As she sang the perky chorus, her cute little butt wiggled side to side. Her dancing was a hell of a lot better than her singing.

“Whoa-o.” Shade couldn’t resist joining her.

Amanda whirled around, knife in hand. Her face went instantly red, and she yanked her ear buds out. “When did you get back?” she asked.

“Put the knife down, lady, and we’ll talk.”

She glanced down at her hand, which was holding the knife like a weapon, and then dropped it on the dark granite of the kitchen island. “Oh God, how long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough to know you sing sharp. Way sharp.”

“You weren’t supposed to hear that. I figured it would be at least an hour before you got back.”

His brow crinkled. “I told you I’d hurry.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t take you for a minute-man.”

“What?”

“Oh, come on, Jacob, I know why you wanted to take her home. I’m not dumb.”

“You think I wanted to be alone with her?”

“Well, didn’t you?”

“No. I wanted to be alone with you.”

She stared at him with wide eyes and her fist over her heart, apparently dumbfounded.

Shade circled the island’s counter and pulled out a towel to dry off the fruit sitting in the big bowl in the sink. His cleaning lady always stocked his fridge with fresh fruit because she knew how he craved it whenever he was home. He popped a grape into his mouth and tossed Amanda a golden delicious apple. He sang the first line of “Walking on Sunshine’s” chorus.

“Whoa-oh,” Amanda sang.

He repeated his line.

“Whoa-oh-oh,” she sang with even more gusto.

They sang the next line together, grinning at each other like a pair of insane hyenas.

Shade plucked grapes off their stems and tossed them into the bowl while Amanda cut the cores out of several varieties of apples—red, yellow, green—and sliced them. She settled for singing backup while they worked.

He wondered what his fans would say if they heard him singing a girly pop song. His band was known for creating melt-your-face-off metal, but he was having such a good time goofing off with Amanda, he’d risk any public outcry.

Amanda tackled a pair of oranges next, while he removed the greenery from the strawberries. They had enough fruit in the bowl for ten people by the time they finished and had sung the chorus of the same song at least twenty times, but Shade was reluctant to end the easy camaraderie between them and checked the fridge for fruit they might have overlooked. He didn’t get to do this kind of thing often. Especially not with a woman. He had a certain reputation to uphold, but with Amanda, he could let go and just be himself without worrying about what she thought of him. It had always been this way between them. Even when he’d been engaged and married to her sister, if he’d wanted to have a little goofy fun, he’d seek out Amanda’s easy-going companionship.

Something ice-cold blasted him in the back of the neck. He yelled and spun around only to get hit with a stream of water in the face. Brandishing the water sprayer from the island sink, Amanda laughed and sprayed him in the ear.

“Shit, that’s cold,” he protested, covering his ear with one hand and rubbing the liquid out of it.

She made a sad puppy dog face at him, her lower lip protruding in a pout. “Oh, poor baby,” she said and then squirted him at the base of his neck.

“You,” he growled, though he couldn’t wipe the smile off his face.

Laughing gleefully, Amanda dashed around the island and when the counter was between them, turned and sprayed him again.

He circled the counter at a run. She squealed and skidded out of reach, squirting water in all directions. The icy liquid caught him on the arm. Despite getting drenched, he didn’t back down, not even when he had her trapped against him and she directed a steady spray of water down both their bellies.

“That’s cold,” she squealed and released the nozzle.

Shade wrested the sprayer out of her hand. “You’re damned right it’s cold.” He held her tightly with one arm and sprayed water down her shirt. Which drew his attention to her now sopping wet br**sts, transparent pale pink T-shirt and hard ni**les. His body’s reaction was instantaneous. His brain was a few seconds behind.

She yelled, “Cold, cold, cold. Jacob! Stop!”

He dropped the hose and cupped the inviting succulence of one breast in his hand. His thumb brushed the hardened nipple, and she shuddered. There wasn’t enough cold water in the Arctic Ocean to cool the hot lust flooding his groin.

Amanda needed to slap him, and soon, or he was going to do something they’d both regret. She lifted her hand and instead of delivering a stinging palm to his cheek, she pulled off his sunglasses and tossed them across the counter.

Their eyes met. He couldn’t look away. She moved closer. Or he moved closer. He wasn’t sure which. Didn’t care. All he knew was that he had to sample her lips. He’d dreamed of kissing her so many times . . . He wondered if she’d taste as sweet as she looked.

His heart thudded faster and faster as he leaned closer. He hadn’t felt this giddy since his first kiss in junior high school.

His lips were a hair’s breadth from hers when the doorbell rang and he came back to his senses.

“Sorry,” he said and jerked away.

No matter how much he wanted her, Amanda Lange was off limits.

Yeah, tell that to his dick.

Chapter 4

Amanda had never wished harm to a pizza delivery person before, but as Jacob stepped away and she was robbed of the heat of his hard body and the scent of his delectable flesh, she started compiling a list of tortures.

Jacob had almost kissed her. Almost. And she could still feel the weight of his hand on her breast. Oh God, she wanted the man. And for about thirty seconds, she’d thought she might actually have her wish fulfilled.

Leaning against the kitchen island for support, she watched him leave the room to answer the door. Why hadn’t she been more aggressive? She should have just grabbed him and kissed him. Made it perfectly clear that she wanted him.

As usual, her tendency to hesitate and think things through left her without the prize she craved. She needed to let loose. Get aggressive. Paw the man like a sex-starved lioness. Yeah, right. Even if she could find the courage to throw caution aside, those kinds of tactics didn’t work with Jacob anyway.

With a sigh, Amanda reached for a towel and began to mop up the water covering the kitchen. It kept her hands occupied so she didn’t start peeling off her clothes so she could wait for him, naked, like the woman he’d ditched earlier. She wouldn’t put herself in a position to be rejected by him. Amanda had felt bad for Veronica—not that she’d wanted Big Boobs Maloney to stick around, not that she wasn’t glad that Jacob had rejected her and taken her home—but Amanda was desperate enough for the man to do something like wait for him naked in a hot tub, so she empathized with the woman.