She’s not that kind of girl!

Veterinarian Jess Alexander doesn’t have one-night stands with the best man at a coworker’s wedding. But thirtysomething divorcée Jess is definitely in a rut that a night of reckless passion with a younger man just might break. And what better candidate than criminally good-looking Sean Paterson?

Being with Sean is exhilarating. But where could this relationship possibly go? Expecting anything more than a good time from Sean is a one-way ticket to heartbreak. Against her better judgment, Jess can’t walk away from whatever this is…not yet.

“You want to go on a date?”

“Sure, why not?” Sean gave Jess a gentle shove on the arm. “I get company and you get a chance to remember what it’s like to be dating. Kind of a practice run. Courage, remember, Jess?”

“Oh, well, but…I couldn’t…” she stumbled. Her fingers went to her mouth and she bit a fingernail before seeming to realize what she was doing and clasping her hands firmly in her lap.

“Come on, what are you scared of?”

“I’m not scared.”

Suddenly, Sean saw his chance. “Bo-oo-ok, bok, bok.” He did his best chicken imitation, complete with flapping elbows.

Jess rolled her eyes in an expression he was now familiar with.

“I’m not scared,” she repeated.

Sean did a few more “boks” for good measure.

She shook her head and smiled. “You’re being stupid.”

“I’m not the only one.”

Dear Reader,

I hope you enjoy reading this book half as much I enjoyed writing it! There was so much fun research involved.

To start with, a very friendly and helpful neighborhood vet kindly assisted me with some of the veterinary details to help me make Jess’s world feel real. As did many of my dog-loving friends, who took delight in sharing their pets’ tales of misadventure. I have to say researching the world of injured dogs and dog shelters was less fun (and occasionally tear-inducing), but there were many positive, wonderful happy endings there, too.

Building Sean’s world was a little like stepping into a parallel dimension—one I’m very glad to have discovered. It wasn’t exactly hard work, going to conventions and playing on Twitter to see how Sean might interact with his fans and build his following. And once again I met some lovely people, willing to share their passions and experiences. But I do have to admit, it wasn’t like I really needed to do much research: I’ve soaked up plenty of fan-style experience in my years as an eager fan girl of all sorts of things from pop music to TV shows. It’s great fun being a fan of something and part of the community it generates.

Jess and Sean are at very different stages in their lives when they meet, but they’re both in need of something only the other can give them. I hope you like the journey they go through that involves dogs, Twitter, comic books, cosplay and one very red vintage muscle car called Desdemona.

I’d love to hear from you. Visit me at www.emmiedark.com.

Cheers,

Emmie Dark

Just for Today…

Emmie Dark

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

After years of writing press releases, employee news-letters and speeches for CEOs and politicians—none of which included any kind of kissing—Emmie Dark finally took to her laptop to write what she wanted to write. She was both amazed and delighted to discover that what came out were sexy, noble heroes who found themselves crossing paths with strong, but perhaps slightly damaged, heroines. And plenty of kissing. Emmie lives in Melbourne, Australia, and she likes red lipstick, chardonnay, sunshine, driving fast, rose-scented soap and a really good cup of tea.

To my wonderfully loving, encouraging and patient family: Mum, Dad, Chris and Georgina, and Neil, Kerryn, Steve, Gemma, Stephanie, Michelle, Nick and Oliver. Love you all.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Epilogue

Excerpt

CHAPTER ONE

“YOU PROMISED ME SEX.”

Sean Paterson lounged against the wall, crossing his arms as he surveyed the room.

Despite the refinement of the five-star-hotel ballroom, the party was beginning to get out of hand. It was late, and the volume had risen in direct proportion to the consumption of alcohol. The dance floor was heaving. Women’s shoes had been abandoned, men’s coats left hanging limply on satin-covered chairs. On a nearby table, an overturned glass created a slowly spreading stain in the crisp, expensive linen cloth.

As weddings went, Sean figured this one would go down as a success.

“I did nossuch thing,” his brother slurred. Rob was looking flushed, but whether it was from champagne or the untold dizziness of his newlywed status, Sean wasn’t sure. Either way, he took big-brother pride in his little brother’s happiness, while also being simultaneously suspicious and—strangely—a tiny bit jealous of it.

He raised his eyebrows as he turned to Rob. “Yes, dear brother, you did. When you asked me to be your best man, I declined for all the sensible reasons we both understand all too well. But then you told me the ladies go gaga over a guy in a tux and the bridesmaids would be desperate to get in my pants, so I reluctantly capitulated. What you didn’t tell me was that, of said bridesmaids, one would be about-to-pop pregnant and the other would be jailbait.”

Rob swayed a little. “Yeah. Maybe I did. Sorry ’bout that.”

Sean straightened and slapped his brother on the arm. “Might want to take it easy on the grog, mate. Don’t want to disappoint your bride on her wedding night.”

Rob laughed. “Look at her. As if she isn’t going to pass out as soon as she hits the sheets.” There was an unmistakably fond warmth in his voice as he gestured to the dance floor, where Hailey was dancing with her friends. The flowers pinned in her hair were about to fall out and her frilly skirts were hitched up in her arms so she could show off all her steps to the ’80s retro hits the DJ had insisted on playing all night. If anything, she was drunker than Rob.

“Besides,” Rob said, awkwardly peeling off his black jacket, “when’ve I ever had to help you score? You do just fine on your own.”

Sean inclined his head in acknowledgment. Although he and Rob were close, they’d taken very different paths in life.

Rob and Hailey had met in their senior years of high school and there’d never been any question that they’d marry—it was just a matter of when. Sean knew that Rob had only slept with one other girl in his life—when he and Hailey had broken up for a few months during their university years—and Sean wasn’t sure if he approved of that. Surely it wasn’t right for a guy to commit himself to one girl—forever—without sampling more of what the world had to offer. But Rob insisted he knew what he wanted, and what he wanted was Hailey.

Sean’s life, in comparison was...different. Very different. Much to the despair of their parents. But despite all the family difficulties, they were still brothers, and so here he was. For Rob, he’d do just about anything—even face his mother’s frown and his father’s scowl and the general disapproving air from the rest of the snotty Paterson clan.

He scanned the room again. Weddings were so not his thing—family or otherwise. But there was—

“Who’s that?” Sean asked. He’d noticed the woman before, at the ceremony, but lost sight of her when he’d had to go with the wedding party and pose for a ridiculous series of photographs in ever-more-unlikely locations: the bustling kitchen of a Chinese restaurant, and on the tram tracks in the middle of one of Melbourne’s busiest city streets. For the couple of hours they’d been under the photographer’s control, Sean hadn’t been sure if she’d been trying to photograph them or get them killed.

“Who?” Rob asked.

Sean pointed with his chin across the room. She was hard to miss. Sitting at a table by herself, trying to look okay with that fact, but failing badly.

Bronzed brunette hair hung in waves down her back. Her burgundy evening dress was cut low in front and swept across her hips to fall in soft folds around her legs. They were great legs—Sean had noticed when she’d sat down in the church. From his vantage point, he’d had a great view of the generous split up the front that had parted and almost revealed all her assets before she’d primly pulled the two halves of the skirt together and covered herself from his sight.

It was one of those moments that Sean always noticed—a moment his writer’s brain took in and preserved for future character-revealing traits. Her little maneuver told him a lot about her: she’d worn an unmistakably sexy dress, and yet wasn’t quite comfortable in it. Intriguing.

“Oh, the brunette?”

Sean nodded.

“Yeah, that’s Hailey’s boss.”

“The vet?”

Rob nodded, his head bouncing as though it was attached to his neck by a spring. “Uh-huh.”

“Who’s she here with?”

“Oh, uh, I think she came on her own.” Rob was distracted by someone calling out to him from the other side of the room.

Sean stopped himself from rubbing his hands together. “Nice,” he said under his breath.

Rob heard and his attention abruptly returned to their conversation. “Sean, she’s Hailey’s boss.”

Sean didn’t miss the warning. “I’ll behave,” he said.

Before Rob could say anything more, the room was filled with the sound of cutlery clinking on glasses—a tradition that demanded the newlyweds kiss before the noise would stop.

“Oh, jeez, again?” Rob groaned.

The guests had been taking great delight in forcing Rob and Hailey to kiss as often as possible—and usually when they were on opposite ends of the room.

Sean gave Rob a shove toward the dance floor. “Better go do your husbandly duty.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Rob’s words were flat but his expression showed he was nothing less than thrilled about another chance to kiss his bride. He took a step toward the dance floor, but then paused and turned back. “Hey, man?” Rob settled a serious look on his brother. “Thanks. You know? Really. I know how much this sucked for you. I’m just glad you could be here.”

Rob grabbed Sean in a drunken embrace, and Sean found himself stepping into it, clasping his brother in return, slapping his back hard, then just hanging on. He’d had a key role in the wedding, but this was the first time they’d had the chance for a brotherly moment—every other minute of the day had been packed with tasks, obligations, and with Sean taking great care to avoid being alone with either or both of their parents.

Rob stepped back, blinking suspiciously.

Sean wasn’t about to get that soppy. Besides, unlike Rob, he hadn’t had much to drink—he’d learned from hard-won experience it was better to keep his wits about him when surrounded by his family.

He gave Rob another slap on the arm. “You’re welcome. Now go be a husband.”

Rob grimaced, but Sean watched his face transform as he headed to his bride, the frown turning into a goofy smile when Hailey did a clumsy pirouette and began to dance in his direction.

Poor sucker.

Sean turned his attention back to the room, scanning it before his gaze once again settled on the brunette. Hailey’s boss—she owned and ran the small vet clinic where Hailey was working while she finished her veterinary studies. Rob hadn’t told him her name. Oh, well, at least that gave him his opening.

* * *

JESS’S FEET WERE TWITCHING in their uncomfortable heels, and she hoped most people would mistake it as an urge to dance. Actually, it was an urge to get the hell out of here.

It had been a lovely gesture for Hailey, her veterinary nurse, to invite her to the wedding. It was wonderful to see Hailey looking so beautiful and so happy; she and Rob were the picture-book bridal couple. Jess had listened to all the wedding planning and prewedding nerves over the past few months, so it was nice to be here to see it all come together—especially knowing how much the whole thing cost. There’d even been a photographer in attendance from one of the glossy magazines—apparently a Paterson family wedding was a bigger deal than she’d thought. She also better understood some of Hailey’s bridezilla-style hysterics now, having met the indomitable Mr. and Mrs. Paterson, who presided over the event like a stern king and queen.

But at the moment, Jess wished she’d been able to find an excuse not to come. When Margie, the clinic receptionist and third team member of their tiny practice, had realized she wouldn’t be able to attend the wedding because it clashed with the Pacific-island cruise she’d booked with her husband, it had been too late for Jess to retract her acceptance.

At least if Margie had been here, Jess would have known someone. It wasn’t that she was a wallflower, really. It was just hard being the odd man out, so to speak, in a room full of people who otherwise all knew each other.

Unfortunately, she’d been seated at the table with Hailey and Rob’s university friends. Jess could understand the logic—a lot of them were single, too, and they weren’t family. But they were all Hailey’s and Rob’s age—making them at least ten to twelve years younger than Jess—and that made her feel like the grown-up who’d been seated at the kids’ table. While they’d made occasional polite attempts to include her, they’d spent most of the night getting very drunk and reminiscing about their shared history and university high jinks and pranks. It had been fun, at first, but it was only possible to stay enthusiastically interested in such things for so long.

Especially when she was sober.

How early could you politely leave a wedding reception, anyway? Weren’t you supposed to wait until after the bride and groom left?

She stifled a yawn as she watched the happy couple grooving on the dance floor. Didn’t look as though they were in any hurry.

The thought of her bed had never been more appealing.

Jeez, when had she turned into such an old, boring grump?

“You look like you could use one of these.”

A misty glass of champagne appeared in front of her and Jess looked up to see mischievous green eyes twinkling down at her with a predatory grin beneath.

“I, uh...” Her hand took the proffered glass more out of reflex than anything else, but her temporary wine waiter took that as encouragement and sat down beside her, placing his own glass on the table.

“I’m Sean Paterson. Best man. And you are?” he asked.

It was such a smoothly delivered line Jess’s instant reaction was to shoot him down, but he was the first person who’d approached her since her tablemates had all moved to the smoking area outside. At least with someone sitting with her, she wouldn’t look like such a loser.

Not to mention that he was the man she’d been trying hard not to stare at all afternoon. In this instance the term best man was more than a job description.

His short, rich brown spiky hair had been artfully arranged; his jaw showed the shadow of a beard that held more than a hint of ginger. Those mossy-green eyes had flecks of gold in them, making them look as if they were constantly sparkling—as if there was some joke going on that only he knew about. He was tall but not freakishly so—only just making it to six feet Jess would guess—a good thing because very tall men always made her feel uncomfortable about her own five-feet-four-on-a-good-day. His tuxedo fitted him perfectly; tailored to suit his broad shoulders and narrow waist.

He was, in short, devastatingly gorgeous.

And he was Hailey’s husband’s brother.

Jess knew all about him. She’d known his name was Sean before he introduced himself. He was a writer of comic books or schlock horror novels, or something like that, and a nomad, apparently, of no fixed address. The black sheep of the Paterson clan—the one they didn’t like to talk about at family gatherings. He’d dropped out of his accounting degree at university and run away. There had been, according to Hailey, a massive fight over Rob’s insistence on having his older brother as his best man.

He was also—what were the words Hailey had used? Oh, yeah—irresponsible and reckless and immature. Hailey said they were the adjectives his own mother invoked.

Sean was the center of most of Hailey’s more extreme hysterics about all the things that could go wrong on her wedding day. Sean would forget the rings. Sean would refuse to wear the suit properly. Sean would bring a hooker as his date. Sean would simply not turn up.

Jess had listened patiently to Hailey’s rants. Listened, while secretly thinking that Sean sounded kind of thrilling, only to silently chastise herself immediately. She had appalling taste in men. Her attraction to Hailey’s brother-in-law-to-be, just from a description of his faults and the potential chaos he could cause, was yet further proof of that.

When she’d seen him standing at the front of the church next to Rob, she’d inwardly sighed. Of course he was the most attractive man she’d seen in years. Of course that would be how it worked.

He was hot. And so off-limits it wasn’t funny. Not that anything like that was likely. It just wasn’t something she did these days.

Yep. Somehow, when she hadn’t been paying attention, she’d turned into a miserable old spinster who preferred to be at home in her slippers than dancing the night away in heels.

What a depressing thought.

“I’m driving,” she said, putting the glass he’d handed her on the table. But she twisted a little in her seat to face him. It would be rude to ignore him, after all, and there was no harm in talking. “Thank you anyway.”

“Strange name.”

“Sorry?”

“‘I’m driving.’ It’s a strange name.”

He was teasing her because she hadn’t answered his question. She thought for a moment for a witty comeback but nothing sprang to mind. “Jess. Jess Alexander,” she said in the end. Really sparkling repartee there, Jess.

“What kind of car?” he asked, putting his own champagne down on the table untouched.

“Huh?”

“What kind of car do you drive?”

“Oh, a Subaru. Station wagon.” A sensible car that was large enough to transport animals occasionally but not too large to maneuver in the city.

He nodded, looking as if he was waiting for something. Finally Jess caught on.

“What kind of car do you have?” she asked politely.

“My car was used for the wedding.”

“Ah. Yes, of course.” Jess remembered that particular conversation with Hailey now. It was the one thing that Rob had insisted on for the wedding—apart from having his brother as best man. He’d been adamant that they use his brother’s pride and joy as the bridal car. Hailey had cried buckets because she’d wanted white limousines, not a red ’70s vintage muscle car with black stripes down the hood.

It had been Jess who had suggested that perhaps the groom should have just one thing in his own wedding that he’d decided upon. Jess had tried—gently—to advise Hailey that a great deal of marriage was about compromise. But then her own marriage had not exactly been a shining example to hold up for comparison, so once the irony of the conversation had occurred to her, she’d shut up and kept her advice to herself.

Something of that conversation must have penetrated Hailey’s wedding-addled mind, though, because in the end, Rob had been given final say over the wedding cars. And truly, Jess had thought the car was a fun and quirky touch this afternoon as the happy couple had climbed into it outside the church.

“It’s a nice car,” Jess said, as she knew she was expected to.

He looked pleased, and Jess steeled herself for a conversation about carburetors and horsepower. The guy was too good-looking not to be totally self-absorbed. But he surprised her by asking instead, “So, do you know many people here?”

He sat sideways in the chair, resting his arm over the back. It made his jacket gape, revealing the crisp white of his shirt, and sending a ribbon of his scent in Jess’s direction. Something spicy and forbidden, rich and romantic. Something unique and penetrating among all the clamoring smells in the room: food, wine, flowers, the suffocating perfume of the older woman at the table beside them.

“Not a soul,” Jess admitted.

“Me, either.” He leaned forward and said it in a whisper, as if he were confessing a sin.

“But what about your family?”

He gave a twisted smile that hid as much as it revealed. “Well, I know Mom and Dad of course. Be a bit strange if I didn’t. But I’m not really... Well, Rob’s the one who’s good at keeping up with all the rellies. Wouldn’t know my great-aunt Sally if I fell over her.”

As if to prove his point, a ruddy-faced portly man clapped him on the shoulder as he walked past. “Sean!”

Sean gave Jess a highly amusing “uh-oh” look before tilting his head up to the man. “Uncle Stuart.”

“Good to see you.”

“You look well.”

“You, too, son. You still off doing those funny books or have you got a proper job now?”

“Uh—”

Uncle Stuart didn’t give Sean a chance to answer. “No, that’s what I thought. When are you going to get your head into gear and go back and finish that accounting degree so you can join Paterson Associates?” His tone was jocular, but there was no missing the fact that Uncle Stuart wasn’t joking.

A flash of something crossed Sean’s face, too quick for Jess to really analyze it, but if she’d had to guess she’d call it anger. And it was totally understandable. Uncle Stuart was being incredibly rude.

But then Sean was smiling that carefree, easy smile again. “How’s Auntie Laura?” he asked pleasantly.

“She’s good, good. And you are?” Uncle Stuart leered at Jess, sending a puff of foul breath over her along with his lecherous gaze.

“I’m Jess, Jessica Alexander.” She introduced herself for the second time in as many minutes.

“Jess is Hailey’s boss. She’s a vet,” Sean added.

Jess started with surprise. He knew who she was? Why had he asked her name?

“Well, you just be careful with this one then, Sean.” Uncle Stuart gave a wink that made Jess want to cringe, and she saw that dangerous flash pass through Sean’s eyes again. “Don’t need Hailey to find she doesn’t have a job when she gets back from her honeymoon!” Uncle Stuart chuckled as if he was the most amusing man in the room before stumbling off to share his halitosis with others.

Sean blinked a couple of times, as if mentally erasing the incident from his memory. “Where were we?” he asked.

Jess found herself tilting forward. She told herself it was just to move away from the pungent aroma Uncle Stuart had left behind, but that wasn’t true. She felt as if Sean was somehow magnetic, and like an iron filing she couldn’t help but draw close to him.

It wasn’t as if anything was going to happen, so taking a deeper whiff of him couldn’t hurt.

“I think we were talking about cars.”

“Really? I’d much rather talk about you.”

Again with the cheesy line. Somehow, he managed to carry it off. Maybe it was his seemingly unshakable confidence.

“I’m not that interesting,” Jess said, as flippantly as she could manage. She was enjoying flirting with him. It felt fun and kind of dangerous. Things she hadn’t let herself feel in far too long.

“Now, I think that’s a lie.”

“Really?” She raised an eyebrow and twisted in her seat to echo his posture. Like exercising a long-atrophied muscle, something inside her began to warm up.

“Really. You’re certainly the most interesting woman in this room.”

Jess managed to stop herself rolling her eyes. But only just. “And what makes you so sure of that?”

“Because you’re the only person here I want to talk to.”

He managed to sound so sincere when he said it that it didn’t even sound like a line. Jess was rapidly realizing Sean deserved the reputation Hailey had reported. He clearly worked hard for it. The polar opposite to his responsible, down-to-earth younger brother, who’d joined the family accounting firm and married his high school sweetheart. Sean had a woman in every town—in every suburb, if Hailey was to be believed.

He’d be good in bed, then.

The thought sent a wave of heat through her body. It had been a while. Too long, really.

She shook it away. “And why’s that?” she countered.

“Everyone else is incredibly dull. I know. I’ve pretty much worked the entire room. Not an original thought to be found.”

“So I’m just the best of a bad lot? Hmm, that’s very flattering.” Jess stroked a lock of hair behind her ear before she realized what she was doing.

The side of his mouth quirked and she watched his eyes follow the movement of her hair before returning to meet her gaze. “You could see it that way, I suppose.” He leaned back languidly, one hand toying with a crumpled menu card on the table. “Or you could see it as an opportunity.”

Jess gave him an exaggerated quizzical look. “An opportunity? An opportunity for what?” She ran her fingers around the misty stem of the glass of champagne on the table. Oh, how easily the old moves came back!

“To get to know me better.”

That was too much; Jess couldn’t hold in her laughter.

Sean pouted, faking a hurt look. “My lady, you wound me.” He clapped one palm to his chest, over his heart.

His chest would be firm, she’d bet. Hairy or not? His high collar and bow tie allowed for no hints, and the shirt was fastened with those special tuxedo studs that matched his cuff links. Jess had never played with those before. A wicked impulse came from nowhere. It made her fingers itch to undo that tie and open the shirt, button by button, to reveal his skin and satisfy her curiosity.

She raised her eyes to his and realized some of her thoughts must have been painted on her face. The green of his eyes had turned forest-at-dusk dark, and his body was poised with a careful stillness.

The stillness of a predator about to strike.

A sudden jolt of nerves shot through her belly. Be careful, Jess. It was all very well to play games, but when you had no intentions of following through, the line in the sand had to be very clear. “I, uh,” Jess began, not entirely sure what she was going to say.

He leaned forward, a fraction, and his hand reached for hers, peeling her grip from the stem of the wineglass and taking her hand lightly. He didn’t clasp it tightly, just let her fingers loosely sit in his palm. His own fingers moved almost imperceptibly to stroke the inside of her wrist.

Jess felt the touch echo throughout her body, resonating loudest in the parts that had been empty for too long. Her breath caught and a slow burn of arousal lit deep inside her.

Oh, it had definitely been far too long. A thrill of anxiety went through her—nerves and excitement all wound up together. Was it time to remedy that? Could she possibly let something like that happen?

From everything Jess had heard from Hailey, Sean was the epitome of the love-’em-and-leave-’em type. No permanent address, he’d been dragged to town for the wedding and would be disappearing again as soon as he could—much to Hailey’s relief.

If a girl wanted some casual, no-strings-attached sex, Sean Paterson was probably the perfect choice. But he was Hailey’s brother-in-law, and Jess didn’t want her sex life—or lack thereof—to be workplace gossip.

Excuses, excuses, the wicked impulse from within tutted. You want to be alone the rest of your life? You really want to be defined by failure forever? You’ve got to start somewhere....

Jess took a quick glance at the dance floor where Hailey and Rob were drunkenly clutching each other as they swayed to the music. It wasn’t as if they would notice. And she doubted Sean was the kiss-and-tell kind.

But there was one more thing. Sean was Rob’s older brother, she knew that, but he still had to be significantly younger than her. It just wasn’t...proper.

The fact that all this thinking was required had to be a sign, too.

She managed a strangled-sounding laugh as she extracted her hand from his, feeling her cheeks heat and hoping her flush wasn’t too obvious.

“If I only wounded you, clearly my sword isn’t as sharp as it used to be,” she said.

“Perhaps you just need more practice.” He didn’t seem deterred in the slightest.

“At fighting?”

“If that’s what’s on offer, I’ll take it.” He gave her a lopsided smile, the kind of charming, disarming look that had undoubtedly broken hearts all across the country.

Jess was afraid it was about to be her undoing, as well.

She licked her lips, wondering if there was any lipstick left on them. “You should be more careful. You don’t know much about your opponent.”

“True. But I like what I’ve seen so far.”

This time Jess did roll her eyes. A girl had her limits. “Does this shtick really work for you?”

His expression turned suddenly serious and he shifted forward, elbows on his knees, fingers interlaced, his face mere inches from hers. She could feel the heat of his legs where they bracketed her own. He’d well and truly invaded her personal space, and Jess would have edged away, but her back was right against the chair and there was nowhere to go.

“What would you prefer?” he asked, eyes boring into hers.

“What? In terms of a seduction?” She held his gaze when she said it, just to see if he flinched. He didn’t.

“Is that what this is?”

“Isn’t it?”

He seemed to give the matter some thought. “I’d probably call it flirting, but, yeah, I guess if we break it down, seduction probably better expresses my eventual goal.”

There was something incredibly appealing about confidence like that. In any other circumstances, it would be annoying as hell, but right here, right now, it was definitely working for him. And for her—despite the butterflies tangoing in her belly.

She couldn’t help but smile. “You’re pretty sure of yourself, aren’t you?”

He shrugged one shoulder. “I can be. When the moment calls for it.”

“How old are you?”

A quick frown creased his forehead. “Twenty-eight. Why?”

“I’m thirty-five.”

“And?”

“And?” He was incredible. “I’m seven years older than you.”

“So?”

“Do you even remember when this song came out?” Jess gestured to the dance floor where wedding guests were bopping away to a song Jess fondly remembered from her high school days.

“I prefer classic rock from the sixties and seventies. This pop stuff is giving me a headache.”

Jess sighed. He didn’t get it.

A woman called out Sean’s name from the other side of the room. Jess looked over and saw her wave and head their way—Rob and Sean’s mother in an imposing teal-green suit. Her hair was a solid helmet of hairspray and not a strand of it moved as she strode toward them. The chunks of diamonds in each ear and around her throat sparkled almost blindingly.

“Isn’t that your mother? Does she want to talk to you?”

Sean glanced up and a pained expression crossed his face. “Not now, Mom,” he called out to the woman who was still three table lengths away.

“But, Sean—”

“Later.” He dismissed her with a careless wave.

Mrs. Paterson stopped with an expression so wounded, Jess almost wanted to make Sean apologize. But then she shot her son a look that would curdle milk and threw up her hands in exasperation. She mouthed the word typical and rolled her eyes before turning back the way she’d come. Sean didn’t see any of that, Jess noted; his gaze was back on her, and it was as if the interruption had never happened.

“Let’s dance.”

“Huh?”

“Come on.”

Jess wasn’t quite sure how it happened, but a moment later she found herself being pulled to the dance floor, her hand clasped firmly in Sean’s. He found a small clearing and let her go, turning to face her. He shuffled his feet, clearly uncomfortable, and raised his hands in a halfhearted accompaniment. Jess began swaying her hips, just as the boppy pop song came to a close. They were left standing, facing each other, as the strains of one of her favorite Madonna ballads began. The floor began to clear around them, hot and sweaty dancers muttering how they were grateful for a break, leaving behind couples happy to enjoy a slow dance together.

“Well, this is awkward,” she muttered.

“Sorry, I’m a crappy dancer.” He didn’t sound especially broken up by that fact. Was his confidence really that unshakable?

“It was your idea.”

“I know. Here.”

There were still a few other couples dancing, and Sean seemed to look around for inspiration before pulling Jess close, his hands resting on her lower back. Jess had no choice but to put her hands on his shoulders—solid and warm, even through the padding of his jacket.

As dances went, it wasn’t going to score them any points in a competition. But they found an easy rhythm and no one seemed to be commenting on their ineptitude.

Jess found herself staring at the shiny tuxedo buttons on his shirt, her thoughts running a million miles a minute with ideas that she had no business entertaining.

Hailey’s brother-in-law.

She should definitely not be thinking about seeing him naked. Or about what kind of kisser he’d be. Certainly not about how good he smelled, or how, if she just stepped a little closer, she’d be pressed full-length against his body. Definitely not about how his fingers were stroking her back gently through her dress, and the touch was sending ripples of sensation to other, needy, parts of her.

Until this moment she hadn’t realized how much she missed being touched.

Sean said something, but she missed the words, feeling the rumble of them instead. She looked up. “Sorry?” Luckily she’d started to speak before her eyes met his, because once they did, her breath seemed to stop somewhere halfway in her throat. He was wearing that half grin again, eyes sparkling mischievously.

“I said, you look very serious.”

“This is a serious song.”

“I guess.” He dismissed her comment with all the gravity it deserved—none—before nudging Jess’s knee with one of his own. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

“What? We can’t leave. They haven’t cut the cake yet.” As much as she’d spent the past two hours desperate to get out of here, Sean’s offer of escape made her stomach flip unpleasantly at the same time as that little voice in her head cheered her on.

“Oh, like anyone’s going to notice.”

“You’re the best man.”

“Yeah, but my job’s done for the day. Get the groom to the wedding, check. Hand over the rings, check. Make the speech at dinner, check. That’s it.”

“It was a very good speech,” Jess said. Sean had spoken easily and confidently—no surprises there. He’d given a couple of the requisite humorous tales from Rob’s past and done a lovely job of sincerely wishing the happy couple a bright future. As he’d taken the microphone and begun to speak, the apprehensive and then relieved looks on the entire wedding party’s faces had to have been obvious to the whole room.

He dismissed her praise with a wave. “Thanks. So, ready to go?”

Those green eyes were staring down at her, half daring, half asking. The dare part appealed to the reckless streak that Jess mostly kept hidden—and that had certainly not seen the light of day in recent times. It was an impulse that had given her, among other things, a tattoo of a tiny star on her butt, a scar under her chin from a fall down a flight of stairs in a nightclub in Amsterdam and an occasional back twinge that hadn’t been there before she’d bungee jumped over a river in New Zealand.

“Go where?” she asked.

He dropped his hands from around her and Jess stepped back, her body already mourning the loss of contact. Sean reached into his pocket. “For a drive,” he said. His hand emerged and he threw a set of keys in the air before catching them again in one hand.

He took a step toward the exit, arm outstretched, one eyebrow arched in question. His eyes glinted with challenge.

Jess hesitated. “Just a drive?”

“Just a drive,” he confirmed.

She thought for a moment. But only a moment. Then she reached for his hand.

“I have a feeling I’m going to regret this,” she said under her breath.

Sean laughed and pulled her toward the door.

CHAPTER TWO

“WE CAN’T TAKE the bridal car!”

“Of course we can—it’s my car.” Sean pulled on Jess’s hand until they stood on the apron of the curved hotel drive. His GT had clearly been parked by someone who appreciated that this was a car worth showing off.

But he’d forgotten about the freaking ribbons.

Someone had put ribbons on Dezzie. Ribbons! Sean crouched down in front of the car only to find the stupid stuff had been threaded through and tied tight around the front grille. He needed a knife, but bloody Rob had refused to let him wear one in his tux.

“Sorry, baby,” he murmured as he stood. He stroked the hood of the car to try to make her feel better about the ignominy.

“Sean, seriously, we can’t take this car.”

He nodded. “Yes, we can. Rob and Hailey are staying here at the hotel tonight.” He gestured to the tall building behind them. “Honeymoon suite.” He winked.

“Are you sure?”

“Positive. I, uh, did a few things to make the room ready for their wedding night.” Sean opened the passenger door and reached for Jess’s hand.

She hesitated. “Oh. Oh.” She gave him a look of distaste. “What, lots of condoms and sex toys and stuff? Nothing too gross I hope.”

“Nothing too gross, I promise. Just...being helpful.”

Jess shook her head, but a smile played around her lips. He wanted to kiss her, to see if those lips were as soft and sweet-tasting as they looked. But she had something of the easily startled lamb about her and Sean figured he needed to work up to that. Reading people was one of his talents—a talent he was proud of—and that contributed to his success as an author. And he was sure he was reading Miss Jessica Alexander correctly. She wasn’t going to easily succumb to his charms.

Just as well, he’d always enjoyed a challenge.

“Where are we going?” she asked, but she put her hand in his and allowed him to help her into the car. Sean blessed the designer of her dress as the split in her skirt once again fell open, revealing a length of creamy thigh. He swallowed hard as his body tightened, and he gave himself a silent lecture about restraint as he closed the door and walked around to the driver’s side.

He settled into the familiar seat and smiled as the car started up with a welcoming rumble. Desdemona was more than a car. She was a friend, a shelter, a partner in crime, a symbol of his achievement. Occasionally, even, a home. Dezzie meant more to him than most human beings of his acquaintance.

Tonight, she was an escape vehicle. Sean felt a weight lift as he maneuvered the car out of the hotel and away from the Paterson family, as if he’d been wearing a lead cloak that he’d finally managed to shrug off.

“Would you like me to leave you two alone?”

Sean was startled from his reflection by Jess’s amused tone. “Huh?”

“The way you’re stroking the steering wheel. It’s almost...obscene.” She laughed, a warm, rich sound.

Sean didn’t rise to the bait. Jess wasn’t the first person to comment on the close relationship he had with his car. And frankly, he didn’t care what other people thought. Not about Dezzie, anyway.

“She’s been through a lot today,” Sean said. “Not the least of which was Rob driving her from the church. He’s my brother, and I love him, but the guy has no idea how to work a clutch.”

“Go on, give me the specs.”

“Seriously?”

“Tell me as if I don’t know anything about cars.”

“Because you don’t know anything about cars.”

“Exactly.”

Sean ran a hand over the dash as he spoke. “Dezzie is a Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III, affectionately called the Hoey. One of only three hundred made. This model won Bathurst in 1971 with Allan Moffat driving.”

“Dezzie?”

“Yeah, short for Desdemona—the woman who elopes with Othello. Most of the other cars that are still around today are in showrooms or collections.”

“But you like to drive it—I mean, her, Dezzie.”

Sean smiled, pleased with Jess’s correction. “Yeah. It’d be kind of like keeping a wild bird in a cage. She was born to be on the road.”

Jess nodded with a surprisingly understanding look on her face. “I get what you mean. So, gonna show me what she can do?”

He flicked Jess his best wicked look. “I thought you’d never ask.”

The speed limit on city streets was disappointingly low, so Sean headed for the closest freeway he could find—then he could at least let Dezzie off the leash a little. When he reached the on-ramp and accelerated hard, Jess let out a yelp, but he backed off as soon as he reached the limit. Well, just over the limit. Dezzie’s top speed neared two hundred and fifty kilometers an hour, but Sean hadn’t let her rip like that for a while. He needed to wait until he’d earned back a few more points on his license.

“That was fun,” Jess said.

“It’s better when you get out on a racetrack.”

“I can imagine.” She twisted and looked around into the backseat. Her dress gaped as she did, revealing to him that she wasn’t wearing a bra. Sean did his best to be gentlemanly about it, but the sight of her breast almost down to her nipple had his mind fogging over. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt such an instant attraction to a woman. And he didn’t for the life of him understand how she could have been left sitting alone at the wedding. She should have been slapping off come-ons like flies.

“She’s very clean. Did you have to get her detailed for the wedding?”

Sean struggled to focus on her question. “Dezzie’s always pretty clean, but yeah, she did get a spruce up.”

“And ribbons.” There was no mistaking the tease in her voice.

“Yeah. And ribbons,” he grumped.

He glanced over and Jess met his eyes. She was smiling, more than a trace of amusement in her expression over his fondness for his car. But it was kindly meant—and after a day with his family, Sean definitely knew the difference.

“You’re a writer, huh?”

“Yep.” She was the first person all day to ask him about his work. It was probably just as well, as the big news he wanted to share wasn’t nearly final enough to make public. When he finally did make his announcement, he wanted it to be a big occasion—he wanted to be there to lord his triumph over his parents, see the recognition of his achievement light up in their eyes.

“What kind of books do you write?”

“This and that.” He’d learned it was better to be vague with most people. Unless they understood his genre, they tended to be dismissive, if not insulting. Better not to get into it at all. “What’s your favorite animal?”

“Huh?”

“Being a vet and all, I figure you must have one.”

“Not really. I like all animals.”

“What’s your least favorite then?”

She paused a moment before answering. “I guess I’m less keen on reptiles. I’m more of a dog and cat person. But at my clinic I look after all kinds of house pets, and that occasionally includes snakes and lizards and the like.”

“What happens when you get a snake and a pet mouse in to see you at the same time? Do you have a dividing wall in the waiting room or something?”

“Generally people don’t just bring their snakes in and sit them on their lap,” she said drily.

“But surely the potential is there for chaos.”

“Not in my waiting room.”

No. He could see that. She’d accused him of being overly confident, but there was a strength to her that he could see just from the brief interaction they’d had so far. She seemed very “together,” compared to other women he knew.

He glanced across at her and their eyes met and held.

One of her eyebrows arched. “Shouldn’t you be watching the road?”

“Probably.” But it took him another few moments before he pulled his eyes from hers and turned back to face the windscreen. Jessica Alexander was seriously hot. And making him feel the same. He dearly wished he’d thought to remove his tux jacket before he’d gotten in the car.

Jess shifted in her seat and from the corner of his eye, Sean watched her skirt fall open again. She wasn’t wearing stockings or panty hose—the bare skin of her legs was a pale pinky-gold that he just knew would feel like silk. Her fingers grabbed the fabric and she tugged on it to pull it back into place.

“Don’t.” Sean covered her hand with his. The contact sent a warm thrill through him. He wanted to touch her all over. The arousal that had been echoing faintly through his body became an ache at the thought.

Jess halted and looked down at their hands and her bared thighs before sending a smile his way. “Hmm. You sure I won’t distract you from driving, sitting here like this?”

Sean tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, doing some quick mental navigation. “We’re only ten minutes from where I’m staying.”

“And that’s where we’re going, is it?”

“Well, it would solve the distraction problem.”

“Hmm, I see what you mean.”

It wasn’t much of an answer. “Unless you have another suggestion?” Sean took his eyes off the road for a moment to get a quick read on Jess. He wanted to end this evening with those gorgeous legs wrapped around him—he very much hoped she wanted the same thing. And, in addition to that seductive image, she was right. Her bare skin, her soft floral fragrance, the ideas that were circulating through his head—none of it contributed to totally focused driving.

“How long are you in Melbourne for?”

He frowned at the question. “Not long. Why?”

One shoulder lifted and then dropped in a nonanswer. “Hailey said you don’t stick around anywhere for very long. Where to next?”

“Sydney. I’m probably heading there tomorrow or Monday.” He had to be somewhere with a solid internet connection by Monday evening. For one of the most important meetings of his life. It’d make sense to set off on the ten-hour drive the next day; stop overnight somewhere halfway so he was fresh when he arrived.

“Is that a problem?” he asked when Jess remained silent. It was better she understood now that this wasn’t the beginning of something more than he could offer.

“No, no, it’s not a problem.” Her voice was a little faint.

Sean steered onto an off-ramp and turned into a side road. As soon as he could, he pulled the car over to stop on a low embankment. He turned to face her and, before she could protest, lowered his lips to hers.

It was a gentle kiss, just lips and breath and the warm rich scent of her skin. Their noses and chins rubbed together as Sean kissed either side of her mouth, before settling on her lips again to just barely caress them.

He pulled back just far enough to watch as her eyes drifted back open, her expression dazed.

“Wow,” she whispered.

“Yeah.” He grinned, knowing it would be goofy, but that one kiss had been enough to make him absolutely positive about what he wanted next. He cupped her chin with one hand. “Jess? I really like you. I’d like to spend the night with you—if you’d like to spend it with me.”

Jess wet her lips nervously but her eyes didn’t move from his. “That was direct.”

He gave a small shrug. “Best to be up front about these things, I’ve found.”

Jess didn’t answer. Her eyes were round and her porcelain skin pale in the sulfuric glow of the streetlight.

“You look a little scared.”

She gave a weak laugh, shifting in the seat to pull away from him. Sean dropped his hand to rest on her thigh.

“I’m not scared,” she said. She met his eyes, a curious determination visible in them.

“If you don’t want to, that’s cool. Seriously. We’ll head back to the reception now.” It was the right thing to say, but he hoped to hell she wasn’t going to take him up on it.

She still looked nervous, but the smile she gave him was sure. “No, I was over the wedding anyway. Let’s go.”

* * *

“I THOUGHT we were going to your hotel?” Jess asked as Sean turned onto a suburban street. She had a sudden sinking feeling about exactly where they were headed. And her nerves sang. He’d accused her of being scared—he was way off the mark. Terrified was more like it.

And that was why she had to go through with it. That and the urgent ache low in her belly that his kiss had only magnified.

“I said we were going to where I was staying.”

“And you’re staying at Hailey and Rob’s place?” Her voice went up at the end, betraying her discomfort.

“Just for tonight. The house sitter doesn’t arrive till tomorrow, and someone has to feed the dog in the morning. Does it make a difference?”

Well, yes. One-night-stand sex—with a guy seven years younger than her who also happened to be Hailey’s brother-in-law—in a hotel room was fine, mostly. Doing it in Hailey and Rob’s bed? Not so much. “Uh, well, I...”

“We won’t turn any lights on. You can pretend to be anywhere.” Sean pulled up on the street in front of a large ’60s brick veneer house and its carefully tended row of roses along the fence line. It wasn’t a mansion, but it was certainly a decent step-up from a typical newlyweds’ first home—Jess knew the Paterson family had bought it, in full, for the couple as an engagement/wedding present.

Sean killed the ignition and the sudden silence made Jess aware of the pulsing of blood in her ears.

His hand reached for hers where they were clasped in her lap. She knew it wasn’t by accident that his fingertips brushed against her inner thigh as he took her hand in his. The simple touch sent a bolt of heat straight to her core.

Damn.

She’d never been so turned-on by a guy so easily. Was it a hormonal thing? Didn’t they say that women reached their sexual peak in their thirties, men in their twenties? Was that why the chemistry between them was smoking hot?

“Jess?”

She’d never be able to come here for one of Hailey’s regular summer barbecues again if she did this.

There was a click and the shushing sound of Sean’s seat belt retracting. Then his other hand was on her cheek, turning her to him. He was inches away, a stripe of color from the streetlight highlighting one side of his face. She blinked and her heart rate picked up as if he’d changed her gears as smoothly as Dezzie’s.

Oh, who cared about barbecues, anyway?

It took less than a second for Jess to lean forward and banish the distance between them, her lips meeting his. Just like before, they were firm, but soft, and his hand slid across her cheek and into her hair, curling around the nape of her neck. Then he was in control of the kiss, tilting her head to meet his, parting his lips to gently swipe his tongue along her bottom lip. The hand that still held hers, in her lap, had stretched out, and his fingertips were stroking her thigh.

Jess melted into the seat. Any rational concerns she’d had—sex with someone she barely knew, the ramifications of Hailey finding out, the weirdness of doing it in Hailey’s house—had vanished. All she knew was that the past couple of years had been hard, and lonely, and celibate. If she didn’t deserve this, she didn’t know who did.

Sean leaned a little more into her. Somewhere along the way Jess had forgotten to breathe. Her head was spinning, need spiraling deep inside her. She wanted him with a ferocity that astonished her. Her tongue met his, sliding against it with warm, wet heat. She prayed for his hand to climb higher, parted her legs in invitation.

But something held her back from reaching around him, pulling him over her, feeling his heat and heaviness resting on top of her.... Damn seat belt.

“How ’bout we get out of here?” He whispered the words against her lips, retreating from their kiss just far enough to speak.

“Yes, yes.” Did she sound desperate? If so, she didn’t care. The idea that she wouldn’t see him again, that Sean would soon be moving on to his next destination, meant she didn’t have to worry what he thought of her. She just had to get him to satisfy the raging need he’d stoked to a firestorm inside her. Nothing else mattered. It was incredibly freeing—she wondered why she’d never found the courage to do something like this before.

Something about this situation was different, though. Perhaps it had something to do with Sean’s overwhelming confidence. Most guys who’d approached her in recent memory had given up in the face of her hesitation. Her divorce had left her with scars that usually took more than a sexy smile and a wink to overcome. Usually.

Jess fumbled with the seat belt for a moment and then had to scramble for her clutch purse on the floor. By the time she’d found it and untangled herself from the seat belt, Sean was at the door, opening it for her and offering a helping hand. She took it, grateful for his steadying grip. Her knees were feeling unreliable.

The cool night air was almost enough to sober her. Almost. She cast her eyes around the neighborhood, wondering if anyone was watching out of a chink in their curtains. Divorcée Jess Alexander, about to vanish inside with a man practically half her age, after making out in the car with him. It was indecent!

But no. Maybe she was overreacting a little. As nice a street as this was, it was still the city. And neighbors didn’t really care what went on next door as long as it wasn’t too noisy and it didn’t affect the resale value of their property.

Jess had a feeling it might get noisy, but she figured the resale values were safe.

“Whoa, hey, girl,” Sean said as they stood on the porch and he tried to push the door open. For a confusing moment, Jess thought he was talking to her, but then Hailey and Rob’s aging golden retriever, Suzie, woofed an excited greeting. Jess could hear her tail banging against the wall inside.

“Come on, Suz, you’ve got to stand back so I can get inside,” Sean said with a fond tone. He muttered from the side of his mouth, “Gorgeous dog, but certainly not the smartest one in the litter.”

“Uh-huh.” Jess was more than familiar with Suzie’s goofy smile. She usually wore it when Hailey brought her into the clinic with yet another accidental injury. Suzie had perfected the “Whoops! Look what I did” look.

The dog was bouncing around excitedly, and Sean was doing his best to control her as they stepped inside the house and closed the door behind them. “The neighbors walked her today,” Sean said as Suzie jumped up, her paws landing in his gut and making him oomph. “Not that you can tell.” He was laughing and patting her and saying, “Down, girl,” not using a tone the dog would recognize as a command.

“Suzie, down,” Jess ordered. The dog dropped to the floor and turned her interest to Jess instead. “Sit.” Suzie sat. “Good girl,” she praised, giving her ears a scratch.

Sean looked at her with wide eyes. “You’re like, Doctor Dolittle or something.”

“Not quite.” Jess smiled. “Suzie and I know each other, that’s all. I’ve bandaged her tail more times than I can count.”

“Really?”

“She’s the most accident-prone dog I’ve ever met.”

“That sounds like Suzie.” Sean took over patting the dog, crouching down to rough up her fur and scratch under her chin as he muttered in a silly tone, “Who’s the most accident-prone dog in the world? You, huh?”

Jess could only watch as Suzie drooled with pleasure.

It was ridiculous to be jealous of a dog.

But as much as Jess loved animals, it was time for this dog to go to her kennel and leave the human beings to indulge in a little primal behavior of their own.

Sean seemed to read her mind, because he straightened up and gave Suzie one last pat. “Suzie, go to bed,” he ordered, pointing to the back of the house.

Suzie pouted at them for a moment, pulling a puppy-dog-eyes look, before turning away and obeying the command, tail between her legs.

“She thinks she’s done something wrong,” Jess observed.

“I’ll make it up to her in the morning.”

Dogs don’t work that way, Jess almost said. But then tonight wasn’t about that. Suzie would be fine. Jess on the other hand was feeling a little chilled. Goose bumps skated up her arms as Sean turned to face her, his eyes dark with promise.

Then, suddenly, the intent in his eyes faded. “You’re right,” he said. “I need to take care of her. Don’t move. I’ll be back in a second.”

Jess barely had time to realize what was happening before Sean was back at her side.

“I gave Suzie one of those disgusting liver treats she loves so much. She’s happy now.”

“That’s good.” He’s kind to animals. That gave Sean an automatic big tick in Jess’s book.

And that delicious sparkle was back. “Let’s go in here,” he said.

He grabbed Jess’s hand and led her into the living room, turning on one lamp in the corner to bring a soft peachy glow to the room. Hailey’s housekeeping was immaculate, not a spot of dust to be seen anywhere.

“I’ve been dying to get this off since about five minutes after I put it on,” he said, shrugging out of his tuxedo jacket and draping it over the back of a chair. He kicked off his shoes and tore off his socks at the same time.

“It suits you,” Jess said. She took a few steps back, bumping against the end of the solid timber dining table that dominated this end of the open-plan living/dining room. Sean stood between her and the doorway, and her nerves suddenly came back to life with a vengeance. She wasn’t trapped exactly—she knew, without knowing why, that if she changed her mind, he’d let her go without a problem. But part of her anxiety was realizing that she didn’t want to change her mind—and she didn’t want him to, either.

“Nah, the formal look’s not me,” he said, batting away her compliment. “But that dress, on the other hand... You look gorgeous.”

He gave her an admiring full-length assessment that sent more chills through her. Then he worked at the cuffs of his shirt, frowning at them in concentration, pulling out the cuff links and tossing them carelessly on the table before turning the sleeves back to reveal strong, bony wrists, lightly dusted with hair.

Jess’s stomach flipped. Maybe she couldn’t go through with this after all. Maybe she just wasn’t ready. “Sean? I—” She broke off and licked her lips nervously.

“Can you help me with this thing?” He stepped closer to her, tugging ineffectually at his bow tie. “I’ve got no idea how it works—Rob did it for me. I’ll probably strangle myself, left to my own devices.”

Jess sucked in a breath as she raised shaking hands to his collar. Her breath brought with it a lungful of his scent, as spicy and exotic as she’d thought when he’d sat down beside her back in the hotel ballroom. Only all the more powerful now that it was just the two of them.

Jess understood how scent worked in the animal kingdom. Pheromones were chemical communication signals that many animals used to let the opposite sex know they were ready to mate. She wondered what scent her own body was giving off. Would it reflect the turmoil of desire, confusion and fear that she was feeling right now?

It took only a couple of tugs on the tie to loosen it, and then it was hanging free. Having her untie it was clearly a ruse, but it had brought them closer together. Jess was backed against the table—nowhere to go. Sean was in front of her, looking down at her with an intense expression in his darkened eyes.

Those fancy tuxedo studs glinted at her, and Jess recalled her urge to find out how they worked. Before she knew it, before she’d made a conscious decision to do so, she found her fingers at the top one, working it free.

“I, uh, haven’t come across these buttons before,” she said. Looked as though she was committed now. Some of her nervousness disappeared simply at having made the decision. But her fingers still shook.

“You’ll work it out.”

She could feel the vibration of his voice as she worked the stud free, unhooking it from the button on the shirt flap below. Her hand brushed the bare skin of his chest as she parted the fabric, and his breath snagged.

His skin was smooth and lightly tanned, a sparse sprinkling of hair in the center of his chest revealed when she undid the second button. Sean helped her by reaching behind himself to unhook his cummerbund, letting it drop to the floor and then tugging his shirt free of his trousers.

Finally, his shirt was hanging open, and Jess held out her hand, the four tuxedo studs sitting in her palm.

“Here you go.” Her trembling was obvious, but Jess figured that was entirely understandable. He was standing there, right in front of her, like something out of a GQ celebrity photo shoot—bare feet, black pants, bared chest, white shirt hanging open, undone bow tie dangling around his neck. Jess half wished she could stop and take a photo, because this was a sight worth preserving.

“Thanks.” He took the studs and tossed them on the table, barely even glancing at them.

“How complicated is your dress?” he asked.

Jess frowned. “What do you mean?”

He gave a little wave at her neck. “I mean, is it like my tux? Do we need to begin preparations to remove it now? Or does it just unzip?”

Oh. That.

Jess had a sudden surge of memory, of what it had felt like when she’d been standing on that platform over a river in New Zealand, the safety people double-checking the rigging before she launched herself off into empty space.

She shook her head. “Nope. It’s simple. It lifts up over my head.” Leaving her in nothing but a skimpy thong. The dress clung to every curve, so she’d worn no bra and had done her best to minimize any VPL.

He gave her a slow smile. “Excellent.”

Thinking in a situation like this was only going to lead to trouble, Jess rationalized. Therefore, the only suitable choice was to halt all logic and proceed purely on sensation. And as far as sensation went, kissing Sean Paterson was pretty darned magical.

Jess reached up to cup his cheek. The prickle of his stubble scraped her palm. With him in bare feet and her still in heels it was a simple matter of leaning forward, tilting her chin up slightly and bringing her lips to his. She kept the touch light, a mere brushing of her mouth against his. He returned her light caress, bracketing her lower lip between his, pulling on it slightly before doing the same again with her top lip. His hands came to rest gently on her waist and his thumbs spanned her belly, rubbing the curve of her stomach in soft, gentle strokes.

Once again, Jess wondered if her knees were going to support her. A dart of desire, so sharp it almost hurt, stabbed through her body. She knew men often had issues with “holding on”—her ex-husband was a case in point. But she’d never before wondered if she might have the same problem. Sean had barely touched her, and she was on the edge, already.

He deepened the kiss, opening his mouth, teasing her with his tongue. Jess wasn’t sure whether to be embarrassed or proud of the low groan that came from her throat as she opened to him, welcoming him, meeting his desire with her own.

His fingers tightened on her waist and then one hand slid slowly upward until he cupped her breast, weighing it in his palm before he skated around to the low neckline of her dress and slipped inside. Skin against skin. He unerringly found her nipple and rubbed it between his thumb and forefinger.

Jess collapsed against the table, her head falling back as Sean traced her jaw with his mouth, stopping to nibble on the skin under her ear.

“Please,” she murmured, although she wasn’t entirely sure what she wanted. She just wanted more and wasn’t too proud to beg.

Sean seemed to know before she did—the hand on her waist skirted her hip, trailing heat over her skin as he traced her thigh, finding the split in her dress and breaching it. A moment later his fingertips brushed the lace panel at the front of her thong, sending ripples of pleasure through her entire body.

He sucked her earlobe into his mouth, diamond earring stud and all, before pulling back with a pop. “Do you want me to touch you here?” he whispered in her ear, pressing his fingers against her core. “Is that what you want?”

Jess’s first attempt at speech was a wordless gasp that seemed to please him; she felt his lips curve into a smile against her ear.

“Yeah?” he asked again.

“Yes.” She finally managed to form the word. Her fingers dug into his shoulders, the solid resistance of muscle against her hands almost as arousing as his touch.

He slipped inside the lace barrier and then he was touching her, teasing and rubbing and slipping against her. He was still kissing her neck, light teasing nibbles that weren’t enough, weren’t what she wanted. She wanted to be taken, to be overwhelmed. Jess sought his mouth again, kissing him with punishing abandon, groaning when he caught up with what she wanted and returned the kiss, forceful and demanding. His tongue plunged into her mouth as his fingers tormented her, and the winding coil of desire inside her reached the point of no return.

“Sean,” she gasped.

“Yes, baby.”

Jess’s breath caught, her body stiffened and every nerve sang with the power of his touch. Her last logical thought was that it had been far, far too long since someone had brought her to the edge of reason like this, and then there was no more room for logic, only sensation—exquisite sensation that made her thighs tighten, her toes curl and her fingernails dig deep into Sean’s skin.

She cried out as she shattered, and he swallowed her cry with a kiss that went on and on, anchoring her through the shudders that racked her body.

Finally, dragging in a breath that sounded like a sob, Jess collapsed, her forehead sagging to his shoulder, her knees almost buckling. If not for the table behind her and the man in front of her, she would have fallen to a puddle on the floor.

Sean’s arms went around her, half an embrace, half to support her, as she tried to regain her breath. She was very aware of the heat of him, her cheek rested against his still-shirt-covered shoulder, but the body beneath was hot, and she wished her dress was gone so she could press herself against him and feel that warmth directly against her skin.

“Hey, are you okay?” he asked gently, his hands rubbing circles over her back.

Jess managed a strangled-sounding laugh. “I’m awesome,” she said, her voice breathy and strained.

He chuckled, too, low and a little raspy. “Glad to hear it.”

As she regained some strength in her pleasure-weakened body, she straightened slightly to put a little distance between them. Just enough to see his face, watch him flinch slightly as her hands spread across his chest. A muscle ticked in his jaw, the only outward sign of his self-restraint.

His eyes were almost entirely black in the dim light of the room.

It took only a moment to slide her hands across his chest to his shoulders, pushing the shirt with her. He flexed his arms and the shirt slipped down and off, baring his chest and surprisingly muscled arms to her hungry gaze.

“You’re so hot,” she said, her hands tracing the heated skin and rounded muscle of his shoulders, across his collarbone, trailing a fingernail down to where the fine thatch of hair spread outward from his sternum. Too late she realized what she’d said had two meanings.

A deep laugh vibrated through his chest.

A blush heated her cheeks, but she shrugged. “I meant it both ways,” she said, darting a glance to his twinkling eyes.

“Well, then, thank you, I guess.”

Jess let her fingers continue their journey south, tracing a path from his chest, down his firm stomach to the waistband of his tuxedo trousers. The muscles of his belly jumped as she skated over them, looking for the button or catch.

After a brief search she gave up, her hands falling by her sides.

“I’ll do you a deal,” she said, giving him what she hoped was a sexy smile. “You get rid of the pants, I’ll get rid of my dress.”

He didn’t hesitate, rewarding her with a wide grin. “Done.”

As Jess pulled her dress over her head, she saw him remove his pants and briefs, walk over to where his jacket was and throw the pants over the same chair. She wondered for a moment about this display of neatness when he picked up his jacket and fished in the inside pocket for a moment, pulling out his wallet.

Ah. It really had been too long if Jess had almost entirely forgotten about that side of things.

Anticipation for what was to come next made her fingers shake as she removed her shoes and scrap of underwear, looking up to find Sean’s gaze on her, any trace of humor in his expression vanished.

He stood there, a few paces away, proudly, defiantly naked. Fully aroused, his chest visibly rose and fell with rapid breaths. The sight alone was enough to send tremors of desire threading through her. Combined with the aftershocks of her recent climax, it was a potent mix.

A few confident strides brought him to her side. He paused, taking a moment to scan her naked body, an assessing, all-encompassing look that made Jess want to grab her dress and pull it on again. Instead she forced herself to stand still, hands by her sides, her fingernails digging into her palms as she fought her discomfort. Age had brought with it a certain measure of acceptance of her body—it was what it was, and it was hers, for better or worse. Now that she no longer had her ex-husband around, telling her that she wasn’t good enough—proving it by making her second best in his life—it was easier to be more objective. But that was all well and good when she was alone, giving herself a critical review in the mirror. It was an entirely different thing to be standing in front of Sean’s careful gaze. In front of a man in the prime of his youth—strong and firm and no doubt used to women who were the same.

“Keep in mind that I’m a few years older than you.”

Sean’s hand flicked in dismissal. “I don’t care.”

She bit her lip to stop herself from saying any further self-denigrating comments and instead turned them inward. Her breasts weren’t as perky as they used to be, and it didn’t seem to matter how many sit-ups she did at the gym, she couldn’t shift the plump pad of fat under her navel that curved her belly outwards. And she wished—as she’d wished since she was a teen—that she was a few inches taller. If she could just stretch everything up a bit, she’d be more willowy than hourglass, and everything would be more balanced.

His eyes finally came back to meet hers. “You’re gorgeous,” he said.

Her first instinct was to deny the compliment, to point out her imperfections. But that wasn’t what this night was all about.

“You’re not too bad yourself,” she said instead.

He took one more step, a step that brought him close, so close that Jess could simply sway forward and her nipples would brush his chest.

But he didn’t touch her; instead, keeping his eyes locked with hers, he lowered his head until his eyelashes fluttered shut and his lips connected with hers.

She expected a hungry kiss, a demanding and passion-filled approach. But instead he nibbled gently at her lips, seducing her all over again. It was a kiss designed to mesmerize, to ignite and inflame, and oh, God, was it working. It took her to the edge of her patience—beyond—and Jess could no longer wait. She opened her mouth to him, stepping forward into his body at the same time, moaning as her breasts met the hot, damp skin of his chest and his tongue surged to meet hers.

“Oh, Jess,” he groaned.

Before she knew what was happening, Sean had reached down and swept one arm under her knees, scooping her into his arms. He kissed her again, silencing her protest, taking her several steps away from the light, into the darker end of Hailey and Rob’s living room. He deposited her on the modern, modular sofa, one end of which extended into a chaise-longue-style arrangement, almost long enough and wide enough to be a bed.

Jess didn’t want to think about whether Hailey had had something like this in mind when she’d chosen the furniture. Jess didn’t want to think about anything except Sean as he knelt over her, his head lowering to her breast. Then her nipple was in his mouth, between his teeth, and whether or not Jess wanted to think was a moot point—she couldn’t.

He made love to her thoroughly, patiently, as if he hadn’t already brought her the ultimate pleasure. He was driving her mad, teasing, touching, tasting, drawing her to the brink and then halting, before beginning the exquisite torture all over again.

Jess did her best to touch him as he worked over her—his firm, fine body, hard planes of muscle and silky bronzed skin were impossible to resist.

Finally, when she was about to go out of her mind, he reached for the package he’d recovered from his wallet and tucked under a sofa cushion while they played. It took only a moment for him to ready himself, and then he was poised above her, his eyes boring deep into hers, the golden sparkle she’d noticed earlier completely gone in the heat and demand of his gaze.

She nodded, as if he was waiting for permission. “Yes, Sean. Now.”

Jess tilted her hips and wrapped her legs around his thighs, drawing him to her, taking control as he seemed to hesitate.

Then he was sliding inside her and they both groaned. Jess arched her neck and Sean kissed her collarbone, his lips nibbling until he reached the pulse point at the base of her throat, nuzzling her, his tongue flicking against her skin.

Jess could only hold on as he built the rhythm, working her body expertly, taking her to the edge of reason once again.

“Jess, you...” he gasped. His arms trembled as they supported his weight over her.

“Yes,” was all she could manage to say, not sure if it was the right answer, not sure of anything except the burning, building ache inside her, spiraling higher, deeper, harder, and then she cried out as she broke apart, feeling his shudders as he followed her into the light.

CHAPTER THREE

SEAN COLLAPSED on top of her and Jess welcomed his weight. She let her hands explore his broad, powerful back, sweeping over the curves of muscle and the bony protrusions of his spine.

He sucked in a deep breath, then raised his head to drop a kiss on her nose.

“Don’t move,” he whispered.

“Why?”

“Just...don’t. Okay?”

Jess shrugged her agreement but regretted it as he moved away from her, withdrawing from her body and her embrace.

“I’ll be right back.”

He disappeared with the flash of a grin, retreating into the darkened corridor. Of course. Jess remembered the condom. Inconvenient things.

Her naked, perspiring body felt suddenly chilled without the furnace of Sean’s presence nearby. And with that chill came a creeping sense of mortification. She’d met him, what, less than an hour ago? She’d begged for his touch, run her hands all over his body and—if she was perfectly honest—would love to do it all again.

But the idea of waiting for him, of cuddling with him on the sofa, enjoying the afterglow? It was all a little too...intimate. A strange thing to think, given what they’d just done.

Suddenly, all the fears and hesitations she’d successfully suppressed earlier in the evening came back in a wave. A cold, horrible wave.

Get out of here. Now.

Jess scrambled to her feet and found her dress. It took a moment to sort out the folds of fabric—she’d removed it in haste and left it in a pool on the floor—but once she’d found the hem, she pulled it over her head and was smoothing it down her body when Sean returned to the room.

“I thought you might like—” His words cut off abruptly when he saw she was dressed. He was still naked—still astoundingly, eye-wateringly gorgeous—and he held a bottle of wine and two glasses in one hand.

The man was sex on legs. What was she doing? Jess knew a strong, clenching feeling of regret at the thought she’d not get to experience being with him again, but the more solid certainty that she needed to leave won out.

“Sorry.” She gave him a smile. “I have to get going.”

“But...” He trailed off.

Jess had the definite impression that women didn’t walk out on Sean Paterson very often.

“Thanks, though,” she said, gesturing to the wine. She could feel a muscle in her cheek twitch with the forced smile she’d plastered on her face. Her breath was coming a little too fast and she forced herself to slow it down.

“Oh.” Sean dumped the bottle and glasses with a clatter on the table. “How will you get home?” he asked. “Do you want me to drive you?”

“No,” Jess said too quickly. It was absurd to be disappointed that he hadn’t tried to object to her leaving. “It’s late. I’ll get a cab.”

“I’ll call one for you.” He took a step toward his discarded suit, presumably to seek out a phone.

Jess put a hand on his arm to halt him. Oh, so hard and so velvet soft all at the same time. Really, Jess, would it be too much to ask to hang around for more? She shook the annoying inner voice away.

“It’s fine. I’ve caught cabs from here before. There’s no point calling one at this time on a Saturday night, it’ll take hours. I’ll just walk up the street to the main road and hail one.”

He blew out a breath and Jess wondered for a moment if he was going to argue or finally get around to asking her not to go. But then he shrugged. “Okay. Give me a minute to put some clothes on and I’ll walk with you.”

“No!” It came out louder and more forceful than she’d intended. “I mean,” she said, modulating her voice, “I’ll be fine on my own. I’ve done it hundreds of times.” A slight exaggeration. Maybe twice.

He gave her a look that made him seem older than his years. “Jess, forget it.” His tone brooked no protest. “I’m either driving you home, walking with you to hail a cab, or we call one and you wait for it here. I’m not letting you head off into the night by yourself. It’s just not happening.”

His commanding tone made Jess bristle. “I’m a grown woman. Old enough to look after myself. Older than you, remember?” He probably usually slept with nineteen-year-old airheads who’d get into a stranger’s car when offered candy, Jess thought, knowing she was being more than a little ridiculous. But the strange feeling of panic was growing, and her every instinct was yelling at her to escape.

Sean muttered something under his breath, then reached for his clothes. Jess told herself not to watch, but it was impossible. He pulled on his suit trousers without bothering with underwear and zipped them up in front of her, seemingly unconcerned by her close observation.

“What’s it to be?” he asked, ignoring her protest.

The quickest option would be to have him drive her home. Waiting for a cab at this time of night could, literally, take hours. It was impossible to know how long waiting for one on the street would take. From previous experience, Jess knew it could be minutes—or not.

All the options meant spending more time in close company with Sean. And Jess wasn’t sure what was going on, but her gut was screaming at her to get away from him. She didn’t know why. She needed to be alone to work out why she needed to be alone.

Her indecision must have shown on her face, because Sean reached out and took her hand.

“Look,” he began with an exaggerated air of patience, “I’m not sure why you’re freaking out like this, but—”

“I am not freaking out—”

He talked over her protest. “But everything’s fine, okay? You’re good, I’m good and we just had a helluva lot of fun.” He grinned. “I was kinda hoping you’d hang around a little longer so we could do it again, but I get that you might’ve had enough. And that’s okay. You only need to tell me how you want to get home.”

Faced with his sensible, emotionless dissection of the situation, Jess’s reaction felt like hysteria. A colder, more unpleasant feeling settled in her belly. If she didn’t know better, she’d call it disappointment.

“I’d like for you to drive me home,” she said after a moment. Logic won out. Of all the options, it meant getting home fastest. “If that’s okay.”

He squeezed her hand and then let it go. “That’s fine. Just give me a sec to grab a T-shirt.”

Jess had put on her shoes but still hadn’t located her underwear by the time he returned, wearing sneakers, a tight gray T-shirt that hugged his shoulders and chest, and his tuxedo pants. It should have looked silly, but instead he looked effortlessly sexy and it made Jess’s resolve weaken. Would there really be anything terribly wrong with staying a little longer? Maybe even sleeping over till the morning? If it had been a long time since her last sexual experience, it had been even longer since she’d slept with a man’s arms around her. Jess liked that feeling. Missed it.

Yeah, right. Sean had said he wanted her to stay so they could enjoy round two—nothing about breakfast in the morning. She was sure that after round two was done, he’d be the one bundling her into his car or calling for a taxi. All she was doing was speeding up that eventual outcome. And in doing so, staying in control of the situation. That was what was important.

“Ready?” he asked.

Jess opened her mouth to say something about her missing underwear, but the idea of going on a search for it seemed too...undignified.

“Sure, let’s go.”

* * *

SEAN THOUGHT he’d encountered pretty much every postcoital reaction womankind was capable of. This was a new one on him, though. He’d seen tears. Giggling. Snoring. Even one unfortunate episode of throwing up, but they’d both been very drunk and it had been a long time ago.

He’d never seen ruthless efficiency. He wasn’t sure what else to call the reaction from Jess Alexander. It was a pity, because he hadn’t been finished with her—not by a long shot.

She’d barely said a word since they’d left the house, just brief directions on how to get to her home. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, the silence in the car magnifying the soft rustle of her dress. The silence reminded him uncomfortably of the final weeks of the one-and-only long-term relationship he’d attempted.

Ten months—it hadn’t been a bad effort considering ten days was pretty much his usual limit. If you didn’t count the last month when they’d pretty much stopped talking to each other. There was still a minor ache somewhere hidden deeply away when he thought about that. He’d actually thought he’d been in love, when in reality he’d just been young and stupid.

“Crap,” Jess said suddenly.

“What?”

“My car. It’s parked at the hotel. I totally forgot.”

Sean backed off the accelerator. “Do you want me to take you there instead?”

“No... No, I’ll get it in the morning.”

“Sure?”

She nodded. “Positive.”

He thought about offering to pick her up in the morning, but after the argument about driving her home, he figured it was an offer extremely unlikely to be accepted, so he kept his mouth shut.

She shifted in the seat again, discomfort written all over her face.

“Are you okay?” he asked as she squirmed once more. He hadn’t hurt her somehow, had he? “You look like you have ants in your pants.”

“I, uh, couldn’t find my underwear.”

“Huh?” It took him a moment to realize what she’d said.

“I couldn’t find my underwear,” she said again.

He couldn’t help but laugh, even when she shot him a look designed to wither. “Is that why you’re twitching around over there?”

“It feels weird,” she said, not bothering to hide her annoyance.

“So you don’t make a habit of going commando, then?”

“No, I don’t. When you get back, turn the lights on and find my thong, okay? I don’t want Hailey and Rob coming back and finding it under a chair or something. I don’t even want to imagine Hailey trying to return them at work one day.” She shuddered.

“She wouldn’t know they were yours. Unless you write your name in your panties or something?”

Sean didn’t have to look to know that she was rolling her eyes at him. She seemed to like dismissing him like that.

“No. I imagine having you stay at their house means they’re fully expecting to have to go through it and remove discarded women’s underwear in every room before they unpack.”

Ouch. That one was designed to wound. And it did. Sean wasn’t sure why—it wasn’t too far from the truth. Hailey had been clear that if—when—Sean brought female company home while he was staying, he was only to use the spare bedroom he’d been assigned. Rob had later said that all Hailey was concerned about was Sean having sex in their bed and Sean hadn’t found it hard to promise that he wouldn’t do that. And he’d once again marveled at his brother’s ability to settle down with one woman for the rest of his life.

“Yeah, there’s bound to be piles of the stuff,” he said agreeably. It was pure instinct to respond to a hurtful barb with a quip.

Jess didn’t come back with the expected rejoinder. Instead she stiffened in her seat.

Sean pulled up to a stop at a red light and turned to look at her. Her mouth was a thin line.

“I was joking,” he said, beginning to feel annoyed. She was just like his family—just like everyone else—expecting the worst from him.

She folded her hands primly in her lap, facing forward. “Of course. The light’s green,” she added.

Sean took off. They were only moments from Jess’s home, according to her directions. If the traffic was bad, it could take up to twenty to thirty minutes to get there from Rob and Hailey’s. But at this time of night, it was going to be little more than ten. Probably for the best.

Two blocks later, he pulled up in front of a series of modern town houses, and Jess directed him down the driveway to the third one back from the street—perhaps anticipating that he wasn’t going to settle for anything less than seeing her right to her door.

“Here’s fine,” she said, her fingers already playing with the door handle.

“Jess, wait.”

She paused for a moment and turned her head to face him.

Sean cut the engine, noting the flare in her eyes as he did so. His annoyance faded. What was she so scared of?

“Don’t worry, I’m not coming in. I just didn’t want to disturb the neighbors.” Sean found Dezzie’s low rumble comforting, but he knew not everyone shared his fondness for the powerful engine, especially not in the dead of night.

“Oh, that’s...nice. Okay, well, thank—”

“Jess?” He cut her off. Sean had always been fascinated by human behavior and psychology. It was, according to his agent and publisher and various reviewers over the years, what made his books stand out from the rest. Yes, he might write about vampires and demons and all kinds of strange and wonderful creatures, but what made his books different was...the word they used was relatable. Although the world of Sebastian Douglas, Demon Warrior was make-believe, Sebastian, his assistant, Robert—a shout-out to his brother—and the people they encountered on their adventures were real. Well, as real as Sean could make them. And the situations they faced, although perhaps not everyday in reality, echoed some of the most common themes of life: hope, duty, loss, friendship, loyalty.

It was one of the qualities that made Sean so good at reading other people.

He wondered if Elvire, the vampire queen who not-so-secretly lusted after Sebastian, would behave the way Jess was right now, if Sean ever let Sebastian and Elvire do the deed. It was something his fans were very keen on—they were very fussy about who Sebastian was paired with and nothing provoked a storm of fan correspondence than a new love interest for his unexpectedly sex-symbol-status hero. Especially since double-agent Elvire had been hanging around since book two, waiting in the background for Sebastian to notice her. And not stake her. Well, not in that way, anyway.

“Hmm?” Jess said, feigning politeness. Sean could see her fingers already clutched around the door handle.

What did he want to say? As a writer, words were supposed to be his forte. Right now he was the superhero whose mortal enemy had flung his trusty weapon from his hands.

“Just...thanks,” he ended up saying lamely.

Her mouth curved almost imperceptibly in the echo of a smile. “Ditto.”

Then she was gone. The door creaked before she banged it shut—must get that fixed—and then in a flash of red from the exterior light hitting her dress, she was inside and hidden from sight.

A strange emptiness followed him home. And while Rob and Hailey’s place had always felt welcoming to him, as he reentered it he couldn’t shake a feeling of displacement.

Calling Suzie inside and pouring himself a glass of wine, Sean grabbed his laptop and threw himself on the sofa that just minutes before had held so much promise for the night ahead. It still smelled of her, of their lovemaking. Only now the body curled up beside his was furry, slightly stinky and already snoring. He opened his laptop. It was time to ramp up the sexual tension between Sebastian and Elvire. The fans were gonna love it—even if he was only teasing them. Happy endings didn’t exist in Sean’s world—not in fiction or in reality.

* * *

SEAN WOKE UP—still on the sofa—with a headache and dry mouth. He’d taken to the red wine a little too enthusiastically after driving Jess home. He’d also written an entire chapter—although he couldn’t help wondering how much of it he would end up keeping. His inebriated writing was often pure drivel, but occasionally it contained a nugget of pure gold—a gift from Bacchus.

Hmm, Bacchus. Sean let his scrambled morning thoughts meander. The god could be an awesome villain, causing havoc by making everyone party orgiastically until they died of exhaustion. Just the kind of enemy to pit against Sebastian. And it could tie in the story line between Sebastian and Elvire that he’d started to write last night, a reason for them to—

An annoying noise—the sound that had woken him—interrupted his train of thought, and it was a moment before he identified it as the phone. Rob and Hailey’s landline, not his mobile.

Whoever was calling was keen to get an answer. The answering machine kicked in but the caller hung up. Then as soon as the answering machine disconnected, the phone started ringing again.

“Yeah?” Sean managed to stumble from the sofa to the phone, but a polite “hello” was beyond him.

“Man! Where have you been? I’ve been calling your mobile for the past hour!” Rob’s voice was equal parts annoyed and frantic.

Sean’s phone was on silent. He’d changed the setting when he’d entered the house with Jess, because he hadn’t wanted to be disturbed. That was too much to explain, though. “What’s up?”

Rob swore. “Stupid Lucy. She’s pulled out.”

“Huh?” Lucy?

“The house sitter—Hailey’s cousin. She’s a university student and she’s met some guy who lives on the opposite side of town so she’s decided she doesn’t want to look after the house and Suzie anymore.”

“Oh.”

“Our flight leaves in a couple of hours.”

Sean scratched his stubbled jaw. He now deeply regretted the impulse to finish the bottle of red. If only he’d left it at one or two glasses. But the way things had ended with Jess had left him with a weirdly unsettled feeling—as if he’d somehow done something wrong. He hadn’t wanted to think too much about that, and diving deep into the cabernet sauvignon pool had seemed like a good idea at the time.

“That sucks,” Sean said, trying to sound sincere. His thoughts hustled to catch up.

“So we need your help.”

Ah. Right. There was the reason he needed his brain right now.

“Can you stay a couple more days?” Rob asked. “Just long enough to organize a kennel for Suzie? If you need help, Hailey’s boss, Jess, could probably give you some advice—there’s a fridge magnet in the kitchen with her clinic details. We thought about asking her to take Suzie, but it’s a big imposition for six weeks. Lucy has agreed she’ll come and collect the mail once a week, and that should be enough—”

Rob broke off as a muffled voice spoke in the background—Hailey. Sean couldn’t make out what she was saying.

“Yes, yes,” Rob said, annoyance strong in his voice. He then clearly passed on what it was Hailey had said. “And don’t forget to take the garbage out when you leave, because otherwise it will sit there.”

It prickled that his brother—his younger brother—didn’t trust him enough to know to take the garbage out. It prickled even more that they hadn’t even thought to ask if he would step in and look after the house for them. It was just assumed that he wouldn’t accept the responsibility.

Just like Jess with her quip about the women’s underwear—Sean hated that people always expected the worst from him.

Especially his family.

Just because he loved words and pictures more than numbers, his family of accountants figured he wasn’t capable of any kind of logic.

Story of his life.

“I was planning to be in Sydney for a meeting I have on Monday,” Sean began.

“I know.” Rob sighed, a heavy, put-upon sound. “Okay, well maybe we’ll just have to ask Jess to pick up Suzie and organize the kennel.”

Hailey’s voice was shrill in the background. Sean was sure he heard the words told you so in there somewhere.

“Listen, mate,” Sean said, raising his voice, his hurt transforming into irritation. He might prefer a more freewheeling life than his tradition-following brother, but that didn’t mean he was incapable of being responsible when the occasion called for it.

“Would you just shut up for a second and let me talk? I was going to say, I have a meeting in Sydney but I can arrange to do it by teleconference. Why don’t you just leave it all with me? I’ll stay here and take care of things for you. I have to be back in Melbourne in two weeks for a convention anyway.”

There was a moment of silence.

Did his brother really mistrust him that much?

Sean jumped in, quick to give Rob the out he so clearly needed. “If you don’t think I can do it, that’s fine....”

“Dude, it’s not that at all.” There was a pause as Rob seemed to choose his words. “I didn’t want to ask, because I know it’s not your scene. But if you were up for it, I’d be grateful. We both would.”

Sean doubted that Hailey would be all that thrilled with Sean’s presence in the house for more than the couple of nights he’d originally been allocated, but he was prepared to take his brother at his word.

“Then just forget about it all. Get your things together and head out to the airport. It’s all cool.”

“Yeah? Seriously? Are you sure?”

“Seriously. Just go...have fun. I’ll work things out. If there are any problems, I’ll call.”

“Just a sec.” There was the muffled sound of a hand covering the phone and an indecipherable conversation. Sean just bet it was Rob convincing Hailey to go along with the plan. Then Rob returned to the call. “Thanks, mate. I owe you one. First the wedding and now this. I owe you big-time.”

“Yeah, yeah. Name your firstborn after me.”

Rob laughed. “Sure. I’ll get started on that right away.”

Sean heard Hailey’s voice in the background, asking what they were talking about.

“You’ll be waiting awhile,” he heard her yell out after Rob explained the request.

Sean smiled to himself at her vehemence. “I bloody hope so,” he said to Rob.

“We’ll need to discuss this further. It could get awkward if it’s a girl.”

“There’s always Shauna.”

Rob laughed again, and Sean found himself joining in. “Just don’t tell Mom and Dad I’m here, okay? The last thing I need is for them to discover I’m a sitting duck.”

“Deal.”

They said their farewells and Sean hung up the call and looked around the room. His suit was still lying over the chair, his shirt a crumpled pile on the floor. Under the table, near the wall, was a scrap of black lace he was just betting was Jess’s thong.

“Home,” he muttered to himself. His home for six whole weeks. His stomach tightened, but the thought wasn’t nearly as scary as it should have been.

* * *

DEALING WITH a potential outbreak of Q fever for one of her regular clients—a breeder of Cavalier King Charles spaniels—was just the kind of Monday morning Jess needed to distract herself from the weekend. Following through to notify anyone who could have been exposed, reporting it to the department of health for further investigation and then moving on with her usual roster of patients—a couple of minor injuries, the usual canine and feline parasite infestations, an infected paw on a gorgeous Irish setter—it was easy to feel as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. While animals and their anxious owners were in front of her, she was focused.

But any moment of downtime, left to her own thoughts, her stomach would slowly turn flip-flops. Her cheeks still burned when she recalled the knowing look she was sure she’d seen in the car park attendant’s eyes yesterday when he’d processed her ticket, clearly time-stamped from the night before.

Ridiculous. In this day and age, it wasn’t as if a one-night stand was particularly remarkable or even that noteworthy. It wasn’t even the first she’d ever had—although the other one had been back in university days when life had been different. Before she’d grown more cautious, more careful. Before she’d been hurt enough to know to protect herself.

And she’d been much better at handling the situation without, as Sean had put it, “freaking out.” His words from last night were, much as she’d protested them at the time, a pretty accurate summation of her reaction. She’d totally embarrassed herself in front of him.

Thank God she’d never see him again. Not that she was ashamed of what she’d done—not really. She just wished she’d managed her exit more gracefully. Without betraying how much the whole thing had meant in the scheme of her life.

The milestone it had become.

She and Mark had been divorced for more than six months now, and had been separated a year longer than that. Jess didn’t want to change things, not at all. It had taken a while, but with the benefit of hindsight she could see just how destructive her marriage had become.

It was just... Sean was the first man she’d slept with since Mark, since the disastrous failure of her marriage.

Jess wasn’t used to failing—at anything. Not at school, at work or in life. Mark should have been the perfect partner. He came from a good family, had a good job, spent his leisure time sailing and had a group of friends at the yacht club. He also had a problem with controlling his temper, a perfectionist streak a mile wider even than Jess’s own and a vastly different understanding of what the word monogamy meant than most of the world.

“Jess? I’m going to pack up if that’s okay.”

Jess’s temporary vet nurse, Andrea, interrupted her train of thoughts and stirred her back into action. “Of course. What time is it?”

“Almost six.”

“Okay, sure. If you clean up in here, I’ll go out and finish up at the front desk.”

Jess straightened her navy tunic top, embroidered with the clinic’s logo on the top left pocket, and headed out to the reception area. She straightened up the display of cat food that sat on the desk and headed for the computer. It was going to be a busy few weeks until Margie returned from her cruise. Why she’d let her two staff members take leave at the same time was a mystery explained entirely by the fact that she was a complete soft touch as a boss.

At least once Margie was back the administration side of things would be out of Jess’s hands again—that had never been her strong suit. But it was going to be a long six weeks until Hailey returned from her honeymoon. Andrea was good, but Hailey was better. Besides, Hailey was a friend. Even if her only topic of conversation for the past few weeks had been the wedding, Jess was going to miss her.

It took half an hour to close out the register and the credit card machine—mostly because Jess wasn’t entirely sure whether she was doing it right. In that time Andrea had mopped the floors and packed away the surgery ready for the morning. A little too quick for Jess’s liking, and she made a mental note to come in early and check that it had been done to her satisfaction. Jess was used to Hailey’s level of perfection; she never left so much as a stray hair behind. Right now, though, Jess just wanted to get home—she was too tired to think straight. It hadn’t been an especially busy day workwise, but the emotional workout she’d been putting herself through had taken its toll.

“See you tomorrow?” Andrea appeared in front of her, purse already over her shoulder.

Jess gave a tight smile. “See you tomorrow. Can you lock the front door behind you when you leave? I’m going out the back.”

“Sure. Bye.”

The bell over the door jangled loudly as Andrea shut the door firmly behind her. She’d certainly made a fast exit tonight. Maybe she had something important to do. Maybe she had someone important to get home to. Jess wasn’t sure if she missed that feeling or not.

She had only just left reception when a loud knock at the front door drew her back. “Is that you, Andrea?” she called out. “Did you forget something?”

She unlocked the dead bolt in the door and opened it, expecting to see Andrea’s face.

What she found instead made her trip over her own feet.

If she hadn’t been holding the door, she’d have ended up on her ass...in front of him.

Sean Paterson.

Just as gorgeous as she remembered.

Only instead of his winning smile and twinkling eyes, today his brow was creased and his mouth tight. His hair was flat and mussed—no product in it to style it into the spikes he’d worn on Saturday.

But his harried appearance and worried expression didn’t stop her stomach from ending up somewhere near her throat.

“What are you doing here?” she blurted, shock getting the better of her. One-night-stand-Sean was supposed to be long gone by now. Moved on to a new city and a new conquest. That was the thought that had been sustaining her each time she relived how badly she’d handled things on Saturday night. At least I never have to see him again.

“Jess, I’m sorry. I didn’t know what else to do. Suzie chewed a pack of headache pills.”

Beside him, Hailey and Rob’s golden retriever woofed happily at Jess. The dog’s tail banged against the window as she tried to stuff herself inside the door, past the man blocking the way. She had to be the only dog in the world that actually wanted to go to the vet.

Jess stepped back and opened the door wider, ignoring the leap in her pulse. “Well, then, you’d better come in.”

CHAPTER FOUR

“HOW MANY PILLS did she swallow, do you know?” Jess led the way back into the surgery. If she focused on Suzie, she could forget the cold, sick mortification that was seeping into every inch of her body, making her shiver. Couldn’t she?

For her part, Suzie trotted along happily, comfortable in familiar surroundings.

“I don’t know for sure.” His voice was strained, such a difference from the charming, unshakably confident man from the wedding. “I brought the pack with me. There were only two missing when she got at it, otherwise it was full.”

Sean fished in his canvas jacket pocket and pulled out a well-chewed cardboard box and two blister packs.

Jess grimaced.

“Is it bad? It’s bad, isn’t it? Oh, God.”

“It’s not great, but let’s not jump to conclusions just yet.” It was easy to slip into her well-rehearsed pet-owner-reassuring tone. Thank goodness she’d had years of practice. “Okay, let’s take a look.”

“You want me to lift Suzie up on the table?”

“No, let’s take a look at the pack first, see if we can work out how many she might have ingested.” Jess refilled a bowl of water that had been cleaned and put away and set it down for the dog. “Here you go, Suzie. Have a big drink.”

Sean spread out the damaged pack and a crumpled paper towel on the stainless-steel table in the center of the room.

“These are what I managed to get out of her mouth.” He gestured to the paper towel and Jess leaned closer to see a couple of chewed capsules inside.

“Good,” she said. Not everyone was brave enough to reach into a dog’s mouth and pull out whatever it was chewing—even with a dog as placid as Suzie. She had to give him credit for that. “Okay, let’s see what the damage is.”

Together they carefully took apart the soggy packaging, counting the pierced blister pack, piecing together the chewed remains in the paper towel. By the time they’d finished their stock taking, it appeared the still-cheerful dog—now happily sniffing her way around the surgery—had likely only swallowed two full pills.

“You’re lucky,” Jess said with a genuine sigh of relief. “In a dog Suzie’s size, two isn’t likely to cause any serious effects. They should clear her system overnight.”

“Thank God,” Sean said. He blew out a breath and leaned heavily on the table before letting out a nasty expletive. “Stupid dog. What kind of animal thinks a green-and-white cardboard box is edible?”

Jess didn’t pay much attention to his anger—it was a pretty common response. “Most dogs will test out just about anything as food. And some medical capsules have a slightly sweet coating to help people swallow them, so I don’t know—maybe they tasted good to her. Suzie isn’t the first dog to give them a try, unfortunately.” Jess found Suzie thoroughly sniffing out a corner of the surgery. She crouched down to the dog’s level and checked her vitals, although Suzie was more interested in licking Jess’s face.

“Okay, okay,” Jess said with a laugh, backing away. “Thanks for the tongue-bath, Suzie. I think she’s going to be fine.” She wiped her face with the back of her hand.

“Now what?” asked Sean.

“You just need to observe her closely for the next few hours.” Jess scratched Suzie behind the ears. “Keep an eye on her, and if she begins to show any signs of sluggishness, starts vomiting or seems wobbly on her legs, you’ll need to take her straight to the twenty-four-hour animal hospital in Caulfield. That’s the closest to Hailey and Rob’s place.”

“Oh.”

Something about the tone of his voice made her glance up. As she did, a memory from Saturday night washed over her—the naked bunch of muscle in Sean’s arm as he’d leaned over her, body poised to kiss her intimately. The scarlet heat of a blush started somewhere near her toes, but reached her hairline in mere seconds.

Thankfully he seemed too busy fiddling with getting his phone out of his pocket to notice.

“I don’t suppose,” he said, frowning at whatever his phone was telling him, “you could keep her here for observation?”

“What, do you have a date?”

Jess would have given anything to take the words back, to collect them from the air and stop them from ever being said. But no, they were out there, for better or worse.

“What?” He looked confused for a moment, but then that confident, slightly smug expression was back, complete with the almost smile that tugged at the corner of his mouth and had to make any mortal woman weak at the knees. “A date? Now, why would you ask that?”

Jess stood and moved to the other side of the table, putting distance between them as she fought to regain her composure. She didn’t want Suzie to be sick, but if the dog could fake a fainting spell right now, she’d be everlastingly grateful.

“I just meant, you must have plans. If you can’t look after Suzie.” Lame, lame, lame.

“I have things to do,” he said.

She knew he was being deliberately vague, just to taunt her. Frustration at his carefree nonchalance finally won out over her embarrassment. “Well, things will have to wait,” she said sharply. “I don’t have the facilities to keep animals here overnight.”

The smile was gone. Sean looked once again strained and unhappy. “I should have known this wouldn’t work,” he muttered.

“What wouldn’t work?”

“Me, dog-sitting.”

“Huh?” Sean dog-sitting? In fact, what was he even doing here? Wasn’t he supposed to be in Sydney by now? “Why are you dog-sitting? Why isn’t Hailey’s cousin looking after Suzie while she house-sits?”

“Ah, you missed the last-minute change of plans. The cousin dropped out. I’m the house sitter.”

“You’re looking after Hailey and Rob’s house? For six weeks?” Her voice rose and she heard the shrill note. What had happened to fly-by-night Sean, here and gone again before she knew it?

“I know.” His shoulders fell, and Jess would have sworn he looked somehow defeated. “I should have known it was a bad idea. I already had to get a plumber in to fix the dishwasher this morning.”

If Hailey and Rob had been stupid enough to leave him in charge of their home and their dog, they probably deserved to come home to a ruined house, women’s underwear scattered everywhere and a sick pet. But as much as the thought was satisfying, she also knew she couldn’t let it happen—she loved Suzie too much for a start.

“Well, then, you’re just going to have to put on your big-boy pants and adapt to the responsibility.” Jess put her hands on her hips, preparing herself for a lecture. “If Rob and Hailey trusted you to—”

“God, not you, too!” Sean threw his hands in the air. “Do you think I didn’t get enough of that shit at the wedding?”

Jess didn’t want to feel sorry for him. Between that sexy smile and those puppy-dog eyes, she was pretty sure Sean never had to try very hard to achieve anything in life. People must just cave to his wishes all the time. But right now? Right now he looked stressed and slightly panicked, like a cornered dog in an unfamiliar environment.

“Look, Sean,” she tried again, with a more conciliatory tone this time. “It’s not a big deal. All you have to do is stay home tonight and keep a close eye on Suzie for the next four hours or so. If she hasn’t shown any symptoms by then, you can rest easy.” She nearly said “go to bed easy” but stopped herself just in time. She didn’t want to put bed and Sean in the same sentence, even in her head.

Sean scrubbed his face with both hands, his palms against his stubble making a rasping noise. “It’s just...”

He looked at her then, his green-and-gold eyes piercing. “I have a meeting, a teleconference, that’s going to take a couple of hours. It’s a pretty important one and I need to concentrate. I can’t change it, but I don’t want to leave Suzie unsupervised. There’s no one else I can call on.... Help me out, please.”

Jess wasn’t sure if it was the pleading tone in his voice or the bewitching spell of his eyes, but she believed him. She was probably just a sucker. Mark had used similar tactics to protest his innocence and she’d believed him, too—the first couple of times, anyway. After that, the deception had been on both sides—Mark deceiving her, Jess deceiving herself.

She didn’t want to give in, but she already knew she was going to.

“I don’t... Okay,” she said finally with a sigh that she hoped communicated the fact that she wasn’t necessarily happy about it. “I’ll watch Suzie.”

The lines between his brows eased as his eyebrows lifted in surprise. “You will?”

Jess rolled her eyes. As if he didn’t fully expect everyone to capitulate to his every whim. “Yes. I’m a chump, but I will. I’m only doing this for Suzie, though. You’d better—”

“Thank you!” Sean leaped around the table, grasped her face in both hands and planted a kiss right on her lips. Before Jess had even comprehended what he’d done, he’d pulled away again and was crouched down in front of where Suzie sat, rubbing her sides. “Oh, Suzie, Suzie, Suzie. You are a daft dog.”

Jess managed to stop herself from pressing her fingers to her tingling lips. But only just.

She knew she should say something, but for a moment all she could do was watch as Sean made funny faces at Suzie. He tickled her chin. “But even if you are dippy, I’m growing kinda fond of you.” Then he grabbed the dog’s head and pressed his lips to her cheek with a loud smacking noise.

That was how much his kiss meant.

“Don’t cause any trouble for the lovely Jess, will you?” He stood up and checked his watch—one of those oversize, expensive, diving kinds. “Crap, I’ll only just make it. Thanks, Jess, you’re a lifesaver. I’ll pick up Suzie as soon as I’m done. From your place?”

Jess nodded dumbly.

“Cool. Thanks again. See you later.”

The bell on the front door rang loudly as he made his exit, the building strangely silent for a beat afterward. As if he’d taken some kind of vital energy out the door with him.

Jess stood still, her brain taking a moment to catch up with everything.

“So, Suzie,” she finally said into the silent room, “I’m not sure which of us gets the medal for biggest idiot tonight.”

The dog banged her tail on the floor, recognizing her name. She looked up questioningly, as if asking for an explanation of what had just happened.

“Don’t look at me like that. He...he has superpowers of some kind.” He must—it was the only way to explain how she’d not only ended up taking on his responsibility for Suzie, but would also end up seeing him again. On the plus side, he hadn’t said anything about her embarrassing departure on Saturday night. Not that the opportunity to do so had really arisen.

“All right, come on then.” Suzie got up and followed obediently as Jess locked up the surgery again and headed out to the back alley behind the building where she parked her car. It was dark, but the security light she’d had installed clicked on as soon as she stepped away from the door.

“Don’t get too excited,” Jess warned as Suzie jumped into the backseat and settled down as if she’d been in there a hundred times. “If you start to look any less cheerful, I’m going to make you vomit.” She waggled a finger at the dog as she closed the door. “That’s what you get for indulging yourself without thinking first.”

Jess didn’t know what her own punishment was going to be for the same crime, but a perverse, contradictory part of her was almost looking forward to it.

* * *

IT WAS RAINING by the time Sean’s conference call was over, and he drove carefully to Jess’s place on the slick roads. The meeting had taken much longer than he’d thought and he hoped Jess wasn’t going to be too annoyed by the lateness of the hour.

His fingers tapped against the steering wheel as he recalled the discussion with his agent and the studio executives. Getting one of his books made into a movie was going to be a thrilling achievement. It would be solid, irrefutable evidence of his success—something that even his family couldn’t deny.

That was, of course, if it ever actually happened. So far, the whole experience had been one of the most frustrating and aggravating things he’d ever done in his life.

He sighed and backed off the accelerator a little. His annoyance wasn’t worth a speeding ticket or—God forbid—an accident. Dezzie was too precious.

It’s all going to be worth it.

Seeing Sebastian Douglas on the big screen was finally going to bring him a measure of peace. Topping the New York Times bestseller list hadn’t been enough to impress his family. But a movie with one of Hollywood’s most famous names starring? They couldn’t dismiss his success then.

It’s not quite there, Sean. Still a bit of work to be done. That was the weaselly language the studio exec had used during the meeting about the screenplay. What the hell did that mean, exactly?

We want to get this off the ground soon. So you’ve got to give us your best, or we’re going to take it out of your hands and call in the script doctors. The threat was clear. Sean was an author, not a screenwriter, but he’d wanted to maintain control over his creation. So he’d written the script himself in defiance of the studio’s wishes. And that was potentially going to be the death of the whole project.

That and whether or not some precious director was available to do the job.

His agent had hung on the line after the exec had disconnected to reassure him. But the ego boost was unnecessary. What Sean needed was space. Room to concentrate. Time to get his head back into the draft he’d written more than a year ago and do whatever it was that would finally get Sebastian Douglas, Demon Warrior the green light.

Perhaps this house-sitting thing was meant to be. Six weeks in one place would ground him enough to focus on the script. And it might even help him meet the deadline on his new book that was approaching far too quickly for his liking, especially since he was having troubles with the werewolf characters he’d decided to incorporate.

Sean pulled up in front of Jess’s building, but stayed a moment in his car to update his Twitter account. It had been a while since he’d given the crew a progress report.

Hi, crew! Staying put in Melb for a few weeks working on Sebastian stuff for you guys. It’s supersecret, but it’s gonna be good, I promise.

Within seconds there were multiple responses filling his phone’s screen.

You tease! Can’t wait. Sebastian is my dream.

Yippee! *Happy dancing*

Make Elvire give up on Roman and get with Sebastian, okay?

We love you, Sean!

He knew it was shallow, but the responses made him feel better, salving his bruised ego. In some ways, his readers—the crew, as he liked to call them—were a substitute family. A family that admired his success and appreciated his hard work.

Before he closed down the Twitter application, a direct message popped up.

Sean, if U R in Melb for a while can I organize a fan meet-up?

It was from Rachel, the self-appointed manager of his unofficial “fan club.” She called herself RachElvire on Twitter and her avatar online was a picture of herself in full Elvire costume hugging him at one of the comic conventions he’d attended last year. She seemed to turn up at every book signing, appear at every convention he attended and always seemed to know which hotel he was staying in.

But apart from a fondness for dressing like a vampire, she seemed pretty harmless, and her Sebastian Unauthorized Wiki website had been one of the first in an explosion of online fandom for Sebastian and his adventures. She’d even flown all the way to Sydney for the launch event of his latest book and had proudly presented him with a box full of cookies baked in the unique shape of Sebastian’s favorite dagger. They’d been delicious.

He typed back to Rachel:

I’ll let you know. I have a deadline, so it depends on how the work goes.

He enjoyed attending the occasional fan meet-up. But they were starting to get a little out of hand. The last one, in a café in Richmond, had the café’s owner calling a halt to everything when regular customers couldn’t get in the door for their coffees.