Free Just One Look by Joan Reeves Page A

she'd set him up. Which she had.
    "Matt, let's just think of each other as two consenting adults," she said, trying hard to convince him. "Whatever we do is by mutual consent. If I happen to overcome my problems, then that's all to the good, wouldn't you say?"
    "Mutual consent, huh?" He sat down next to her. "Quite frankly, Dr. Monroe, I can't tell that you have any problem, sexually speaking."
    "Apparently, Dr. Penrose," she said, sliding close to him, "you seem to have a remarkable effect on me." That much was certainly true. Jennifer rubbed her thigh against his but still he hesitated. "Come on, Matt, I can tell by the way you kissed me that you'd like to do it again." Suddenly, she felt shy. Her gaze dropped. "I know I'd like you to kiss me again."
    "You're sure this is by mutual consent?" He asked, rationalizing. He lifted a hand and stroked his thumb over her lips.
    Jennifer closed her eyes and tried to deal with the feelings rocketing through her body.
    "Yes," she whispered. "I'm absolutely sure. If you do something I don't like, I'll tell you to stop." She couldn't hear the voice of her conscience over the pounding in her veins.
    "Fair enough." His hand slid down her throat, hesitated, touched the pounding pulse there, and began a slow descent south.

Chapter 6
     
    Jennifer wondered if her heart was about to explode. It pounded so loud that she swore she could hear it.
    "Do you hear something?" Matt asked, his stroking index finger hesitating above the shadow of her cleavage.
    Could he hear her heart too? Jennifer moistened her lips with the thought of telling him that it was just her rampaging heart, but she couldn't speak. All her concentration focused on willing him to move his hand, to continue his exploration. Parts of her anatomy couldn't wait for his journey of discovery.
    "Jennifer? Jennifer?" A woman's voice called.
    Then a bell started chiming. How strange! Would she hear birds singing next?
    "Jennifer? Jennifer Monroe, open this door." The woman called out, pounding hard enough to break through the door if not through the sensual spell that enveloped Jennifer.
    When it dawned on her that the sound she heard was not her heart, but her friend, pounding at her front door, she whispered, "It's Alva."
    "Open this door, Jennifer. What's going on?" Alva called.
    Desire glazed Matt's eyes. "Maybe she'll leave," he whispered.
    "Who?" Jennifer asked, nearly vibrating with the desire to grab his hand and press it to her breast.
    "Alva."
    "Oh, right." She would throttle Alva if she didn't go away. Immediately.
    When the pounding continued, Matt sighed. "I guess you should see what she wants." His finger retraced its journey, stroked slowly upward and then across her swollen lips. His hand curved around behind her neck. He pulled her to him and lightly, teasingly, kissed her. He released her and leaned back against the couch. "Do you think you can get rid of her?" He asked, his voice low, promising of pleasures to come.
    "Yes." But she didn't move, still enveloped by the sensuality of the preceding minutes. She shook her head as if coming out from under the effects of anesthesia.
    The pounding continued unabated. "Jennifer? Jennifer, are you in there?" Then Jennifer's cell phone began chirping. She ignored it too.
    "She sounds rather panicked. Maybe you'd better open the door." Matt suggested with a slight smile.
    "Right. Open the door. Okay." Jennifer took a deep breath and blew it out then rose unsteadily. She gripped the back of the couch as she walked around it then headed for the door.
    "Maybe I can get rid of her." If not, I'll hire a hit man, Jennifer thought, sourly. Her legs felt as if they were made of rubber. No jury in the world would convict her, she reasoned.
    Matt watched her unsteady progress with hot eyes. Whatever had come over him was slow in receding. He still felt hard enough to pound nails, he thought, trying the mental discipline again of singing the only French song he knew. This time, without