He's the One, Jane Beckenham [best new books to read TXT] 📗

But why do I feel as if you're the cat toying with the mouse?” Taylor said honestly.

"I asked you to wait because I might want to say yes.” He stepped closer then, and his tall frame cast a shadow about the room.

Tension knotted in Taylor's stomach, and her breasts felt suddenly heavy and full. Remember to breathe. Slowly. In ... and out. She repeated it silently, a mantra as she battled to regain a semblance of control.

"You intrigue me, Taylor Sullivan."

"And you'd have sex for such a flimsy reason?"

Wasn't she doing exactly the same? But Taylor refused to answer her own question.

Cade's seductive gaze traveled her length, lighting a trail of heat to the tips of her toes.

"Depends. Are you going to tell me why you walked in here and offered yourself? Sex is a serious game."

Taylor searched for the right words, unsure really if there were any right ones. “In my business, I need experience."

"You plan weddings; you don't have to sleep with the grooms."

Taylor gasped, but not one single word came out and as the seconds ticked by, the color rose in her cheeks, hotter and hotter. Cade wanted an answer. Deserved one. She clutched her bag, kneading the leather. “I ... get asked questions,” she finally managed to whisper.

"What sort of questions?"

"What do you think? Damn it, Cade, do I have to spell it out?"

"Seems so,” he said with the hint of amusement glittering in his way too sexy eyes.

"You're enjoying this."

"Sure,” he said, not even denying it. He gave another of his smiles, the ones that got her all hot and bothered. She was very bothered.

"I get asked questions—about sex. S.E.X. Got it?” Taylor looked everywhere, but at Cade. This wasn't how her life was meant to be. She'd had it all planned, sorted, just like her family.

"Got it.” She thought he'd laugh, joke, something, but not this ... not gentle. Cade caught her chin in his fingers, turning her so she had to look at him. “So why not answer them?"

Oh, man. Where were those damned red shoes of Dorothy's when she needed them? Kansas looked pretty appealing right now.

"I can't answer them."

"Can't?"

The tip of her tongue washed along the edge of her teeth. “Look, I realize this is on the edge of weird."

"True,” he agreed, much to her chagrin. “It's not every day I have a beautiful lady come into my bar and ask for sex."

Didn't he? Why not? Cade was hunk material. He made her forget—everything.

"The questions are something that goes with the territory of being a wedding planner. Brides get nervous,” she said, hugging her bag to her chest. “They may be experienced, even living with their partners, but sometimes as the wedding draws near, they get skittery. They ask, um ... questions—about sex. Questions I can't answer, because..."

"Because you're a virgin?"

"That's right."

Oh, God in heaven! Heat burned her face. Her scalp. Everywhere. She speared Cade with a direct glare. Don't you dare laugh! Don't you make me feel any worse than I do, she silently challenged.

But he didn't laugh. He didn't smile. What he did was worse. Much worse.

He closed the gap between them. Taylor's body erupted into high alert, nipples pebbling beneath her lacy bra. She could deal with him at a distance. But close up, everything changed. Body heat got in the way.

* * * *

Taylor Sullivan certainly captured his attention. She wanted sex with him. Bemused, Cade stared down into eyes the color of a field of cornflowers beneath a wide blue sky. The kind of eyes that made him feel she could see deep into his soul, understand things he didn't want her to know. Things he hid even from himself. All this from one moment in time.

He blinked.

What the hell was wrong with him? Thank God he'd kept those thoughts to himself.

"Most women who come in here asking for sex are..."

"Hookers,” she offered.

Cade watched her bite at her bottom lip. He wanted it to be him. “I should say no. It's a wild scheme."

"Why don't you?"

Yeah, why not, Cade?

With her hair tied up and the prim and proper clothes she wore and with no hint of skin, it was as if she tried to hide the real woman. Taylor Sullivan in no way exemplified how he thought a wedding planner would look.

Then she smiled at him and all thoughts of a prim little miss vanished, and he realized, with the shock of a man used to making solid, sensible business decisions, he'd found himself actually considering Taylor's offer.

In the past, plenty of women wanted him, but he preferred to do the chasing.

"You're not really my type.” Who's lying now, Harper?

"So what is your type? A woman in shorts and a boob tube with an empty space for a brain?"

"Meow,” he chided. “Not nice."

A soft pink flush colored her cheeks. He liked that. Showed she wasn't as hard as she made out to be. A point definitely in her favor.

"I'm sorry."

"That's okay. I figure it took a lot of guts for you to walk in here. What I can't figure out is why me? There are plenty of guys out there who'd take up your offer."

"Perhaps,” she acquiesced, wiping the tip of her tongue across her bottom lip, an action Cade found himself following in minute detail and wished he could be that tongue tasting her lips.

Damn it. He was hooked, and his arousal had made itself blatantly obvious and him uncomfortable. Embarrassed to be caught like a schoolboy on heat, he moved to sit behind his desk.

"You're renowned for the parade of women you leave behind."

His rumbling laughter filled the room. “You've done your homework,” he said.

"I'm a businesswoman. I know my business."

"And sex is your business?"

"No!"

He could see he'd shocked her. Her eyes widened like saucers, all glistening, and ... innocent. Cade's teeth scraped across his bottom lip. Such a tempting proposal.

Taylor continued. “Weddings, love and commitment are my business."

"Yet you search me out knowing commitment is definitely not my middle name."

"That's exactly why I