Harlequin Desire December 2018 Box Set: 2 of 2 by Joss Wood

Author:Joss Wood
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2018-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

“Trust you?” Mazie eyed him warily.

He grimaced. “I’m so tired my eyeballs ache. Leila was right. It will be dawn soon. I don’t really want to spend the next hour driving you to the beach and then heading back to my own place. Come home with me,” he said huskily. “My house is five minutes away. We both need sleep.”

Mazie hesitated. This family crisis had thrust her into a position of intimacy that was difficult to handle. She was a compassionate person. She could see that J.B. was dealing with stress and fatigue. Still, her sense of self-preservation was strong.

She’d been avoiding this connection forever, and now here it was, rushing her far too quickly into the quicksand of shared desire and impulsive choices.

“I’ll be fine in a cab.”

He took her wrist and reeled her in, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. “Pretty please, Mazie Jane. I don’t want to be alone.”

She examined his face in the harsh glow of the security lights. If she had seen even a shred of evidence that he was playing her, she would have walked away. But the hell of it was, she thought he was sincere.

“Okay,” she said, giving in more or less gracefully. “It will only be for a few hours anyway.”

They both climbed into the vehicle without further conversation. J.B. drove with a steady hand on the wheel. His profile was stark. Bold forehead, straight nose, firm chin. Mazie felt as if she was seeing him for the first time. It was clear that his family adored him and that he was someone they leaned on.

At his house, she hovered in the hallway. “I’ll crash down here,” she said. “Why don’t you go on upstairs and get comfortable?”

He frowned. “I have a perfectly lovely guest room right across the hall from my suite.”

“I don’t want to argue about this J.B. Not right now.” If she climbed those stairs, all bets were off. Too cozy. Too everything.

His gaze cooled. “Fine. We’ll share the sofa.”

She’d had no sleep. Her eyes were gritty, and her body was limp with exhaustion. “If that’s what you want.”

Most of J.B.’s beautiful home was decorated in true Charleston fashion. No doubt one or both of his sisters had helped, maybe even Jane. But at the back of the house in his personal den, he had opted for masculine comfort. An enormous flat-screen TV. A couple of huge recliners and an oversize sofa that looked as if it was covered in the soft, scarred leather of old aviator jackets.

He kicked off his shoes and grabbed two afghans from the cabinet to the left of the TV. “Make yourself at home. Are you hungry? Thirsty?”

She shook her head, wondering why she had voluntarily stepped into the lion’s den. “I’m fine. Go to sleep, J.B. You’ll have to be back at the hospital soon.” Without waiting to see if he would take her advice, she curled up on one end of the couch and laid her head on the arm.

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