Captivated Read Online Free PDF

breath against the fall of her pale hair.
    She shivered, tensing, but he kept his grip steady so she didn’t pull away. He’d have let her go, of course. He wasn’t grabbing her. Wouldn’t force himself on her. But in another second she relaxed against him, her face in the curve of his shoulder. And yes, oh, shit, yes, her hand cupping the back of his neck.
    They danced.
    Someone had been messing with the controls for the sound system, and when the song ended, there were two beats of silence before the same one started again. He waited for her to pull away from him, but she didn’t. They moved to that old song as though it was the first time they’d ever heard it, and Jesse let himself get lost in the heat of her body. The scent of her. The smoothness of her cheek against his.
    She murmured something under her breath as the song came to an end for the second time, but he couldn’t catch what she said. He paused, not wanting to ruin the mood. “Hmm?”
    Colleen pulled away enough to look into his eyes. “I do like chocolate mousse. I like it a lot.”
    “I know you do,” he told her.
    “I’ve never ordered it here.”
    “I just...guessed,” Jesse said.
    Colleen’s eyes flashed bright for a moment before she shook her head and gave a small, embarrassed laugh. “I was such a bitch to you that day, Jesse. I’m sorry.”
    “Don’t worry about it.” He settled his hands on her hips, fingertips just brushing the swell of her butt. He wanted to slide them lower, but didn’t dare. Not when this was going so well.
    She linked her hands behind his neck. The song had started a third time, and both of them moved in a small circle. With every step, her body rubbed his. It was going to get embarrassing in a few minutes, but he didn’t stop.
    “Do you think I’m pretty, Jesse?”
    He didn’t hesitate for a second. “I think you’re beautiful.”
    She laughed.
    It seemed impossible that he could pull her closer, but somehow he managed. “What? You don’t think so?”
    “If enough people tell you that you’re beautiful, you can easily start to believe it, right?” Colleen’s mouth twisted wryly. “And yet it only takes one person to tell you that you’re ugly to make anything anyone else ever said feel like a lie.”
    “Did he tell you that you were ugly?” The ex-husband, the asshole.
    “No.” She shook her head. “He never had to say it out loud. He just made me feel that way.”
    “He’s—”
    “An asshole,” she cut in. “I know.”
    It was the perfect time to kiss her, so he did. He could tell himself he meant it as a sweet gesture, only friendly, but the moment his mouth pressed hers, it was all he could do not to crush her against him. And when her lips parted, opening for him, and her tongue slid along his, Jesse broke the kiss with a small, mortifying groan.
    Colleen shuddered. The brightness had gone out of her gray eyes, replaced by something hazier. Heavy-lidded. She slipped her tongue along her lower lip the way she’d done a few times already tonight, each time sexier than the last. She hadn’t moved away from him, and now his cock was definitely making itself known. She had to feel it against her. She had to.
    The song ended and began again. She looked toward the bar. He didn’t want to let her go long enough to change the song, but as he started to, she turned to him.
    “Let’s get out of here.”
    Jesse paused, an unwelcome but also relieving space between their bodies, his hands still on her hips. “Where do you want to go?”
    “I live two blocks away.” She let her hands slide down his arms to entwine his fingers with hers and squeezed them.
    Everything inside him knotted and tangled. Jesse studied her, searching for signs that the whiskey had made her too drunk to be rational. It wouldn’t have been the first time a woman invited him back to her place. Drunk twentysomethings on a pub crawl, tipsy cougars out to prove to their friends they still had what it took,