Patti shook her head and polished off the last of her drink. She stood, slipping her hand into his outstretched one as though it were habit. “I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

 “What? You thought I was offering you the job?” Jon asked with feigned shock. “What kind of business person do you think I am, Patricia?”

 She grinned at his playfulness. “I don’t know you well enough to speak on your business habits, but I think I should tell you now, I don’t mix business with pleasure.”

 Jon pushed open the first set of doors and stopped in the enclosed space that separated the outside from in. He slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer. “Am I to take that as an invitation to give you pleasure?”

 Patti’s chest heaved with her shortened breaths. She became increasingly aware of how close they were, of the heat emanating from everywhere their bodies touched. “You can give me anything you want,” she whispered.

 His eyes flared with desire. Cupping her face in his hand, Jon tilted her head back and leaned down. Patti’s stomach tumbled and need thrummed through her veins with white-hot intensity.

 Before their lips could meet, a roll of thunder crashed outside and a bolt of lightning split the night sky. Patti nearly leaped out of her skin.

 “Looks like rain,” Jon chuckled at the exact moment the skies opened up to unleash a torrential downpour. Patti, still a little shaky from her unexpected shock from the heavens, shuddered. “Easy, baby, it’s just a little thunderstorm.”

 Patti released a stilted laugh, her cheeks heating in humiliation. “I’m not afraid of thunderstorms. That was just a little unexpected is all.”

 Looking out across the rain-soaked parking lot, Jon considered what to do next. A wicked smile crossed his face. “Wanna make a run for it?”

 Patti peered through the glass doors. “I don’t mind getting wet,” she said, biting her lip when he tugged her tighter to his body to let her know the deliberate double entendre hadn’t escaped him. “But I don’t know how well I’ll fare running in this weather in these heels.” She pointed to her shoes, which bore no need for explanation. It would be obvious even to a blind man that she would break an ankle if she attempted anything faster than a leisurely stroll.

 “You’re probably right,” Jon conceded. “I guess I could just bring the car around…” he trailed off, thinking. “Or…”

 Patti squealed in surprise when Jon bent low, grabbing her around the knees, and hefting her over his shoulder, and the next thing she knew, she was bobbing up and down as he burst through the doors and raced across the parking lot.

 “What are you doing?” she shrieked, laughing all the while. Cold rain splattered across her back, soaking her from head to toe. With nothing to hold on to, Patti gripped Jon’s waist in tight fists and held on for dear life as he bound toward the truck.

 Once they reached it, Jon let her down with deliberate ease. Her front rubbed every inch of his, pulling her dress higher up her thighs than was intended. Jon didn’t bother to unlock the doors, and Patti didn’t bother to complain. Standing there, with rain sheeting down around them, they stared into one another’s eyes.

 “You’re soaked,” Jon told her, his voice coming out deep and husky and barely audible over the loud hiss of rain.

 “So are you,” Patti said, looking up into his eyes and feeling absolutely lost in them. In that moment he could ask her anything and she knew she wouldn’t say no.

 He took a step closer, backing her into the side of the truck. He reached up, one hand finding her waist while the other clasped the back of her neck, his fingers tangling in the hair at its base. He didn’t need words to express what he wanted. His eyes said every unspoken word. He wanted her.

 Bending down, Jon brought his lips to hers, and even though the storm overhead rumbled angrily, Patti didn’t even flinch.

 His lips devoured hers, giving, and demanding as they sucked and pulled. His tongue licked her lips and caressed the inside of her mouth, delving in deep and then dashing away, leaving her gasping for more. Patti wiggled closer, wrapping her arms around his neck and doing everything in her power to fuse their bodies together, but she couldn’t seem to get close enough.

 Reading her thirst for more, Jon pulled back, eliciting a soft moan of displeasure from Patti. He dropped another kiss to her mouth. “Just so you know, Patricia,” he said against her lips. “I don’t have a problem mixing business with pleasure.” Then he slapped her on the ass and pulled out his keys. The truck’s lights blinked twice and he opened the driver’s side door. “Get inside,” he grunted, and grabbed her hips to help her inside.

Sitting beside Jon in the quiet cab made Patti feel even more flustered. She wasn’t sure how it was possible that he could affect her from where she was sitting, but somehow he did. She looked straight ahead, her body rigid with pent-up energy. The kiss they shared and its intensity hung in the air between them. Allowing only her eyes to move, Patti dared to look at him.

 With one hand gripping the wheel tightly, the other resting on his muscular thigh, Jon looked about as tightly wound as she was. His jaw was clenched and his eyes were focused so intently on the road he didn’t even blink.

 He must have felt her watching him. Turning his head, Jon caught her eyes and a smile grew across his face. “What?”

 Patti bit her lip, blushing at having been caught. Thankfully, it was dark enough that she didn’t think he could see the heat she felt seeping into her cheeks. “I was just thinking,” she said softly.

 His eyes dropped to her mouth and Patti’s did the same. “Oh yeah? About what?” he asked, his voice growing thick with want.

 Patti swiped her tongue across her bottom lip. The way Jon’s eyes darkened emboldened her. Reaching across the limited space that separated them, Patti ran her fingertips down his forearm and took his hand in hers. She placed their clasped hands in her lap. With her other hand, she stroked the soft skin on the underside of his wrist and delighted in the almost imperceptible shiver that tracked through him.

 “I was just thinking about how good it felt to kiss you,” she said, feeling stupid and sexy all at once. She’d never been very good at communicating her feelings, so each word confessed felt like a small, albeit awkward, triumph.

 Jon’s hand tightened around hers. “Kissing you was amazing. I don’t think a woman’s lips have ever tasted so good.”

 It was impossible to restrain her smile, so Patti didn’t bother trying. Instead, she grinned like a loon out the window the rest of the way home, thinking about the turn around her week had taken. She’d started out losing her job and her boyfriend, and then she’d had her car smashed by a reckless driver only to end up on a date with said offender, who turned out to be hot, intelligent, and an incredible kisser. Maybe it was fate, or maybe it was a simple act of chance, but all Patti knew was that she was going to grab on with both hands and see where this ride took her.

When they reached her house, Patti felt her stomach flutter in anticipation. She wasn’t sure where the night would lead them, but she was certain that she wasn’t ready for it to end.

 Jon jumped out of the truck the moment he put it into park, and shut off the engine. Patti watched through the rain-streaked windshield as he ran around the front end to her side. Prepared to make a run for it, Patti held her purse tight to her side and turned in her seat with her muscles tensed.

 “Ready?” Jon shouted over a roll of thunder. He held out his hand to her and she took it, jumping down into a giant puddle. Water soaked through her strappy shoes, almost completely submerging them. She didn’t let it stop her.