"I've changed my mind."

"Fine."

Jenna instinctively jumped back from the door when the knob rattled. The noise was followed by a light thump, the shuffling of feet and silence. Heart pounding, she stood and strained to hear a noise, some indication that he was still there. Anything. She couldn't.

"Ben?"

Nothing. He wouldn't have left. Would he?

"Ben?"

Jenna's arms dropped to her sides, the weight of gravity pulling them down hard.

He'd given up already. She suddenly found it hard to breathe with the weight of her disappointment pressing down on her. Her stomach began to burn like a lead weight was on fire inside. He spent five whole minutes at her door before walking away. Her own hand flexed around the doorknob for a solid five seconds before she jerked the door open. Her jaw dropped when she looked up to see him leaning against the wall across from her.

Calm and collected as ever, Ben stood there and stared at her. Jenna closed her mouth and tried to get a handle on the situation.

"Hello," he said, sporting a cocky grin.

And that's all it took.

77.

Jenna shook her head. "You're such a jerk," she said and stepped back inside her condo.

Before she was able to close the door, his arm stopped it. She tugged on the knob a few times to force him to move. Instead, he leaned down close, his mouth only an inch or two from hers. The scent of his musk tickled her nose on its way to her head. She inhaled deeply, a stupid attempt to test her resolve. Her earlier self-induced orgasm was immediately forgotten by her body and a tingle of desire began again.

"We need to talk."

He spoke to her in that rich, deep tone that resonated deep inside her chest. The blush started somewhere low on her chest and begun to creep up her neck to her cheeks.

"Do we? I think things have been going just fine recently."

He didn't respond, except to let his gaze move from her eyes, to her neck, and back up to her lips. Her tongue darted lightly over her bottom lip, which brought a frown to his face.

This is insane. Careful not to touch him, Jenna ducked into her place and walked as far away from him as she could. Suddenly very aware that she didn't have on a bra or underwear, she walked behind the island in the kitchen. She grabbed the biggest knife she could find, rolled the largest piece of fruit she had in front of her, a melon, and began to dissect it. Intently focused on the blade as it sliced into the meaty part of the fruit, she was able to ignore Ben as he closed the door with a quiet click and moved into her condo and examined her things.

"Nice place."

When she looked up Ben was standing at her window looking out. He was wearing black dress pants that hugged his ass and barely hid his well-defined thighs. His normal dress shirt was gone, and instead he had a light beige shirt that clung to him, the three buttons at the collar open to reveal his throat.

"Thanks."

She watched the muscles of his biceps and forearms move under his skin as he dropped the curtain, picked up a stress ball that was sitting on her table and began to toss and catch it. She could almost feel those arms as he slid them under her ass to pull her to the edge of the chair in his apartment. The strength in his grip as he squeezed her cheeks, massaging her fear and tension away while at the same time stoking her arousal. The strength as he picked her up and pressed her against the wall, driving his cock into her.

Jenna gave her head a shake to break the spell of the back-and-forth movement between his hands as he tossed the ball. She stabbed the knife into the piece of melon she forgot she was cutting and moved to stand in front of the island.

"What do you want? I'm really busy."

"Yes, I can see that." He made no attempt this time to hide the fact he was checking 78 her out. "Big date?"

Her spine straightened on reflex. Enough of this. He wasn't going to win this time.

She would deal with him like she should have seven years ago when he sabotaged her project. Locking her fingers together behind her back, Jenna took three steps into the room and waited until she had his complete attention. She then took one more step to close the distance between them and to guarantee he was paying attention.

"What...do...you...want? Either give me a straight answer or get the fuck out of my apartment."

She kept her gaze fixed firmly on his eyes. The pupils were so large they swallowed up the color of his irises. His nostrils flared as he took a deep breath. But when he spoke she was surprised when his voice was gentle, almost sad.

"To find out why you are so angry with me."

A small part of her felt guilty, but she wasn't going to back down now. He needed to know, if not for her sake, then for his own.

"I don't know, maybe because you're a bully."

When he recoiled she knew he wasn't going to understand. She had to calm down or this wasn't going to work.

"I'm angry at you because I've seen the other half. The unselfish part of you that wants to give, to really be with another person. But as soon as something comes along that might hurt you, challenge your views of the world, that Ben disappears and the jerk comes back."

Desperately, she waited to see if her words would sink in. Some small sign that he understood. But nothing changed. Jenna felt her heart ache. She was going to lose him before she'd really gotten through.

"You should leave," she whispered.

Slowly, he reached up and brushed a piece of her hair from her cheek. The warmth of his touch penetrated her, slipping past her defenses and into her heart. A pressure built in her throat, the muscles tight around the lump that had formed.

The frown on his face ran deep. "I can't change who I am. Even if nothing was more important to me. You know that."

Why not? Her inner child wanted to rant, to get him to see that he could change and that it had nothing to do with her. She really looked at him for the first time since their date. Thin worry lines were etched into his face, across his forehead and around his mouth. For the first time since she'd met him, Ben didn't look completely in control.

Knowing that, her anger softened into annoyance.

Begrudgingly, she nodded. "Can't blame a girl for trying."

"I would think there was something wrong if you didn't. That's one of the things I respect about you, Jen."

Respect, but not love. She shouldn't even have those delusions. He may be hot and horny for her, but love wasn't a place he traveled. She'd watched the broken hearts of 79 his past lovers splash across the Martian Flats tabloid over the years.

But still. "Why are you here then?"

"I'm here to ask you to come back to the project. They need you."

His lips clamped together, as if he didn't want to give her too many details all at once.

Jenna shook her head and sat down on her couch. "I've never left the project, you know that. I talk to Roger every day and review the results."

Ben moved her chair so he sat directly across from her. Just close enough she could feel his body heat, but far enough away they couldn't bump knees. The familiar charge began to swirl in the small space between them. It hadn't reached her yet and she was able to keep her body still, keep her outwardly appearance of calm control.

Resting his elbows on his knees, he leaned in, closing the distance between them. A sudden rush of his scent was on her then. Her body responded, but she didn't move.

Ben didn't seem to notice and continued.

"It's not the same and you know it. Roger is barely able to manage the personnel.

He and Gareth are constantly taking swipes at each other, and no one seems to be able to make any forward progress on this thing. They need you."

She closed her eyes and tried to fight off the oncoming frustration. Of course she knew Roger was having problems with the project. They'd struck a deal four years ago when they'd first started working together. He'd oversee the data, she'd oversee the people. Socializing and small talk were not his strengths, and everyone was thankful when Jenna stepped up to fill in the gaps. Roger was drowning out there and it was her fault.

But not completely her fault.

"Can't you control Gareth? He is your guy after all."

"I've talked to him," he said in a frustrated tone of his own. "He's got it in his head that if he figures out what that device of yours does, that I'm going to promote him to the VP of research."

Jenna had to smile at the idea of Ben being chased on a daily basis by the weasel of a man.

"I hope you straightened him out."

When she opened her eyes, Jenna was surprised to see Ben staring at her chest. Her already hard nipples pebbled further. Slowly, he shifted his gaze up her body to her face. Finally, he reached her eyes, where she saw a deep hunger reflected back at her.

He looked like he was ready to pounce.

"Of course I did," he said, his voice husky with an edge to it.

Jenna's mouth grew suddenly dry. "I talked to Roger earlier. I've given him a strategy for dealing with the next few days. That should give me enough time to figure out what I'm going to do."

Ben sat straight. "What do you mean?"

80.

She should say something about the job offer she'd received yesterday from Paq Ridge Research. Department head was a very tempting offer. If she wasn't neck-deep in figuring out the device they'd discovered, she would have jumped at the opportunity.

One look at him told her this wasn't the time to talk about career moves.

It was Jenna's turn to lean forward. Her elbows dug sharply into the sensitive flesh above her knees.

"I'm not sure if I can go back to the site. With everything going on, the fighting between Gareth and Roger, not to mention the...emotional strains of working such long hours. It's starting to get to me."

Ben stood. He shoved one hand into his pants pocket while scratching his head with the other.

"You're kidding."

Jenna groaned and let her head fall forward. "No, I'm not."

"Bullshit. This has nothing to do with Gareth or Roger. It has to do with us."

Again she looked up. If possible, he was even more attractive when he was angry.

Maybe that's why she was his perfect match, because she always seemed to make him angry.

"What do you want me to say? It's the truth."

What she wasn't expecting was for Ben to pull her to her feet, lace his fingers through her hair and tug her head back so she was forced to look into his eyes. He crushed his mouth to hers in a fierce kiss that made her curl her toes into the thick carpet. When he pulled back, Jenna was left gasping, staring at his swollen lips.

"No, it's not. And I'm not leaving until I hear it."

81.

Chapter Nine.

Jenna forgot to breathe. The room melted away and only Ben remained in focus.

"What did you mean by that?"

"The kiss?"

She smacked his arm.

"Despite what you seem to think, there is something between us," he said and kissed her forehead.

Deep inside her, Jenna felt her blood pulse, igniting her senses. The hair stood up on her arms and her body threatened to sway against his.

"Obviously there's something. I'm just not sure this is something that I want to pursue."