Need You Now (1001 Dark Nights) Read Online Free PDF

of me, so close I’d have to tilt my chin up to meet his stare, which I avoid. Instead, I try to maintain distance, choosing to look at the hard wall of his chest, but my mind is uncooperative of my quest for control, conjuring memories of my hands on his body, while my nose is equally as devious, unforgivingly teasing my senses with the deliciously rich, woodsy smell I’d gone home wearing last night. His scent.
    “This way,” I motion, and this time there is no way to avoid the lead spot he’d saved me from last night as I take off down the hallway with him at my heels. And I feel him at my back, stalking me, his eyes on my skin, under my skin. It’s an eternal path to the office door. I stop, and I decide now isn’t the right time for a confrontation after all. There’s too much on the line. I need to think, to have a strategy.
    Rotating to face him with the full intention of heading in the other direction, I announce, “This is the spot,” to find him close again. Too close. We are almost toe-to-toe and my gaze lingers on his chest, my mind too easily conjuring memories of my hands in the exact same spot I’m now looking. I need space to pull myself together, and I need it now.
     
     
    “You don’t think I’m going to let you run again, now do you?”
    He hits a nerve and my gaze jerks to his piercing green eyes. “I didn’t run.”
    “You ran.”
    “I made a choice,” I say, defensive at how he’s turned this around. “That’s not running.”
    “We need to talk.” He opens the door, shoving it open without moving otherwise. “Go inside the office, Ms. Woods.”
    I consider declining but that’s as good as the resignation I don’t want to be shamed into giving over a simple mistake during my time off of work. He sure isn’t going to resign over this or lose everything. Why should I? Clenching my jaw, I step into the office that is almost an exact replica of Meredith’s. I make it all of two steps when the door shuts firmly behind me, and Jensen—Mr. Miller’s—hand scorches my elbow. I gasp with the electric connection I do not want to feel in every part of me the way I do, and in a blink I am against the wall. He plants one hand on the wall by my head, his other at his waist under his jacket, no longer touching me. Why do I want him to touch me?
    “Did you know?” he demands, his voice low, tight as a band about to pop.
    I blanch. “What? Know? Know what?”
    “Who I was? Did she tell you to seduce me?”
    Anger replaces any other emotion. “Seduce you? Me, seduce you? You have to be kidding me. You came up to me at the bar.”
    “I was at the bar when you got there.”
    “No. No you were not. I’d have—” I stop myself.
    His eyes narrow. “You’d have what?”
    “You weren’t at the bar. I held a conversation.”
    “About helping the bartender get a raise. I assume that was for my benefit.”
    Indignation is instant. “You have to be kidding me. You think I’d have left your room if I was trying to seduce you?”
    “You got spooked.”
    “Finally you got something right.” I try to slide away, but the hand on his hip goes to the wall blocking my escape. My teeth grind together. “Let me by.”
    “So I’m right,” he states, ignoring my attempt to leave.
    “If you mean that I made a mistake. Yes. I came to my senses before I slept with a stranger who...before I slept with a stranger.”
    “A stranger who what?”
    “Who was a mistake,” I bite out, emphasizing every word.
    “So you’re sticking to this story. You really want me to believe you didn’t know who I was?”
    His insistence hits a manipulative note that is far too familiar and opens my eyes. “It’s you who knew, isn’t it? You’re turning the tables and deflecting. You were trying to get close to me to get to Meredith’s secrets. And now you’re trying to intimidate me into not telling her.”
    “Tell Meredith whatever you like. Let’s go tell her together.” He straightens, waving