When love drives you crazy . . .
When sexy Joe Malone never calls after their explosive kiss, Kylie shoves him out of her mind. Until she needs a favor, and itâs a doozy. Something precious to her has been stolen and thereâs only one person with unique finder-and-fixer skills that can helpâJoe. It means swallowing her pride and somehow trying to avoid the temptation to throttle himâor seduce him.
the best thing to do . . .
No, Joe didnât call after the kiss. Heâs the fun time guy, not the forever guy. And Kylie, after all sheâs been through, deserves a good man who will stay. But everything about Kylie makes it damned hard to focus, and though his brain knows what he has to do, his heart isnât getting the memo.
⊠is enjoy the ride.
As Kylie and Joe go on the scavenger hunt of their lives, they discover surprising things about each other. Now, the best way for them to get over âthat kissâ might just be to replace it with a hundred more.
Joe studied her. âI asked you once before, but now Iâm going to ask you again. Is there something going on between you two?â
She tossed up her hands. âWhy do you both keep asking me that about each other?â
His eyes narrowed. âI thought nothing was going on.â
âAnd before today, I couldâve passed a lie detector test on that,â she said.
âWhat happened today?â
She paused. Not because she had anything to be ashamed of, but because she wasnât quite sure what had happened.
âKylie.â
She sighed. âItâs nothing.â
âTry again,â Joe said and gave her the very male universal go on gesture.
She rolled her eyes. âFine. He . . . finally made a move on me.â
Joe didnât budge. Not a blink, not a muscle twitch, nothing, but she couldâve popped corn off the electric tension coming off him.
âDescribe âmade a move,â â he finally said.
She crossed her arms. âAnd again, how is this relevant to my case?â
He just gave her that careful stare again and she thought wow, those eyes of his should be registered as a lethal weapon because she found herself opening her mouth and spilling her guts. âHe kissed me.â
âHe kissed you.â
âYeah,â she said. âDo you know that you often repeat what I say?â
âWhat kind of a kiss?â he asked.
She was momentarily bewildered. âI donât know. It was a kiss. A normal kiss. A nice kiss.â She cocked her head at him. âHow many kinds of kisses are there?â
He just looked at her for a long moment before coming toward her. He backed her to the wall and pressed his big hands on either side of her head.
âThere are many kinds of kisses,â he said.
Her breath had backed up in her throat, where her heart had lodged, pounding wildly. âS-s-such as?â
âSuch as this one.â And then he leaned in and covered her mouth with his.
At the touch of Joeâs mouth, Kylieâs brain stopped being capable of rational thought. His tongue gave a knee-weakening stroke against hers and she let out a shockingly needy moan as she clutched at him, fisting her hands in the material of his shirt at his chest. Only when heâd thoroughly plundered and pillaged and left her boneless did he lift his head and look into her eyes.
âWow,â she whispered, fully aware she was still holding on to him like he was a lifeline, but the bones in her legs had liquefied. âI mean . . .â She shook her head. âWow.â
He nodded. âYeah. So to be clear, that wasnât âa normal kissâ or even âa nice kiss.â It was a âwowâ kiss. Any questions?â
âJust one,â she said softly. âCan I have another?â
Joe didnât have to be asked twice. His mouth immediately descended again, his fingers sliding into her hair to change the angle of the kiss to suit him. It was a controlled, alpha thing to do, but she had only one thoughtânothing about the usually carefully, purposely leashed Joe was in control at the moment.
And she liked it.
She had no idea how long they went at it because she was in absolute heaven. Who knew that the man could use his preferred silent mode to communicate in a way that she finally approved of?
Only when she was completely breathless and about to strip him down to his birthday suit did she manage to pull back.
âAny more questions?â he asked, also a little bit breathless, which was more than slightly gratifying. Dumbly, she shook her head. His eyes softened and he gently he stroked his thumb over her bottom lip. âAnd FYI? Gibâs an idiot.â