Layover (Open Skies #1) - Becca Jameson Page 0,19
of his slice before speaking again. “Talk to me. And please tell me you don’t have a boyfriend or something. I assume you don’t or you wouldn’t have been on a blind date last night.”
She shook her head. “No. No boyfriend. What I have is a crazy Guatemalan extended family.”
He snickered at that. “We all have crazy families.”
She swallowed another bite, took a sip of soda, and then faced him. “Does your mother tell you who you can and can’t date?”
His eyes widened. “Shit. Seriously?”
“Yes. It’s been drilled into me my entire life. Guatemalans are meant to marry other Guatemalans. No one else is acceptable.”
He froze for a moment. “That’s… I can’t say I’ve ever met anyone whose parents were quite so rigid. She doesn’t like you dating white guys?”
Libby shuddered. “That’s putting it mildly. I once dated a Mexican guy and I didn’t even tell her. If she thought I was keeping company with a white military man, I think she’d stroke out.”
He paused again, his mouth full, before slowly chewing and swallowing. “Okay. Wow. So, I’m the first white guy you’ve gone out with?”
“Have I gone out with you exactly?” she asked, pointing out her line of thinking. She’d hooked up with him. Once. Run into him at a bar. That didn’t count. And here she was, doing what exactly this time? Scratching an itch?
Jason fell into thought while he finished eating, and then he pushed his plate away and faced her again. “This is a date, Libby. The very definition of one. I assume you’re attracted to me or you wouldn’t have so blatantly flirted with me the night of the rehearsal and then had sex with me the next night.”
He was right, but he didn’t give her a chance to respond.
He set one hand on the island and the other on the back of her stool, and leaned in closer. “Sex is actually a pretty mild word for what we did and how I felt with you. It was explosive, and you know it. I didn’t plan it. It just happened. I’ve dated vanilla women. Not every woman I meet is interested in my kind of kink. It’s not a requirement. But when it works out, it’s a bonus.”
She didn’t move an inch.
He continued. “When I was holding you on the dance floor at the reception, I had a suspicion you were submissive and took a chance. The moment my demand left my lips, I knew I’d been right. You can’t deny the chemistry.”
She nodded. He was right.
“No woman has ever left me in the middle of the night, however. I was shocked. I thought we’d had an amazing time together. And then you were gone.”
She took a breath when he stopped talking, knowing she needed to buck up and be a grownup about this. “I assumed it was a one-night stand. I was trying to avoid the awkward morning dance. The embarrassing part where we can’t make eye contact and we both make lame excuses and then part ways.”
Jason spun her chair so that she fully faced him. “Did I give you any indication at any point that I wanted you to leave or that I had no intention of seeing you again?”
“No.”
“So, really, the one-night stand was more on you than me. You planned it. I went along with it. Don’t get me wrong. I wasn’t broken up about the idea. Not at first. Who turns down a sexy woman at a wedding? No one. I didn’t realize we would have a connection that surpassed the sex any more than you did, but I didn’t sneak out in the dead of night.”
“It was your room,” she half-joked. How did this evening get off on such a serious note?
“Libby…”
She sighed. “You’re right. I admit it. I went into that weekend fully hoping to have sex with a buff man in uniform. Sexy military guys have always been my fantasy.”
“I’m not sure if I’m flattered or I should spank you.”
She flinched and then noticed his slight grin. He was joking. Sort of. Maybe.
“Don’t misunderstand,” he continued. “I’m so totally going to spank your bottom when we’re finished with this conversation. Prepare yourself mentally.”
Her body jumped to attention. Those were the words she’d expected the moment she arrived. Not “tell me about your family.”
He rolled his eyes. “I would say I’ve created a monster, but I didn’t create you at all. You came to me submissive.”
She shook her head. “See, the thing is, I’m not. Submissive I