Midnight Encounters by Elle Kennedy

wants were mutually exclusive?
    He needed a bed.
    He wanted this woman in bed with him.
    Why couldn’t he have both?
    “You’re doing it again,” Maggie blurted out, jolting him back to reality.
    “Doing what?”
    “Staring at me. Be honest, do I have something stuck between my teeth?” He laughed. “No.”
    Her features grew taut again. “Okay then, we’ve wasted enough time here, Mr. Barrett. I have to go back to work and you—”
    “Let me stay at your place tonight.”

    Maggie slammed her jaw closed so abruptly she could hear a few teeth rattling around in her mouth.
    Was this man insane?
    Let me stay at your place tonight.
    Seven words she’d never expected to hear, and yet the second he’d uttered them, a thrill shot up her spine.
    Fine, so maybe the idea of ditching Summer and her steel drum and bringing this sex god into her domestic space was seriously tempting. But unlike most people, Maggie was pretty skilled at resisting temptation.
    Yeah, Eve probably that thought too, before she took a chunk out of that apple.
    Maggie stared into Ben’s dark blue eyes and wondered if he was joking. He didn’t look like it. No amusement in that sexy gaze. No I’m-just-kidding-around-with-you expression.
    Did he actually think she would let him stay at her apartment?
    “No offense or anything, but are you strapped for cash?” she asked with just a tad of hesitance in her tone. The guy’s financial status wasn’t any of her business, but she had to know.
    “No, I’m doing all right in the finance department.”
    He took a step back, but she still felt the heat radiating from his lean body. The leather jacket he wore didn’t emphasize his muscled arms or rippled chest, but she remembered those details well. She wondered if he had any other tattoos she might have missed in the dark. Then she wondered why her thighs trembled at the idea there might be more.
    For God’s sake, stop checking him out and focus.
    Right. It didn’t matter how many tattoos he might have hidden on that hard body of his. That was no reason to invite him to stay with her.
    “Okay, so you’ve got money,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Which means you can afford to check into a hotel.”
    “I’d much rather stay with you, Red.”
    Eyes narrowed, she asked, “Are you in trouble with the law?”
    “No. I just need a place to stay.”
    “Why?”
    “Do you always ask so many questions?” he teased.
    “When a stranger asks to crash at my place, yes.”
    “We’re not strangers.” He moved closer again and dipped his head so they were at eye level. “We’ve been in bed together, remember?”
    He had to bring that up again, didn’t he?
    “I just don’t get why you’re asking me this.”
    He sighed, and his warm breath tickled the bridge of her nose. “Here’s the short version, Red. As you now know, I’m somewhat of a celebrity. I haven’t slept in days because the press is on my back for a silly scandal they fabricated. This morning they thought I was abducted. The cops gave a statement that I wasn’t, but the media is still camped out in front of my house.”
    “No friends you could call?”
    “Friends?” He made a bitter noise that sounded like a cross between a laugh and a snort. “Let me enlighten you about my so-called friends. A guy I grew up with, inseparable since we were six years old, I was best man at his wedding. Last year he sold pictures he had of me from his bachelor party for a cool quarter million. Sound like a friend to you?”
    Maggie swallowed. “Ouch.” Then, realizing she’d let her sympathy distract her, she said, “Okay, so you’ve succeeded in making me feel sorry for you.”
    “I don’t expect you to feel sorry—”
    “But it doesn’t mean you can coax a free bed out of me.”
    He took a step closer and lowered his head so that his lips brushed her ear. “I doubt you need much coaxing, Red. It’s obvious you want me in your bed as much as I want to be