Sunsets & Seduction

“I’m not completely helpless, you know. I shouldn’t have called you,” he said stiffly.

Tessa took a breath, and swallowed her disappointment. He obviously hadn’t wanted to ask for help, and in particular, he didn’t like asking her for help. But he had, and she’d do what she had to do.

Still, she wished it was because he had actually wanted to see her. Her pride kept her from saying as much.

“I don’t mind helping. Let me find someone to take care of the mess and fix up your ankle. Then I can make sure you get home safely.”

She led him back to the bathroom and while she worked on his foot, he talked to Ken, their handyman. It gave her a chance to concentrate. Apparently the handyman lived close by and assured Jonas he would come over to take care of the window and everything else.

“This doesn’t look too bad,” she said, trying not to feel ridiculous that the sight of Jonas’s naked foot was enough to make her pulse jump, but it was a very nice foot, by all estimations.

“Do you have any liniment?” she asked.

“Probably,” he responded tightly. “I left the first-aid kit out on the desk.” She pulled her hands back, and he seemed to relax a little. Did he not want her touching him even that much?

She got up and went to look, coming back a few minutes later. The cat purred around her feet and blinked up at her, clearly flirting.

“What’s your cat’s name?”

“Irish.”

“Interesting.”

“Fighting Irish, given his battle scars.”

“Ah, that makes sense,” she said, taking a break to scratch the cat behind the ears. At least one of the Berringer men liked her attentions, she thought.

“You’re pretty good at this,” he said.

“I dated an EMT once. I used to ride the ambulance with him when things were slow. I even thought about getting my certification,” she said absently, focusing on the task as a way of resisting the urge to slide her hand up his muscled calf.

“Isn’t that against the law?”

She snorted. “We weren’t too worried about that back then. I wish I had known what happened. I have an organic eucalyptus oil that works wonders, and smells a lot better than this stuff.” She hated the stench of the ointment she was applying. Running her hand over the back of his strong calf to steady his leg, a desire shot through her.

She was supposed to be attending an injury to a blind man, and even that had erotic overtones for her. How pathetic was that?

“You can probably manage your sock and shoe alone,” she commented, “though I’m not sure the shoe will fit unless you unlace it.”

“I have a pair of work boots over in the mudroom. Could you grab them for me?” he asked.

“Sure.”

She made her way through the classic rooms of the old Victorian, admiring the way they had remodeled and updated it without erasing its original character. The last time she’d been here had been to try to get someone to tell her what was happening with Jonas, how he was. Where he was.

The brothers had such a strong bond, seemed so loyal to each other that she found it surprising they would have left Jonas here all alone, dealing with the storm. Still, as she’d recalled earlier, he wasn’t a guy who liked accepting help. She was just amazed he had called her instead of hobbling home on his own.

“Thanks,” he said grudgingly as she handed him the boots.

“You’re welcome,” she responded in the same tone. “Let me see if I can just reinforce that plastic around the window to keep the rain out, and I’ll call a cab.”

“You don’t have to do that. Ken will be here soon.”

“It will only take a few minutes, and it will keep your floors from being ruined.”

He nodded reluctantly, and resumed trying to get his boots on. So much for him wanting her around—he seemed happy to have any excuse to ignore her.

Tessa busied herself adding more tape to the plastic around the broken window. When the job was done, she phoned for a cab. It took three calls to find a company who had someone available.

“Our ride will be here in a bit. Things are getting rough out there,” she said, jumping a little as a crack of thunder sounded as if it was splitting the world in two.

“You shouldn’t have gone out in this,” he said, sounding as if he regretted calling her. “I know you hate storms.”

“Emergency Services has enough on their plate right now, and I didn’t mind. Don’t worry, you’ll be away from me soon enough,” she couldn’t stop herself from adding, hurt and disappointed that he was so obviously displeased by her presence.

She knew he believed the worst of her, but she didn’t deserve it. She also knew from a lifetime of being a politician’s daughter that once people’s minds were made up about you, they rarely changed their views. When she had been bandaging Jonas’s foot, it seemed as if he could barely stand her touch.

“Listen,” he said, running a hand through his already wild hair. “I’m … grateful you came.”

She didn’t say anything, and the silence stretched between them.

“You’re welcome,” she said eventually, and was relieved to hear the honk of a cab outside. She didn’t say anything else, either. What was there to say? She thought that she cared for Jonas; they definitely had chemistry, or so she thought. But she wasn’t going to beg him to be with her. Still, it hurt.

“What about Irish?”

“He’ll be okay. He doesn’t do well being transported, and his food, water and bed are here.”

“Okay. If you’re sure he’s okay.”

“He has a cat door in the back if he needs to get out, but he usually just hunkers down at night.”

“Let’s go, then,” she said, and he pulled back when she took his hand.

“Cripes, Jonas, relax. I’m just helping you out to the cab, not trying to come on to you,” she said, gritting her teeth.

He blew out a breath, seeming as tense as she was. “It’s not you, Tessa. I hate this, my situation and being led around like a poodle all the time,” he admitted.

Her own aggravation softened. He was a protector, a man who wasn’t used to being vulnerable. He stood in front of others who were. She put her own feelings aside, realizing how difficult this was for him. He let her lead him out through the maelstrom to the shelter of the cab.

“Hardly a poodle. More like a rottweiler with a nasty temper,” she muttered under her breath as they climbed inside the cab, and thought she might have seen him smile, just a little.

TESSA ALMOST BOLTED from the cab by the time they reached her store. The silent tension between her and Jonas was intolerable.

“No more fares,” the cabbie said, looking back at them as she started to get out, but Jonas didn’t.

“My friend needs you to take him home,” she said to the driver, who shook his head vehemently.

“No more fares,” he repeated, shifting his light to Out of Service, and staring at Jonas, not that Jonas could notice.

“He says you have to get out here,” she spoke to Jonas.

“Yeah, I got that.” His tone was clipped and short. He was obviously not happy about that option, and she couldn’t help feeling insulted.

It infuriated her, but she held her temper. “You can come into the store and wait for another taxi,” she offered.

She’d call one herself, and make sure she told them to hurry, she thought testily, helping him from the taxi. He insisted on paying the fare, and she let him.

“Careful stepping up,” she cautioned as they ascended

to the shop, and he pulled his hand out of her grasp, taking the railing.

“I’m fine. I have this whole property memorized. It was part of my job,” he said.

She made some faint response, noting that he did seem to move easily up her stairs and inside the door, as if he could see.

Why did it make her heart constrict in an uncomfortable way to think he knew her space so well? That he had committed something about her to memory? It didn’t mean anything, she reminded herself. He’d said as much.

It was just a side effect of his job.

“I’ll call another taxi,” she said.

“Thanks.”

Tessa was on her phone for several minutes, watching Jonas stalk around her shop like a caged tiger. She called one company, and then another, but no one could send a ride for at least an hour, if then.

The city was paralyzed by the storm. The taxis were starting to return to the garage for the night.

As she redialed, she watched Jonas lift one scented bar to his nose and turned his attention to her.

“This is new,” he said, and she blinked in amazement.

He paid that much attention to her products? Most of the time he had acted as if he couldn’t care less.

“Yes,” she answered, while seeking another taxi service.

She didn’t tell him what he had picked up was one of the soaps in her new Erotic Enhancements collection. That particular scent could intensify orgasm. Standing and watching him lift the soap to his nose, inhaling, made her skin warm. Her heart fluttered. From her brief experience in Jonas’s arms, he wouldn’t need any help giving intense orgasms.

“Tessa?” he interrupted her train of thought.

“Oh, what? Sorry,” she responded, shaking her attention away from Jonas and sex. Even when he was being unpleasant, she couldn’t stop picturing him naked.

“Any luck?”

“No, I’m sorry. We can keep trying, but the city is—”

She stopped as everything went dark around her. The store was suddenly pitch-black, no light outside or in.

“Oh no.”

“What?” he asked sharply.

“Blackout. Everything just went dark. Really dark.”

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Um, yeah, but it looks like you might be stuck here for a while.”

He was quiet, and she bit her lip. He certainly couldn’t think she’d orchestrated this.

She stepped down from the register where the phone was, and started to make her way across the store, but couldn’t find anything to focus on, and gasped in pain as she knocked into the corner of a display.

“Where are you? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, just having a lot harder time than you making my way around in the dark,” she said grumpily. It seemed the tables had turned.

“You stay put, but keep talking. I’ll find my way to you,” he said, and she thought she heard a slight smile in his tone.

“This isn’t funny.”

“I know.”

“I don’t know what to talk about,” she groused.

“Then sing something,” he offered, sounding closer.

“I don’t sing outside the shower,” she said, and then, a second later, felt his hand on her arm.

“There you are,” he said.

His strong fingers closing around her forearm reminded her of that morning, and memories swamped her.

She had been so frightened by his call, and then so relieved to find him with only a minor injury, that it had been easy to set desire aside. Well, mostly.

Not so now. Here, in the familiar setting of her store, where they had spent so much time together, it was harder to ignore her attraction to him, stupid as it might be. He obviously didn’t feel the same way about her.

His breath warm and close to her cheek in the dark. She had a feeling it wouldn’t take much to turn her face to his and lean in for a kiss.

“I guess we could go upstairs and wait it out. This can’t last for too long. I could get us something to drink,” she suggested.

“Thanks. I—” he started, and then stopped. Then started again. “I know this is awkward.”

“It is. Here, I can use my cell phone to light the way,” she said.

“Don’t use your phone as a light. It’ll kill the battery. I can get us there.”

“Okay.”

He grabbed her hand this time, his grip firm and warm, and she stayed close as he navigated perfectly to the stairs.

“You didn’t change any of the displays,” he commented as they climbed.

“I don’t, typically. I want people to find things easily when they come back for a second or third visit,”

she said. “I have an area for new items, and they know where to find those, too.”

“Makes sense.”

She did use her phone as a light for a quick minute to insert her key into the lock and let them in, finding her apartment as well in total darkness. It felt comfortable talking about the store, something neutral.

“We’re both pretty soaked from the rain,” she said.

It had been coming down so hard even the short walks to and from the cab had been drenching. “My brother left some things here after his last visit. They should fit you well enough, if you’d like to change.”

In spite of being soaking wet, the heat and humidity made the apartment muggy, and she felt a fine sheen of perspiration on her brow. Or maybe it was repressed arousal.

“I’d appreciate that,” he said simply.

“Wait here. I’ll get the clothes and some towels.” She carefully walked into the guest bedroom and found the Levi’s and a silky black T-shirt in a drawer where Tim had left them behind.

Her brother, a criminal defense lawyer in Chicago, wasn’t quite as broad in the shoulders as Jonas, but they were about the same height and weight, she figured.

She shivered in anticipation, in spite of herself. The storm didn’t seem to be letting up. Jonas might be here for the night.

Maybe … No.

There was no way she could sleep with him. He’d just think she was using him again, to get back at her father or for some blue-collar thrill, whatever. He’d memorized her home, her store, but didn’t he get to know her better in those weeks when he’d been guarding her?

Apparently not.

Could she have been imagining the chemistry between them?

She thought back to their encounter in his apartment, earlier in the day. It felt ages ago. He wanted her—he just didn’t want to want her.

Though in all honestly, she was partly to blame for what had happened to him. She wasn’t guilty of the things he accused her of, but she did bear some responsibilty. She’d set her sights on him, flirting, tempting, and did whatever she could to break his control.

That had backfired big-time. She also hadn’t believed in the threat that he was guarding her from, and he had ended up paying the price for that.

So maybe he had good reason to be angry with her. And maybe this was her chance to make amends.

“Well, I have the clothes, but as to skivvies, I don’t have anything like that on hand, unless you would like to try on something of mine,” she teased lightly as she entered the living room.

He did chuckle then, a gravelly, masculine sound that warmed her blood.

“Not necessary,” he said, and that turned her tease into a groan as she thought about Jonas and nothing between her and him but the thin denim.

Her mouth went dry as she put the clothes in his hands, and then the towels.

She licked her lips, impossibly turned on by him being here, so close and about to take his clothes off.

“You can use the bathroom,” she said quickly, turning back to her bedroom to change her own clothes, and promptly slamming her shin into the table leg.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Though I feel stupid for not being able to find my way around my own apartment in the dark,” she admitted.

“It gets easier with practice. Maybe you should use your phone for light before you really hurt yourself.”

She frowned, but did light her way back to her room as he disappeared into the bathroom with no trouble whatsoever.

Stripping out of her wet clothes, she dried off and applied some smoothing sage and lavender lotion to her skin, enjoying the calming scents. Her phone dimmed a bit, and she knew she was losing the charge, so tried to finish her ministrations in the dark.

Peering out the window as she was slipping on a pair of light capris and a tank, she couldn’t see a thing. Rain hit the glass so hard that the entire view was obscured, and everything was pitch-black, including the streetlights.

She wasn’t sure how she was going to make it through this night. She wanted Jonas, but he clearly had no such intentions toward her. They were stuck together, and she’d make the best of it, but she ached inside and wished things could be different.

Making her way back out to the main room, she did as he instructed and walked slowly forward, until she caught the edge of the flip-flop she wore on the throw rug, pitching forward and landing with a thud on the hardwood floor.

A lamp fell from the table beside her and she cursed loudly. That was her favorite lamp, a one-of-a-kind that she had handmade by a glassblower in New York.

“Are you okay? Where are you?” Jonas called, emerging from the bathroom.

“Yeah, I just stumbled over the rug, and I think I broke a lamp.”

“Don’t move, you could cut yourself on broken glass.”

The next thing she knew, he was there, his hands finding her in the dark.

The scent of sweet-smelling lavender and sage lotion on her skin rose between them as he helped her up and over to the sofa. As he sat down with her, he didn’t let go.

She’d dabbed some patchouli oil on her pulse points earlier in the day. The sweet, earthy scent was traditionally one used in erotic ceremony, and connected historically to sensual practice. Right now, combined with the humidity in the room and Jonas’s manly scent, it was a heady mix.

Or maybe it was the way one of his hands lingered on her back, and the other on her wrist. The storm raged outside, but Tessa hardly noticed.

“I shouldn’t be here,” he said.

“And yet here you are.”

She saw the green light in the tense posture of his body, as if he was using every muscle he had to hold himself back.

Time stopped. The world outside the window was invisible, everything was swallowed by the storm. It was only the two of them, here, alone, and suddenly nothing else mattered.

“Jonas,” she whispered, but it was all he allowed her to say before his mouth was on hers, and they fell back to the soft cushions of the sofa, forgetting everything else.

4

7:00 p.m.

JONAS KNEW HE was playing a dangerous game, but when he had Tessa in his arms, her scent intoxicating him, he couldn’t stay away.

He didn’t ask for this. If James hadn’t called, he wouldn’t even be here. But he was, and being this close to Tessa without touching her was proving impossible. It had been a mistake of grand proportions to accept this job from James, but it was too late now.

He wanted her more than he wanted his next breath, and in one move, he slipped off the thin tank she’d put on, and pressed her bare flesh to his. They both groaned as she twined her arms around his neck.

“You’re not dressed,” she said, rubbing her mouth against his collarbone.

“Not completely, no,” he said, absorbing the sensation of her soft skin and pebbled nipples pressing against his chest, almost making him think he was dreaming again. “I was interrupted by you wrecking your apartment.”

“Good timing on my part, then,” she said, offering her mouth to him. His hands drifted up and wove themselves into her hair, but alarms went off in his head.

What did she mean? Did she fall on purpose? Was Tessa playing games again?

He deepened the kiss, realizing he didn’t care.

“You feel good,” he said, though it was a radical understatement.

“You, too,” she whispered.

The kiss went on and on, and he pressed his erection against her belly with a groan. He ran his hands and lips over her everywhere, committing every curve and shallow of her form to memory. Rolling her nipples between his fingers, he liked when she cried out, gasping in pleasure, and he did it again.

Her responses to him, at least, were real, and that’s all that mattered to him right then.

Jonas gently pushed her breasts together and sucked in both tender nubs at once, feeling her entire body tremble under his. He’d always been one to enjoy sex with the lights on, but his blindness made everything more intense, and this was no exception.

She ran her hands down his chest, unzipping his jeans. He sucked in a sharp breath when her hand closed around him, stroking lightly, running her thumb over the broad crown of his cock.

“You’re killing me, Tessa,” he managed to choke out.

“I haven’t even started. There are so many things I’ve thought about doing to you,” she said on a whisper, sliding downward so that she could taste him, taking his length into her mouth. Jonas took a deep breath then released it, letting her do whatever she wanted.

He set his hand gently on the back of her head, holding her there for a long moment as she drew on him. Not sure he’d last much longer, he pulled her back up against him and, quickly, silently, slid the bottoms she wore off, and then the slight, silky panties, as well. He lay over her, his shoulders nudging at the insides of her knees.

Oh, yeah, his body hummed.

Tracing a line down from her navel to the slick, hot flesh of her sex, he spread her wider, and only wished he could see. She arched, wanting more, quivering.

He flicked his tongue lightly against her clit. He relished the hot, womanly taste and abandoned the light touch to go deeper, rolling his tongue around her, parting her folds and seeking the ways to make her cry out. He had no idea how long he stayed there, the intimate kiss pleasing and arousing him as much as it seemed to please and arouse her.

She bucked her hips against him, but he held her in place, one climax triggering another until she was left spent and panting beneath him.

“Jonas,” she said his name on a breath, the satisfaction evident in her voice.

Masculine pride suffused him, inciting the urge to take her and please her even more deeply. For the first time in weeks, he didn’t feel at a disadvantage. He moved up, he planted his hands on either side of her shoulders, holding back.

“I don’t have protection, sweetheart,” he said. “Do you have anything here?”

She paused and then moaned one of frustration.

“No, and I don’t take birth control. I’m healthy, but I don’t want to risk other consequences.”

He agreed, and backed away, though his body tensed in objection. So close. Like his dream coming true, much to his frustration, except that she’d stayed with him this time.

Tessa pushed up, her arm linking around his neck, pulling him in for a kiss.

“There’s a twenty-four-hour drugstore two blocks down. I’ll go. It will just take five minutes,” she said, already scrambling up to grab her clothes.

“Careful where you step,” he warned, remembering the broken glass. “You can’t go out in this storm,” he added, and she chuckled, a low, sexy sound he liked. A lot.

“Jonas, I would walk through fire to make this happen. A little rain is nothing.”

As much as he agreed, he couldn’t let her do it. He was here to keep her safe.

“It’s dark out. There are fallen wires, looters, it’s a blackout,” he elaborated.

“I’m sure it will be—”

Her cell phone rang then, and then again.

“Are you going to answer that?” he asked.

He heard her grab the phone.

“Hello, Kate?” Tessa said, and there was clear concern in her tone as she turned away to talk.

The wind rattled the windows a bit. Jonas sat back, trying to breathe evenly, letting his body relax, if that was possible. He was hard and aching. It seemed he was doomed to never have Tessa.

Served him right, he supposed. He never should have taken this job in the first place, and since he did, he really had to try harder not to cave so easily to his desire. But when he was with Tessa, it was hard to think of anything else, especially when the world was so dark, and they were here all alone.

She came back to where he sat, done with her call. He could sense the change in her mood, and his own heat waned.

“Everything all right?”

“Remember my friend Kate? The pharmacy has canceled deliveries tonight and she’s almost out of insulin. She doesn’t have anyone else. She’s also blind, so can’t go herself, and can’t reach her neighbor. I have to go get the meds and take them to her. I shouldn’t be too long. Maybe an hour. I can get our other … supplies, too.”