised herself for being so silly. Ben was absolutely right. Why should she be embarrassed by their conversation or because she’d had lousy lovers? Tonight, she could say or do anything. It wasn’t as if she’d ever see him again.
“You must find this all very entertaining,” she said.
The color of his eyes deepened to the color of the ocean. “I have a feeling you’d be a very entertaining woman.”
The air practically crackled with electricity around them at his quietly spoken words. She felt a sharp tug of desire in her abdomen. “I was thinking the same thing,” she said brazenly, unable to look away. “About you.”
Oh, good grief, why not just write Take Me Now, Stud on her forehead in bright red lipstick? It’d certainly be direct, but nowhere near as fun and liberating as flirting so outrageously with such a gorgeous hunk.
A slow, lazy smile curved his mouth. He had such a great-looking mouth, too, with a full bottom lip she was dying to taste.
Her breath caught, then came out in a rush. If just the thought of kissing him nearly stole her breath, she couldn’t wait to see what would happen if she tried to cure her orgasm problem.
“You’re evading the subject again,” he teased. “Tell me how close you’ve been to having an orgasm.”
What she wanted was to tell him exactly how close she’d like to get with him. Past the clouds. Over the moon. Fireworks, bursting stars, the whole enchilada.
Or so she’d heard.
“Jana?” he prompted.
“I felt…” The tempting quirk of his lips combined with the husky note in his voice snatched her breath again, halting her capacity for rational thought. “Tingly,” she finally blurted.
“Tingly.” He repeated the word slowly, as if absorbing it with care. “Just tingly?”
She nodded. “Just tingly.”
He cleared his throat, then shifted slightly in the booth, leaning forward to brace those drool-worthy forearms on the lacquered table. “Anywhere in particular?”
Moon, stars and fireworks fizzled like an interrupted daydream when her cheeks heated as if she were a teenage virgin. “Now there you go again,” she chastised him. “Asking me to reveal the secrets of being a woman.”
He reached across the table, peeling her fingers from the stem of the wineglass one by one. Gently, he lifted her hand to his mouth and brushed his lips across the inside of her wrist. Awareness skittered across her skin as he lightly feathered his tongue against her pulse before releasing her.
“That kind of tingly?” he asked in a voice reserved for lovers.
A jolt of electricity shot to the tips of her breasts and sizzled, warming her entire body with the heat of immediate arousal. Exactly who was seducing whom here? Forget his B.V.D.s. Her suddenly moist panties were close to becoming history.
She cleared her throat. “Those were some pretty high-grade tingles.”
“So was I close?”
