Must Be Crazy: (Melissa and Jackson) (A Jetty Beach Romance Book 2) Read Free Page A

fortunate to find you here tonight. Alone.”
    Her eyebrows draw together. She looks … amused. “Bored on a Friday night, I guess.”
    “You don’t have anyone to take you out?” I ask.
    “If you’re trying to find out whether I have a boyfriend, I don’t,” she says. “But don’t get too excited.”
    I lean closer to her. Little strands of hair fall around her neck and she trails a finger on the rim of her glass. Long, dark eyelashes frame her eyes, and she wears almost no makeup that I can see. She is absolutely nothing like the women I usually date, with their manicures and foiled hair and fussy wardrobes. The women I spend time with are beautiful. But this woman, she smolders. She radiates sex appeal.
    And I have the feeling she has no goddamned idea how hot she is.
    “You’re coming back to my hotel with me later,” I say, absolutely confident. When I want something, I get it. And right now, I want Melissa Simon.
    She shifts toward me and raises her eyebrows. “Is that so?”
    “Definitely.”
    She tosses back the rest of her Scotch. “Usually men don’t go straight for the kill like that. Don’t you want to build up to it first?”
    “Not particularly,” I say. “I don’t like to waste time.”
    She stands up from her stool and shoulders a small handbag. “Sorry to disappoint you, Jackson Bennett, but I’m not going back to your hotel with you.”
    She is not turning me down. I touch her on the arm, my hand gentle. She’s already on the defensive. I need to coax. Her skin feels exquisite beneath my fingertips, making me want her all the more.
    “I think you are,” I say.
    She meets my eyes, utterly fearless. “Thanks for the drink, captain.” She turns and walks away, leaving me gaping at her.

I walk out the door, my heart beating so fast I can barely breathe. What just happened in there? One minute I was sitting at the bar, pathetically alone, trying to ignore the dipshit hitting on the girl at the table behind me. The next minute, I’m telling some guy what kind of Scotch to drink.
    And he was literally the hottest man I have ever seen in my entire life. The kind of man you don’t see in places like Jetty Beach, or anywhere that actually exists. If I looked at him straight on before I spoke up, I doubt I would have been able to get a word out. He would have ordered his stupid expensive Scotch and been on his way, leaving me a drooling idiot in his wake.
    But I did talk to him, like a crazy person. I told him what to drink, and how to drink it. Of course, I’m fucking right. But that’s beside the point. He looked at me like I grew a second head.
    And then moved to sit next to me.
    I keep walking, fast, away from Danny’s Tavern. I don’t think I can handle it if he follows me out. The walk to my house isn’t long, and it’s a good thing I didn’t drive. The few drinks aside, my head is spinning. I’m not sure how it’s possible, but he smelled better than he looked. His clothes fit perfectly, straining just slightly in all the right places. All of them. Broad shoulders, strong arms, and I knew he had a set of delicious abs under that button down shirt.
    I’ve never met a man who was so instantly appealing.
    It was fun trading a little flirty banter with him. Until he told me, flat out, that I was going back to his hotel with him. That made me stop in my tracks. I wasn’t offended. I liked his bold attitude. He was cocky as shit, and that shouldn’t have turned me on. But it did.
    I left because I was fucking scared.
    When he uttered those words, I wanted nothing more than to do exactly what he said. This feeling swelled up inside me, a burning need. In half a second, I imagined it all: following him to his car, letting him drive me to his hotel, going with him into his room, enjoying a night of mind-blowing sex with this perfect specimen of a man.
    I’ll probably never have a chance like that again. I’m not usually one to jump in the sack with a guy the first time we