Heart Matters by tani shane Page B

“Oh, wow! It’s beautiful! I’m so happy for you both.
Congratulations!” She turned to Adam. “Adam, you are so lucky you
know that? So when is the wedding?”
    “We haven’t fixed a date yet,” Adam informed
her as he took Jessica’s hand in his.
    “I expect to be the first to know,” Niki
rambled on unperturbed. “I haven’t seen you for months ,
Jessi! I know you’re busy and all that but the least you can do is
call. We’re cousins after all but no, Jessi has no time. Adam you
must see to it that she gets away from work once in a while. Look
at her. She’s gone so thin…”
    Jessica listened to her cousin absently,
throwing an apologetic smile at Adam. Once Niki started there was
no stopping her. She pitied Niki’s poor date and wondered who was
accompanying her. The thought made her look around to identify a
familiar face. She didn’t notice any one she knew but she did
notice the man who was seated a couple of tables away staring
directly at her.
    Unnerved the smile left her face but her
eyes froze on him as though compelled by his mesmeric gaze. He
tilted his head ever so slightly giving her a better view of his
face that earlier been caught in shadows.
    Her breath hitched. Her heart slammed hard
into her ribs then started a fanciful tempo that had her blood
pounding in her head. It should be a crime to be so
devastatingly handsome! Not to mention earth-shatteringly sexy and
hot! So damn hot! Jessica felt a wave of heat rush to her
face at her wicked thoughts. She wanted to look away but she found
herself staring back like a rabbit hypnotized by a snake. Breathe. Breathe. Her voice of reason told her as she felt a
slow electric charge of high voltage pass from him to her, heating
her very soul. Wicked!
    Her lips suddenly felt very dry and she
licked them on impulse while still staring at him. His sensual lips
cracked into a mocking smile at her, making her color visibly. Good grief! Did he think she was licking her lips for him? Yes,
you idiot! Jessica almost groaned out aloud. This was so
embarrassing! Her eyes dropped away briefly before his magnetic
pull brought them back to his face to continue their unabashed
observation.
    He had a devilish quality about him that had
her shivering unconsciously. The restaurant lights bounced off his
handsome face, lighting the angles that were chiseled to perfection
with taut bronze skin stretched across it. His jaw line was firm
and his chin held the deceptive impression of a very slight but
attractive cleft abruptly lending softness to the otherwise harsh
disposition of his features. It gave him the look of a fallen angel
from a Renaissance painting. His physique was so over powering that
even though he was seated and dressed in a dinner jacket, she knew
he was very tall and built to perfection.
    Then there was the matter of his lips.
Sensuous, full, hard. Kissable . So totally kissable! She wondered what it would feel to have him kissing her. The
unbidden thought brought a deep blush over her cheeks and she felt
her breath catch. Jessica Cantrell, the frigid queen wanting to
kiss a stranger! How was that even possible?
    Almost as though he could read her wild
thoughts, his smile widened ever so slightly and cynically that the
blush spread to the tip of her nose. She knew she had to look away
from him but her gawking eyes just couldn’t leave the object of
their appraisal. Or should that be desire? They took in his
hair that was the color of deep golden honey and cut in a
contemporary style. And somehow she was sure it would be soft and
not crisp like Adam’s. The color of his eyes was something she
couldn’t establish from the distance and she found herself
desperate to find out.
    “Jessi, hey, you aren’t listening.” Niki’s
voice brought her back to reality and she turned her eyes but not
before her cousin had caught the direction of her gaze. “Oh, ho!
Admiring my company are you? Who wouldn’t? Gorgeous, isn’t he? Come
I’ll introduce you