Page 8 of Unlikely Match

"I'm so sorry." Her beautiful bottom lip is quivering. "I wanted to see what you were looking at…"

My arms hold her tightly, and I kiss her softly. "Shh. It's okay. I've got you."

She melts in my arms, the fingers of her right hand reaching up to trail along the back of my neck, sending lust swirling through my core. I can already feel the blood rushing to my shaft, the need to take her almost overwhelming. This intense rush of desire is brand new for me. The primal nature of it… My body has been craving Jewel my entire life and I didn't even realize it.

"What are we going to do?" she whispers when we part for air.

"Hold on." I pull out my phone, search the number of the club and call. No answer.

Jewel smirks at me. "Yeah, no. They'll never hear the phone with a band on."

"And I doubt they check their email very frequently when the place is open."

"Oh, I know!" Jewel pulls out her phone. "Stef was going to come here tonight."

She sends a text, then the automatic light overhead goes out. I keep an arm tight around her as I use my phone's flashlight to find two sturdy beer cases we can sit on.

"I'm so sorry," she says again. "I wasn't thinking."

"Gorgeous, this is not your fault. It's all mine. I should not have stuck my nose into a storage room that doesn't belong to me."

"Oh." Her hand flies over her mouth, her skin looking porcelain in the faint glow from her phone. "Are we going to get into trouble?"

I chuckle. "Don't worry. I'll explain. It'll be fine."

"What do you do, anyway?"

Honestly, right now, I'm so busy falling head over heels for Jewel that I briefly get the urge to make up something more interesting, in case she thinks I'm completely boring. Then I decide lying to her is a terrible beginning. "I'm a consultant."

Her eyebrow raises. "You're going to have to explain a lot more than that."

"Fine. I'm a specialist in dissecting detailed company data to eradicate redundancy and wastage, how's that?"

"Neat. But in English, maybe?"

"I go through a company's operations with a fine-toothed comb. Procedures, manufacturing, shipping, supplies. Then I take a look at everywhere they spend money. There's always some overlap, or something that can be done better to make the most of what they have and cut waste. For some reason, I have a knack for seeing creative solutions that they never would never pick up on…probably because they're used to always doing something the same way."

Instead of looking bored, Jewel is grinning. "You're like an accounting collage artist!"

"Well, I guess so. I don't know what that is. But yeah, I ignore what's considered normal, chop everything up and reassemble it sometimes. I guess that's kind of like a collage."

"I love that." She squeezes my hand. "I know it's silly, but I was really hoping that you were a creative person too."

"I'm certainly not nearly as creative as you are. And I sure don't look it."

"Yeah, but you'd be able to brainstorm with me. Visualize things. Think in brand new ways." For a second she looks wistful. "I've known so many people who just can't visualize anything. It's frustrating. My brother Nick is like that."

"Are you close with him?"

"Hmm. Closer than I'd like. I'm a part-time nanny for him and his wife Brandy. They don't want to put Noah into daycare yet, since he's only eight months old. They've arranged their schedules so that they're only both out of the house from ten to three, and that's when I take over. In exchange, I get to live in their basement for free."

I gently squeeze her waist. "You don't belong in the basement, gorgeous."

"Honestly? I wouldn't mind if there was room to draw, and the right light. But the windows are tiny, so I use the upstairs dining room table when they're out, at the beginning of Noah's nap."

"That doesn't sound like enough time."

"I've played around with different lamps and stuff downstairs, too." She shrugs, rubbing her shoulder against me. "I just push the coffee table out of the way and work on the floor. That gives me more space."

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