Any clever comeback I might have thought of disappeared from my throat as I turned to face Nathan. He smiled at me, a sexy, pleased smile, and I couldn’t help but smile back. I got a fluttery feeling in my stomach and my knees seemed a little less stable than they had been a few minutes ago.

“It was a nice try,” Nathan said, nodding towards Chris and Mandy, who were talking at the other side of the room. He smelled so good. “But Chris isn’t much for gentle prodding. He needs a bulldozer.”

“And you’re his personal bulldozer?” I asked, looking back over my shoulder. I gave him a once-over, trying to ignore how close he was. God, I would love him to drive his bulldozer in my direction. “You don’t seem the type.”

“I like a subtler touch personally,” he said, putting his hand on my arm. I tried not to shiver but failed miserably. He smiled and ran his thumb down to the soft skin on the inside of my arm. “But I can also tell when situations call for a firmer hand.”

“I can see that,” I said, thinking of exactly what I would do with that firm hand of his, starting with it tangled it my hair and working it down. Way down. It took everything in my power to keep from leaning into his touch. It felt so good and he was standing so close. All I had to do was turn and lean forward and—

Umm. Shit. No banging the subject. Topics…uhh. “I’m surprised you know Titanic,” I finally said and stepped away. I had to clear my head. But then of course, I thought of the scene in the car, with the wet handprint and the steam, and I was pretty sure my panties were about to burst into flames. Dammit.

“Well,” he said, taking another drink. “Three sisters. Some things you just can’t shake, no matter how hard you try. The guys made fun of me when they—” He stopped, clearly feeling that he had said too much.

I was surprised. “You told them about it?” I had gotten to him. Hopefully in a good way.

“Well.” He looked a little sheepish. “Chris overheard the joke. He’s a thickhead 90% of the time, but the one time you hope he’ll miss something…” Nathan snapped his fingers. “That, of course, is going to be the one he catches.”

“Of course,” I said with a smile. I liked this Nathan. Relaxed, smiling, and having a good time. “How long will they tease you about it for?”

“Eh,” he shrugged. “It’s hard to get me riled up.”

Somehow I didn’t believe that at all. And he quickly amended it with a wicked grin.

“In situations like that.” He tipped the drink to his lips. I wondered which number beer he was on, but I was grateful that he was a happy drunk, rather than Nick who usually turned sullen after his second drink. He wrote some good music while he was drunk but he wasn’t always the most fun to be around. Nathan, on the other hand was smiling and relaxed. A definite change from the standoffish guy I kept running into at practices.

Then suddenly his flirtatious stance disappeared as he put down his beer and gave me an assessing look. “So will this show up in the article?”

I raised my hands. “I’m off duty tonight,” I said. “All of this is off-the-record.”

“Is it?” he asked, looking skeptical.

“I swear.” I raised my hand. “I’m just here for Mandy.” I scanned the room for her and found her in conversation with Chris. Good, they both looked like they were having a good time.

“Sure.” He looked over at me, clearly not believing me.

“Well, I will need that interview at some point,” I reminded him.

“I know,” he admitted. “And you’ll get it.”

I let out an internal sigh of relief. I didn’t want to admit to him how important this article was, because I didn’t want to show that hand. Not yet. He was hot and charming, but I couldn’t put his needs ahead of mine. I had been doing that with Nick and my mom for a long time now. I needed to put myself first when it came to this. I needed to get this article done and I needed to get the respect of my peers. That was the priority. I needed to stop getting moony-eyed over a hotshot baseball player. I needed to focus. But it was really hard to focus in this smoky room, the smell of beer and pot around me and that same hotshot baseball player standing way too close. Or, as my treacherous libido thought, not close enough. My stupid hormones. I was going to have a serious talk with them once we got back to Houston.

“I wanted to apologize,” he said suddenly.

“Apologize?” I was surprised.

He looked sheepish and entirely adorable as he took a sip of beer. I watched him swallow and tried to remind myself that we were finally getting back on the right track so staring openly and lustfully at him would probably be a bad idea. Definitely a step in the wrong direction.

“I’ve been kind of a jerk to you,” he said. “You were really honest with me this afternoon. I’m someone who doesn’t like to share details about myself, but you did and I totally took it for granted that it might have been hard for you as well.”

I realized he was talking about admitting that I hadn’t gone to college.

“I’m not ashamed,” I told him, wanting to make that clear.

“I didn’t think you were. It’s just…” He shuffled his feet. “Well, I’m sure it’s not easy to be on a college campus surrounded by people having the experience you never got to have.”

Wow. I found myself flabbergasted at how clearly he understood what I was feeling.

“I appreciate that,” I somehow managed.

“And for the record,” he started, his voice doing that same whispery thing it had done when he had recited e.e. cummings, and my heart made the same leap. “Any disappointment I might have felt had nothing to do with you. Well, not in the way you might have thought.” He kept his eyes focused on mine. “I’m sorry if I made you feel like I was judging you. That was never my intention. Now that I think about it, I’m just sorry for being a jerk pretty much each time we’ve spoken.”

I was really surprised now. I couldn’t remember the last time a guy had apologized to me. None of my mom’s boyfriends had ever treated me with any respect, the guys at work either acted like I was their secretary or their girlfriend, and Nick had never been cruel, but also never really big on the whole owning up to his mistakes thing. An apology was nice.

“I don’t think you’re a jerk,” I told him, and it was true. I was starting to think he was one of the nicest guys I had ever met.

“I was just a little thrown off, I guess.” A lock of hair had fallen across his forehead and I linked my hands together to keep from sweeping it back from his eyes. “After the thing in the bar, I felt kind of stupid.” It was exactly what Chris had said. I guess he knew his friend pretty well. “I kind of get a little defensive when I feel like someone is playing me.”

“I understand.” I swallowed hard, totally captivated by his gorgeous green gaze.

“I was upset.” He gave me a half smile which was fully intoxicating. “I just thought I was flirting with a pretty girl and then you turned out to be a journalist.”

“I’m not here to catch you in some scandal,” I told him. “I want to write a good story. And I don’t need drama or trouble to do that.”

“You’re the first journalist to say that to me,” he said. “They always seem to want to know my deepest darkest secrets.”

“You don’t look like a guy who has deep, dark secrets,” I said.

“No?” he asked. “I’m not all flowers and sunshine.”

“Well,” I laughed. “I didn’t think that either, but you don’t strike me as someone with a whole lot to hide. You like things out in the open.”

“That’s true,” he said, and I realized he had slowly been moving towards me. “I do like to make my intentions clear as soon as I discover what my intentions are.”

“And what are your intentions, Mr. Ryder?” I asked him, suddenly intoxicated by his proximity.

“You see, Ms. Hall,” he said. “That’s the problem. With you I just can’t quite figure out what I want.”

“Oh?” My throat was dry and the word came out low and husky.

Heat sparked in his eyes. “Well, I suppose that’s not entirely true. I know exactly what I want. I just don’t know if what I want is the best thing in this situation.”

“Probably not,” I said, but didn’t move away from him.

“Probably not,” he agreed. “But sometimes you have to forget what’s best and do what’s right.”

“And is this right?” I asked.

“Only one way to find out,” he said with that smile of his. “Don’t you think?”

I felt the wall against my back. Somehow, while we were talking, he had walked me back towards the side of the fireplace at the end of the room we had been standing in. I was trapped, a hard wall behind me, a hard body in front of me. And I was making no complaints. His hand reached up and pushed back a strand of hair that had fallen in front of my eyes. I shivered as his finger brushed my cheek. He leaned forward, his eyes on my lips, and I leaned forward, my own eyes closing. His mouth met mine, hot and eager and firm. I tilted my head back as the kiss deepened, our tongues rubbing together like two sticks about to start a fire. Nathan’s hands slid from my shoulders to just skim my breasts, sending a shiver through me, and then he gripped my hips assertively, pulling me tight against his muscular torso. FUCK YEAH. I melted into him, lacing my hands behind his neck, pulling him even closer towards me. He groaned into my mouth, and just as I could feel the hint of a hard rather large bulge against my thigh, a familiar tune burst out of the enormous speakers spread across the room.

“My heart will go on and oooooooooooooon!”

The spell was broken.

I opened my eyes to find Nathan glaring at the other side of the room where Chris was exchanging high fives with some of the other baseball players and Mandy was shaking her head, her arms crossed as Celine Dion crooned the famous song.

Sorry, she mouthed at me, but I could only shrug.

“I’m going to fucking kill them,” Nathan said, but he didn’t look angry, just a little annoyed and kind of embarrassed. Half the room was clapping and whooping. There was a slight pinkish tint to his cheeks. It made him look even more wholesome and handsome. He looked back at me and we shared a sheepish smile. We both knew that we were playing a very dangerous game.

“I should probably go,” I said, sliding out from between him and the wall.

“Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, I should probably go as well.”

“But I’ll see you tomorrow?” I asked. “Maybe do our interview then?”

“Yeah,” he said, but he didn’t even look back as he headed across the room, giving Chris and his teammates a shove as he pushed past them. I could only hope this embarrassment wouldn’t derail our interview anymore. Unfortunately, it had done a great deal to derail any sense of restraint I previously had. I needed to get out of there before I followed him and did something that wasn’t the best idea, but seemed to be the right one at that exact moment.

So I said goodnight to Mandy and to Chris, went back to my hotel room and took a long, cold shower.