Page 17 of Smooth Moves
Chapter 4
Cash wanted to take back the words as soon as he said them because he didn’t want to know about Jordan’s love life. He especially didn’t want to know that she had a significant other. For some reason, knowing she might share some part of herself with someone other than him grated.
She frowned at him. “My relationship status is none of your business.”
Man, when she grew agitated, her brown eyes burned with fire. He’d swear they lightened, and he had a powerful urge to watch them cloud with lust while he—
He cleared his throat. “Well, now. It might be. What if this guy you’re seeing is messing with Rafi’s head? Kids, especially young men, can be defensive about the women in their lives.”
She huffed at him. “Please. Rafi’s not like that.”
“Did you or did you not come to me for help?” He finished his second beer and decided to shift to water. The last thing he needed was to cloud his mind with alcohol and let loose the impulse to drag Jordan off to her bedroom and test out her mattress.
“For God’s sake. There is no man in my life. Happy now?”
Yes.“Hey, it’s not about making me happy. Although…you want to make me happy? Give me some of that mouthwatering thing cooking in the oven. Because it smells damn good.”
She grinned. “It is. I can cook, you know.”
“I can’t.”
“Why am I not surprised?”
Cash watched her fiddle in the kitchen. She returned with a plate of cheese and crackers, olives, and a bowl of pretzels. He looked at her.
“Beer food. Figured the cheese and crackers might be too fancy and throw you off.”
“Brat.” He shook his head and dug in, famished. Jordan watched him before joining in, shoving his fingers out of the way when he tookherolive. Damn, but she made him laugh. She didn’t mind getting her hands dirty, at work or at home, apparently.
As they snacked, they talked about work and Reid and Naomi, speculated about what Heidi did in her spare time—bench-press Humvees was his guess—and discussed Lafayette’s new boyfriend.
“Hector likes him.” Jordan nibbled some cheese, and it took work to stop thinking of her nibbling on him. “I haven’t met him yet. Have you?”
“Not yet. I think Lafayette is afraid I might scare the guy.” Cash smiled, glad that Lafayette and Hector had signed on with Vets on the Go! He considered the guys true friends, and he didn’t have many of those. “That, or he’s afraid I’ll steal him away with my amazing looks.” He pumped his arm, teasing, and saw Jordan give his muscles a thorough inspection.
Did she like his looks? He hoped so. Not that he worked out to impress women, but it never seemed to hurt. And considering he didn’t have all that much else going for him, he had to play to his strengths. Jordan, though, didn’t react to him the way other women did. Perhaps that was what attracted him to her. That inability to predict her reactions.
“So what about you?” she asked him after they’d spent a few quiet moments stuffing their faces. She had great taste in cheese. “Am I getting you in trouble with your girlfriend for being at my place unsupervised?”
He swallowed down a big piece before laughing. “Hell, no. I answer to no woman.”
“That’s mighty progressive of you, Conan.”
He really liked the little smartass. Problem was, it would be easier to deal with Jordan as nothing more than a coworker if she didn’t sport such an amazing body. She had a streamlined, athletic build. All muscle and soft skin, but she was a grown woman with the right curves to have him sitting up and taking notice.
As usual, just being around her heated his blood. The woman wore long jean shorts and her work tee, and he still wanted to bend her over and do her until neither one of them could walk.
“What isthatlook?” She leaned closer, and he saw golden-brown striations mixing with the mahogany of her irises. Her pert nose and full lips made her both cute and sexy. And the creamy tan of her skin tantalized him to touch.
He blinked, horrified to feel an erection pressing against the fly of his jeans. As he did his best to think about something else, the oven beeped, drawing her attention.
Thank you, Jesus.
She moved away to get their dinner, giving him a minute to calm himself down and come up with some lame excuse for staring at her like a lovesick asshole. “Sorry if I was staring. I’m just not used to being around you when you’re pleasant.”
“Funny. You do know I can poison your food and you won’t know it until it’s too late?”
“A risk I’m willing to take.” His mouth watered as he watched her bring him a heaping plate of her casserole. Proud of himself for not falling on it and devouring his dinner before she’d had a chance to sit down, he waited until she sat and took a bite herself. Then he bit into the most decadent macaroni he’d ever had. The meat was almost an afterthought, and Cash had always been a huge meat guy.
