Free All She Wants for Valentine's Day: A Contemporary Erotic Romance Story (All She Wants #3) by Nathan Stratton Page A

with surprise that, indeed, the heat from his body was sending off a bit of steam into the February cold.
     
    Just then, Tanya’s brain decided to sabotage her chances with this guy. “I guess you must really have a hot body!” she blurted out without thinking. She instantly cringed at the corniness of her joke. Oh, my God , she groaned inwardly. Why do I always do that?  She had a habit of always saying whatever came to her mind – and sometimes, that got her into trouble. 
     
    She turned bright red and tried to salvage the moment. “Wow, I cannot believe I just said that.”
     
    For his part, Ryan just looked amused. “Me neither,” he said, laughing. “Did you come up with that one on the spot, or do you say that to all the guys?”
     
    Tanya paused a moment, looking at him with a coy half-smile. She was still a little embarrassed, but she was mostly just relieved that he didn’t seem turned off by the corny joke. She decided to play along. “Only the ones who deserve it,” she replied flirtatiously.
     
    Now it was Ryan’s turn to pause. The expression on his face seemed to be saying, Who is this girl? He opened his mouth, but no words came out immediately. He seemed to be searching for the right comeback, but coming up empty.
    “What’s a matter, hot stuff? Cat got your tongue?” teased Tanya. She didn’t know where this sudden boldness was coming from, but she definitely liked it. Normally she would never tease a guy like this after just meeting him, but somehow it felt natural with him.
     
    Ryan burst out laughing. He had a really great smile, she noticed. “Alright, that’s it,” he said. “No woman talks to me like that and gets away with it. One more word out of you, and I’m going to have to take you out to dinner.”
     
    Tanya cocked an eyebrow, folding her hands across her chest. “Oh, yeah?” she said. “What makes you think you can handle me?”
     
    He took a step closer to her, so that their faces were just inches apart. The scent of his cologne filled her nose, and his hazel eyes held her own with an intensity she couldn’t escape from. His sudden closeness sent butterflies soaring through her stomach. They’d been joking around until this point, but suddenly all that light-hearted banter had disappeared in an instant.
     
    “Trust me, I can handle you,” he said with a smile. 
     
    He held her gaze a second longer, just to further underscore the power of his words. When he stepped back from her again, it was as if she’d been released from a spell. She was speechless for a moment, not knowing how to react. Finally, she regained herself.
     
    “Uh, s-sounds great then!” she said, her voice quavering the slightest bit. She started talking too fast, as she always did when she got nervous. “Why don’t I give you my number and we can, um, work something out? How about, uh, Thursday night maybe? Or, I don’t know…” She trailed off.
     
    He looked at her in amusement, as if he clearly had something else in mind. “How about now?” he said.
     
    She was sure her face went white at his words. Now!? her brain screamed. What are you, crazy?! I need to shower, change, do my makeup… her mind started coming up with a million excuses why tonight was a horrible night for a date. But fortunately for Tanya, when she opened her mouth to speak, none of those excuses came out.
    “Sounds great,” she said with a grin.
     
    “Excellent.” He opened the passenger door of his car, and when Tanya didn’t move for a second, he drummed his fingers on the top of it impatiently.
     
    “…Are you going to just stand there, or are you going to get in?” he said.
     
    “Oh! Right.” Tanya sprang into motion and climbed into the car. It wasn’t until she was already sitting that she looked up at him hesitantly. “Uh, wait… what about my car?” she asked. “We’re just going to leave it here?”
     
    He chuckled. “We can figure it out later. The place we’re going fills