She disappeared into the bathroom, and he sank onto the mattress of a mahogany four-poster bed, a little surprised she’d reserved a room with a king-sized bed. She seemed very controlled, not at all the sort of woman who’d spread out in bed. He’d
have thought she’d occupy one, very small corner of it.The room itself was surprising, because it qualified as a suite. The heavy reproduction furniture was fashioned of the same mahogany found on the bed and complemented by a brass chandelier and decorative fireplace.

Rhea couldn’t be hurting financially if she could afford to stay in a joint like this.

A sharp rap on the door drew him to his feet, and he crossed the expensively decorated room, expecting a maid who’d forgotten toput fluffy, oversized towels in the bathroom.

Instead, a muscular young man stood in the hallway carrying his luggage. “I’ll just put these bags inside for you, sir,” he said, shouldering past Jax into the room. He had no choice but to move aside.

The young man deposited the bags and then looked at Jax expectantly, no doubt |waiting to be tipped. But why should he tip him for making a mistake?

“I didn’t tell you to bring those bags up here,” Jax said.

The young man shifted uncomfortably. “No, sir, you didn’t. I believe I saw the lady tell the valet to have the bags brought to your room, sir.”

“It’s not my---”

The bathroom door banged open to reveal Rhea, interrupting what Jax had been about to say. She obviously hadn’t been inside the bathroom primping for their date. Her blonde-brown hair was still in the loose bun, and she’d washed off what little makeup she’d been wearing. Her dress was wrinkled, and her skin even paler than before.

She looked so enticing that Jax’s mouth watered.

“Oh, good,” she said when she saw the bell boy. “Your bags are here.”

She crossed the room, picked up her purse, withdrew a bill and handed it to the bell boy, who beat a hasty retreat out the door. He shut it, leaving them alone in the room.

Jax thought for a minute, but nothing he came up with made sense. She was standing six feet from him, as though carefully trying to keep her distance, which further confused the matter.

“Let me see if I’ve got this straight,” he said slowly. “You told the bell staff to have my bags brought up to your room?”

“That’s correct.” Her words were bold, but she twisted one hand with the other, a sure sign that she was nervous.

“Why?”

“For heaven’s sake.” The tempo of her hand twist reached double time. A muscle in her jaw twitched. “How do you expect to do it if we’re in separate rooms?”

Jax stared at her, completely at a loss, but she wouldn’t meet his eyes. “Do what?”

She put her hands on her hips, and the sack cloth bunched up against her body in a way that gave him his first glimpse of the shape underneath. Not that she was ever going to let him see that shape.

“Do what?” he repeated when she didn’t answer.

“Have sex,” she hissed under her breath.

Everything in his body went still, even the blood running through his veins. He banged one ear, then the other, because suddenly they weren’t working correctly. “Excuse me? I don’t think I heard what you said.”

“Sex,” she shouted, as though he should have comprehended the incomprehensible. Seeming to remember propriety, she lowered her voice. “We can’t very well have sex if we’re in separate rooms.”

“You want to have sex with me?” His voice cracked, parts of his body leaped to attention, his mind whirled.

“Why on earth,” she began, staring at the ceiling instead of him, “did you think I was taking you up to a hotel room?”

He’d thought they were going to have lunch. Jax had met his share of women on themake, and this wasn’t the way the drill went. They smiled at him. They made eye contact. They found excuses to touch him. They moved in ways to get him to notice
them. True, Rhea hadn’t called off the blind date when she’d seen him, but she hadn’t done any of those things.

“Why would you want to have sex with me when you don’t even seem to like me?”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake.” She threw up her hands. “What’s liking you got to do with it?”