In Hot Pursuit by Joanne Rock

of her shoulders he sensed that wasn’t the right thing to do.
    Damn.
    He scratched his head in the vain hope of stimulating a few coherent thoughts, and took a final stab at it. “But I understand what you’re saying. About taking risks, I mean.”
    Her hip cocked to one side as she shifted her weight. The stance broadcast her skepticism more loudly than if she’d rolled her eyes, but at least she was listening.
    â€œLike tonight, for example. I took a risk by not running to the tuxedo shop for the monkey suit I was supposed to have worn. The dinner jacket was a risk, as was the earring. But I’m not the kind of guy who makes concessions easily.”
    He hoped that was a smile playing along the line of her mouth.
    â€œBut, like you, I know when to play it safe, too. I knew enough to grab the shiny silver tie out of my closet instead of the red-striped one. Shiny silver says I can bow to convention when I need to, right?”
    Lexi laughed. Was this guy for real? Any other man would have run screaming for her door at the first mention of fashion. Then again, there was nothing ordinary about Josh Winger. She stepped closer to trail her fingers down the tie in question.
    â€œMaybe we do have a few things in common,” she admitted, enjoying the way her fingernails rasped against the crisp cotton of his shirt. “But as much as I would like for something to happen between us tonight, I’m still not sure.”
    She’d broken every rule of smart dating by letting a guy she barely knew inside her apartment and then telling him no. But she trusted Josh on a gut level,and she had always been the kind of woman to let her instincts guide her.
    â€œWhat do you need to make you feel sure?”
    His words were surprisingly gentle, coming from a man who looked like he could have been cast as a mobster in a shoot-’em-up flick.
    â€œI felt more ready to be with you when I thought things could remain sort of impersonal.” She knew she had to stop touching him, had to take a step back from his big, sexy body. But the planes of his chest fascinated her, called to her, wouldn’t let her stop the fingertip massage of all those male muscles.
    â€œYou’re afraid of getting too personal?”
    There was a hoarse edge to his voice that made her wonder if her touch affected him as much as it did her.
    She nodded, not trusting her own voice.
    He gripped her wrists in his palms, lightly restraining her. “That feels phenomenal, but I can’t think straight when you touch me like that.”
    Feminine pride curled through her, even though he seemed to have no idea he’d just paid her a compliment. She whispered a mental “in your face” to all her detractors tonight.
    Houseplant be damned. She must have some magnetism left somewhere, to be able to distract this man.
    Josh closed his eyes while keeping her wrists imprisoned. He tilted his head back, just a little, exposing to her view the thick cords of muscle in his neck.
    Then he looked down, his eyelids snapping open. “I’ve got it.”
    Gray eyes locked on to hers, startling her out ofher contemplation. “You do?” She wondered if he was going to let go of her wrists. Part of her didn’t want him to.
    â€œAnonymous sex.”
    Her heart skipped a beat. Maybe several.
    When it started again, it pumped erratically, awkwardly.
    â€œExcuse me?”
    Josh relinquished his hold on her wrists, allowing her arms to drop to her sides. Nothing resided between them now except a sizzling two inches of air.
    â€œYou don’t want to make it personal, so we’ll make it anonymous.” His gray eyes glittered down at her, looming nearer as he closed the distance between them. “No lights.” His mouth brushed hers with a featherlight sweep of his lips. “No conversation.” He kissed his way across her jaw to whisper in her ear. “Just you and me—” he trailed his