on the couch, then sat down next to her. “Okay, friend. Now you’re not on my lap. Dinner, tomorrow.”
But Dennis had told her she couldn’t be seen around town with Slade. That was one of the conditions.
“I don’t know, Slade.”
“Come on. What’s the worst that can happen? You have a nice meal. I hear all about Charlotte. You listen to me bitch about Tony.”
She blew out a deep breath. He was taking this better than she’d thought. Better than she was taking it, actually. “No. One thing will lead to another and…no. No dinner. I’ll call you later this week.” She rose and guided him toward the door.
He opened the door, then turned around. He wrapped his other arm around her waist and pulled her roughly toward him. They were chest to chest, and she had to hold on to his biceps to keep balanced.
She closed her eyes. Being this close to him sent chills down her spine. His smell was intoxicating, his blue eyes mesmerizing. His grip was tight and firm, and pressed up against him the way she was, she could feel how hard he was.
His eyes locked with hers. He bent down and kissed her, chastely, on the cheek, and wiped away the remaining tears. Then he let her go. She swayed, and he placed his hands on her shoulders to steady her.
“If you think you’re leaving this town, you’ve lost your fucking mind, Jessica. Goodbye, friend.” He winked and left.
Holy crap!
Chapter 9
A week later Slade stood in front of the window of the Om Spot staring at perfectly rounded globes encased in tight black yoga pants. Fourteen women stood bent over, all facing a mirror on the opposite side of the room, their hands wrapped around their ankles, asses up in the air. Any depraved voyeur would have a field day.
But the only ass he was seeing belonged to a woman with long brown hair. She had him enthralled. She’d had him enthralled for the last year, actually, ever since he’d seen her at one of his MMA fights. He hadn’t been able look away then, and today was no different.
Slade had been having breakfast at EE’s, the diner across the street, and afterward his feet, of their own volition, had carried him to the Om Spot, where he knew Jessica practiced yoga every morning.
The stubborn woman apparently didn’t want him, or so she thought. But Slade had been relentless. He’d showed up at her house, and she would make an excuse about having to leave. When she was at work, she would try to avoid him.
Yesterday things had changed, though. He’d walked into EE’s and had heard Jessica’s laugh before seeing her. She had been sitting in a booth with the guy who had been her physical therapist—the same one Slade suspected had been hitting on Jess during her sessions. She had been so involved in whatever they had been talking about that she hadn’t even noticed Slade walk in. The man’s hand casually grazed her arm, and Slade, not one to get angry often, saw red. He had wanted to knock the guy’s teeth out. He was touching Slade’s woman! He stormed right back out.
It had all become clear to him at that moment. Jessica really didn’t want to date him anymore, and the “let’s be friends” stuff was her way of letting him down easy. He should have known better—he’d practically invented that line, and here he’d been groveling for the last week. Wasn’t karma just one big fat ol’ bitch!
That was the moment he stopped calling her. Granted, it had been only twenty-four hours, but still, he was resolute in his decision.
And as for watching her at the Om Spot, well, he’d done that while they had been dating too. Hell, even before they’d been dating, when she was with Dennis. But it’d just been because he’d happened to have breakfast across the street. Maybe he’d been having breakfast at the diner every day, but that didn’t have anything to do with watching her doing yoga. It was only because Esther made the best pancakes. Nothing to do with those deliciously tight yoga pants, or those enticing poses that reminded him of all the sexual positions he wanted to try out. And it was most definitely not because of that booty. Nope. It was Esther’s pancakes that had brought him all the way to the diner. Every single damn day. And her pancakes were the reason he was here today too.
“Nice ass,”