Midnight Man Read Online Free PDF Page B

business just took off and I’ve been chasing after it ever since. Haven’t hardly had a chance to catch my breath. I should have looked for larger premises much earlier than this. Though,” this with a sidelong glittering glance at her that took her breath away, “I’m really glad I waited. Really glad.” He swerved and parked. “Here we are.”
     
    Again, he moved quickly for such a big man. A few seconds after stopping the SUV, he was at her door. The rain had stopped and there was a hush in the air. A car whished by, headlights catching him full in the face.
     
    She caught her breath at the intensity of his expression, deep lines bracketing an unsmiling mouth. His arms were open to lift her down. She put her hands on his shoulders and leaned forward. He did too. Their noses touched.
     
    Something in his eyes told her he was a hair’s breadth from—“Don’t kiss me,” she whispered.
     
    “No.” His voice was low and rough. “When I start kissing you, I won’t stop. And the first time we have sex it should be on a bed, not on the front seat of a car on the open highway. So we can take our time.”
     
    He stretched out his big hands, plucked her off the seat and swung her down effortlessly.
     
    They stood a moment, raindrops dripping from the broad oaks above them. His hands were still on her, almost spanning her waist. Suzanne’s heart was pounding. She should be shocked. She was shocked. At the harsh words, at the very notion. She should say…something. Something like “In your dreams, buster,” or “How dare you?”
     
    The images his rough words produced—broad naked shoulders rising hot and hard above her, fevered kisses and powerful heated sex—robbed her of breath.
     
    Power and sex came off the man in tangible waves, totally invincible, unstoppable.
     
    She’d never felt like this in her whole life. Shaky, without bearings, like a toddler taking her first baby steps. She stared up at him mutely, their breath clouding in the chill night air, and then moved away.
     
    “How dare you say that—even think it. Sleeping with me isn’t in the lease.” Her voice shook. “I don’t sleep around.”
     
    His hand settled in the small of her back as he unfurled the big black umbrella over her head and started walking them toward the restaurant. “No.” His voice was low. “I’m sure you don’t.”
     
    Suzanne sneaked a glance up at his face. He wasn’t grinning fatuously like some macho creep who’d just made a pass. His face was hard, unsmiling and serious. A soldier who’d just stated his military objective.
     
    We’re going to take that hill. We’re going to have sex in a bed.
     
    He was a multi-decorated soldier. He was probably used to gaining his objectives.
     
    God help her, what had she let herself in for?
     
    When they reached the restaurant, Suzanne heaved an unconscious sigh of relief, as if they had come in from more than the chilly evening. Moving into the familiar and elegant rooms, she felt on more solid ground, where she knew the rules. Where she could hold her own. In the twenty-first century, instead of in a cave where the man with the biggest club won.
     
    The maitre d’ welcomed them and showed them to a secluded corner table, one of the best, near the huge open fireplace. Suzanne’s eyebrows rose. She ate often with clients at lunchtime here but they’d never been offered this choice spot. John’s dead president must have been a powerful one.
     
    “Are you familiar with French food?” she asked as she opened the large leather-covered menu.
     
    “Yeah. Some.” John shrugged. “But I’m not a picky eater. I’ll have whatever you’re having.” He had seated himself next to her on the banquette instead of across the table and she could feel the heavy muscles of his biceps as his shoulders lifted.
     
    Suzanne lowered the menu. “Suppose I ordered the Rognons à la créme ardennais?”
     
    John settled his wide shoulders against the back of