I suddenly found myself wondering how I looked. I was wearing lounge pants and a tank top, my shoulder-length brown hair was in a simple ponytail, and I wasn’t wearing any makeup. I sighed. I was going to make the most unsexy first impression on the hottest guy I’d ever seen.
I sucked in a breath and composed myself. I was practically salivating over my roommate’s date, which was probably right up there at the top of the list of shitty violations of the roommate agreement. Feeling guilty, I gave him a friendly smile. “You must be Colin,” I said, stepping back to let him into the apartment. “Amy will just be a minute.”
“Hello.” His voice was cool and deep, and it warmed me somehow. When his lips curved in a very tiny smile, my stomach twisted. He held my gaze as he stepped into the living room, and I wanted to drown in his eyes. I heard Amy come into the room and reluctantly dragged my eyes from his.
“He’s cute,” I said, still smiling, still feeling strange about the way the sight of him had thrown me off balance and wanting to make up for it by being the perfect, friendly roommate. After they’d gone out, I could try to unpack the way he’d knocked me off my feet.
Amy gave me a strange look then rolled her eyes. “That’s not Colin, that’s my brother,” she said, wrinkling her nose in his direction like she couldn’t imagine why anyone would call him cute. “Hi, Jason. What can I do for you?”
“Your brother?” Surprise, relief, and resistance churned in a strange mixture inside my stomach. I was disconcerted and sure it was obvious on my face, but him—he just looked amused.
“Her brother.” That deep, ridiculously sexy voice again. I felt it sizzle over my skin and I pulled in a deep breath. “Jason Wild. You must be Daphne.”
“I…” I tried to remember my own name. “Yes, I’m Daphne.”
“Nice to finally meet you.” He smiled slowly. “It’s great that we’ve already established the fact that you think I’m cute.”
“She’s my roomma
te,” Amy said, wagging a finger at him. “Don’t even think about it.”
“Think about what?” His eyes didn’t leave my face, and whatever Amy was accusing him of thinking, I was now thinking about it too—in astonishingly vivid, erotic detail.
“It’s nice to meet you too, Jason,” I said, my voice a little too thick. He stretched out a hand and when I hesitated, he quirked an eyebrow, making me almost forget how to breathe. Mesmerized, I gave him my hand, and my whole body tingled as he curled his smooth fingers around mine.
Amy’s voice interrupted the moment. “Okayyyyy, stop pawing my roommate and tell me why you’re here, and don’t tell me it’s your apartment because I will kick your ass.”
He turned to his sister, breaking our gaze and leaving me with a sense of loss that intensified when he dropped my hand. I made for the couch and the safety of my book, so thrown by the force of attraction I’d felt in just those few minutes of meeting him that I needed space and time to recover.
Jason Wild.
Handsome, sexy, perfect.
I couldn’t wait for him to leave.
“I miss my little sister,” I heard him say, a teasing note in his voice. “Can’t I come over just to check on you?”
“No!” Amy exclaimed. “And I’m not a little anything.”
He laughed, and I chuckled because, well, at five feet and two inches, she barely reached his chest.
“I came to pick up some of the stuff I left in the storage closet when I moved out, and now you have to tell me who this Colin is. Also, I have to meet him and warn him to treat you like a queen or else.”
“Argghh!” She was laughing. “Don’t even dare.”
They kept squabbling while I tried to focus on the words in my book. Suddenly John Thornton didn’t seem so compelling anymore. My skin prickled, and without looking up, I knew it was because Jason was looking at me. I lifted my face and met his gaze. He smiled. My skin heated and I dragged my eyes away.
It was a new experience, being so acutely aware of someone that I could barely function. I heard him laughing as he teased Amy, heard his steps as he walked past her into the hall that led to our bedrooms and the storage closet at the end.
“I didn’t know he was coming by today. He said he’d come around once he was back in town, but…” Amy gave me an apologetic look. “I hope you don’t mind.”
“No…” I shook my head. “It was just a little awkward when I thought he was your date.”
She laughed. “Not awkward, just funny. Colin is way cuter though.”
“That is unlikely,” Jason said, walking back into the living room holding a box. I agreed silently, watching his muscles stretch as he put it down by the door before coming back to sit on the edge of the couch.
His body was relaxed, his arm draped along the back of the couch with his fingers just a few inches from my face. He had nice, long fingers and neatly clipped nails. Good-looking men with well-manicured hands always turned me on, and he was no exception.