Free The Harder They Fall by Trish Jensen

of perfume was for anyone’s nose but her own.
    But, staring up at his warm, sexy smile, every rational thought flew from her brain, and all that replaced it was the knowledge of how it felt to be kissed by him. To be touched by him. To be propositioned by him.
    The man had actually told her he wanted her.
    And Darcy was just crazy enough to want him, too.
    She prayed she wouldn’t do anything stupid tonight. But with her track record on dates, she didn’t have an ice cube’s chance in hell of getting through the night without embarrassing herself.
    “You look great,” he said after a long span of stupid silence on her part. She couldn’t seem to make her tongue move. His presence in her doorway overwhelmed her. He was so big and tall, and she’d seen him nearly naked.
    She knew that he had only a light sprinkling of crisp hair on his chest that tapered down to a single line that led directly to his navel . . . and beyond. She knew that, even with his beautiful eyes closed, he was classically handsome and had the sexiest lips she’d ever seen. She knew that his chest was big and hard and she liked her breasts pressed to it. And she knew that she was suddenly eager to be intimate with a man. And, unfortunately, her body seemed to want it to be this man.
    He held out the flowers. “These are for you.”
    Darcy took them, knowing that long after they died, she’d treasure them—her very first flowers ever. “Thank you,” she said, burying her nose in one rose.
    “You’re welcome. May I come in?”
    “Oh!” She stepped back. And caught her heel in the carpet. A flash of mortification burned through her as she realized she was about to fall on her rear end in front of him again.
    Apparently Michael had been prepared, though. Because his hands shot out and steadied her. Grateful, embarrassed, electrified by his touch, she smiled tremulously. “Thank you.”
    “Close your eyes,” he said, his fingers still searing her arms.
    “Excuse me?”
    “Close your eyes.”
    Darcy did.
    “You’re in the pool,” he said in a soothing, gentle tone. “You’re swimming, and you’re in control.”
    Darcy didn’t believe for a minute that she was in a pool. She was standing in her doorway having all kinds of kinky thoughts about a man whose hands could brand skin. But to please him she pictured herself in the pool, and amazingly, she felt a little calmer, a little more in control.
    She opened her eyes and smiled. “It works!”
    He flashed her one more bone-melting smile before taking keys out of his leather jacket and gripping her elbow. Darcy knew that to get herself calmed down right now, she’d have to picture an entire swim meet.
    Michael drove Darcy from her Falls Church apartment to Old Town Alexandria. After parking his rented BMW near the dock, he took her aboard the cruise ship Dandy , which doubled as a restaurant as it plied its way up and down the Potomac. In his opinion, there was nothing more romantic than sharing wine and good food, all the while passing national treasure after national treasure.
    Washington, D.C. at night was probably the most romantic city in the U.S. of A., in Michael’s opinion. And he planned on wringing every ounce of romance out of this evening.
    The notion baffled him. Darcy was far from his “type.” But he had to admit that he liked a lot of things about her. Like her honesty. She had such expressive eyes, she’d never get away with lying to him. Which made her honest answers to his questions all the more appealing.
    Her innocence made him nervous, but it excited him as well. For some reason, for once in his life he was happy that no man had been somewhere before him. He liked not having to wonder who else she’d been with, what other men had touched her body.
    Innocence aside, he really liked the passion inside her. He had no doubt there was plenty to be tapped. And he wanted to heighten it to record levels.
    Michael didn’t know when his attitude toward Darcy had