“Thank me?” she asked. “You’re the one who saved the day.”

“You let me. I’m guessing you don’t let people swoop in and take the reins very often.”

They were leaning in, almost nose to nose. His hand was hot against her head, and all she could think about were all the other places she would love to feel that heat. “Most people aren’t even half as good as you are with those reins,” she said.

“A lot of people think all I do is fuck around.”

“A lot of people aren’t paying very close attention, then.”

Even in the near darkness she could see his slow smile. “Are you paying attention to me, Jane?”

“I can’t stop thinking about you,” she confessed softly.

“Thank God.” He met her lips with his, kissing her sweetly.

But she didn’t want sweet. She opened her mouth, sliding her tongue along his lower lip, then in along his tongue when he groaned and opened. Her hands went to his hair, holding him still so she could pour everything she was feeling into the kiss.

She admired him. She was grateful to him. She wanted him. But more than anything, she liked him. A lot. She would have never believed it a few weeks ago, but Dax Marshall was someone she could seriously fall for.

And that was all kinds of complicated. They were very different. He lived in Chicago. He might find her lifestyle interesting because it was new for now, but nothing about her regular life resembled his at all. And he had been her boss twelve hours ago.

But apparently that was one thing she didn’t have to worry about anymore.

She was breathing fast when she pulled back and looked at him. He was amazing, and he was making her look at everything differently.

“Temporary reprieves can be very, very nice,” she said softly.

“I will reprieve you any time,” he said with a wicked smile.

“I mean it,” she said, running her hand along his jaw. “I see how it can be important and can lead to more, even lasting, things.”

His smile died and he swallowed hard. “I’m glad.”

“There’s a lever on the side of your seat,” she said. “I would really like it if you would move your seat back as far as it will go.”

He did without question or pause.

Jane climbed over and into his lap, straddling his thighs.

His hands settled on her hips and she cupped his face. “I’m not going to ask again, but know this,” she said. “If you did not give up your shares in the company and you are still my boss after this, I will do terrible things to your gummy bears.”

10

Dax huffed out a laugh. “Noted. Headless gummy bears if you end up having sex with the boss.”

“I was thinking more like poisoned gummy bears,” she said. “But let’s say headless, poisoned gummy bears to cover it.”

“Got it.”

Then she kissed him. Deep and wet and hot. He tasted like hot fudge with a hint of salt from the peanuts in his sundae. A man shouldn’t taste that good.

She wiggled on his lap, loving the way his fingers curled into her hips as if wanting to hold her closer. He was hot and hard behind his zipper and she pressed close, grinding, not caring that she hadn’t made out in a car since high school. A guy also shouldn’t feel this good.

Dax’s answering groan, and the way his hands spread out on her ass pulling her down against him even more firmly fired her blood. She wanted him. She’d never wanted a guy like this. She’d been holding back for a number of reasons, but none of them mattered when he reached down to the side of the seat and hit the lever that tipped the seat back nearly flat.

She went with him, not wanting to stop kissing him. Ever.

His hands slid up and down her back, rubbing, teasing her skin through the cotton.

It was nice. He wasn’t in a huge hurry to strip her. He seemed content just to kiss and touch.

But she wasn’t. Jane sat up suddenly, whipping her shirt up and over her head, tossing it into the driver’s seat.

She was wearing a basic bra. It was a nude color. There was nothing special or skimpy about it. It didn’t even have lace. But the way Dax looked at her in the faint light coming in through the window made her feel like she was the hottest thing he’d ever seen.

He ran a hand up and down her side, gliding over bare skin, but not touching her breasts. He just looked at her.

“Now you,” she said, her voice husky. She started to push up the bottom of his shirt and he quickly obliged her, grabbing the shirt and stripping it off.

She’d been thinking about his chest and abs since that first day when he’d exchanged his button-down shirt for a Hot Cakes tee.

Jane ran a hand over his chest, the soft hair tickling her palms, making her nipples tingle with the thought of rubbing back and forth over that hot skin. She slid her palm over his abs, loving the way they jumped under her touch.

She really wanted him to do the same. To touch and stroke and tease. She reached back to undo her bra and Dax reached to help, hooking a finger in the front of the bra and drawing it down her arms. She tossed it… somewhere. She wasn’t even sure where it landed because Dax did touch her then, cupping a breast and rubbing his thumb over her nipple.

She felt her pelvic muscles clench tight and heat wash through her. Just that simple touch and she was ready, a few perfectly placed strokes away from an orgasm already. She shifted restlessly on his lap, rubbing against his very obvious erection. The pressure good but definitely not perfect.

“God you’re gorgeous,” he said gruffly. “You look like a goddess sitting up there. You know exactly what you want, don’t you?”

She nodded, reaching to pull her hair from the ponytail. She felt like a goddess suddenly, and it seemed that goddesses would wear their hair down. She shook her head, her hair falling around her shoulders. “I know exactly what I want.”

“You want it here? Like this? Because I will gladly take you back to my hotel and pamper the hell out of you.”

He plucked at her nipple and she gasped.

“I don’t need pampering,” she said breathlessly.

“What do you need, Jane?”

“You. With your pants down.”

He grinned, an almost wicked grin. “Same.”

She laughed and reached for the button and zipper on her jeans. She shifted and wiggled to get one shoe off and one leg out of the jeans.

He just watched her.

“Sorry. Cramped quarters,” she said. “But I don’t want to get off of you.”

“I have no problem with that. Grinding against me like that is almost killing me, but I like what the wiggling does to your tits.”

She huffed out a surprised breath. For some reason, laid-back, good-time-guy Dax didn’t seem like a dirty talker. And maybe “tits” was not exactly dirty talk. But it worked for her. She was hot and ready to go. She settled back on his thighs, one leg in her jeans and one leg out. But that was all they needed.

His gaze dropped to the front of her panties. Also nude in color and very basic. In fact, she had to think hard to even come up with a pair of underwear she owned that wasn’t black, white, or nude. She thought she might still have a pair of red ones somewhere. And there was a pair that was white but had lipstick prints all over them. A lot like that tie Dax had worn to their first meeting, come to think of it. She had no idea where, or why, she’d gotten either pair. The guys she slept with were a lot more interested in getting the panties off than they were in how those panties looked, and she was hardly the striptease kind of girl.