Joanne Rock - Up All Night

“They’re not real fur, just a top-of-the-line facsimile.” She set her glass on the coffee table and studied him in the candlelight, her eyes clearly a shade of hazel now that he saw them up close. “And the luxury goods definitely aren’t the norm for me anymore since I’ve learned to put most of my earnings back into the business, but there are a few items we carry that I can’t help but scoop up.”

“You live in Jersey?” He noticed her hands were bare of rings, her nails neatly polished in a shiny clear finish with the tips painted extra white. “You don’t sound like a native.”

“It took years of practice to erase the accent, believe me.” She winked and he wanted to pull her closer to sit her on his lap again. “But since I started out as the sole operator for the De-Luxe 800 number, I wanted to sound a little more upscale than the Jersey twang suggests. I grew up just south of Seaside Heights, about an hour north of Atlantic City. You?”

“I started out in Philly and I still have a place there. But I keep an apartment near Wildwood since Shore Engineers is based down there. We do work all over the eastern seaboard.” He’d embraced the traveling as part of his job since he still tended to go stir-crazy if he stayed in one place for too long. “In fact, I think I put in a small coaster at an amusement park just north of Seaside Heights. One of my first.”

“You build roller coasters?” Her eyes lit up, brighter than the lights on the glittering boardwalk outlined behind her.

He really liked Jenny.

“I’ve designed a few. That’s the payoff for being a math nerd all through high school. Eventually you recoup a certain amount of cool that you never could cultivate by busting the grading curve on every test.” Not that Devon had ever needed anyone else’s approval.

“So what’s it like to create a thrill ride? Are you the first to try it out? Do you ever get scared you forgot a safety feature and you’ll be tossed out of the car on your ear?” She focused solely on him, her pupils wide in the dim light.

A damn heady experience to be on the receiving end of that focus.

“I’m not always the primary tester, but I try to be whenever possible.” What was the point of designing and strategizing for the best adrenaline buzz if you couldn’t critique it afterward and learn from the experience? Good mechanics were all about subtle adjustments. The esoteric changes that couldn’t always be accounted for on paper. “And I would consider the ride a failure if there wasn’t a hint of fear along with the fun. That’s what initiates the adrenaline rush necessary for a good experience.”

“Really?” She seemed to contemplate that as if he’d unveiled some important secret. “You scare yourself on purpose. But don’t you eventually not fear it anymore? If you take the ride too often, do you grow kind of blasé about the whole thing?”

“Not me.” He’d never let that happen. “I live in the moment and actively seek the thrill. I think you can only grow detached like that if you want to take the fun out of it.”

Frowning, she twisted her finger around the dangling belt of her robe. “Or if you want to take away the fear. But what does it feel like?”

“What does what feel like? Designing a coaster?”

“No. Experiencing it firsthand.”

“Don’t tell me you’ve never been on a roller coaster.” He couldn’t imagine someone depriving themselves of the experience.

“Never.”

He smacked his forehead in disbelief, but he’d gladly share his take on it. This was one woman he planned to convert.

Setting his glass beside hers on the coffee table, he leaned forward. Closer. Firmly into Jenny Moore’s personal space.

“It’s an adrenaline rush.” The kind of experience he sought out whenever possible, just for kicks. “A slow build that climbs with anticipation until you can barely hold still for what’s going to happen next. Then a heart-flipping moment where you feel like you’re going to fall over the biggest ledge of your life and your whole nervous system goes ballistic with erratic impulses. You can’t breathe. You can only scream your brains out and hold on for dear life.”

Unable to resist the lure of her hazel eyes hanging on his every word, he reached out to stroke a finger down the side of her soft cheek.

“Sort of like sex.”

“MY EXPERIENCES must be lacking because I can’t ever recall sex having such a profound effect.” She knew she’d been seriously deprived when it came to quantity of intimate encounters, but now she had to consider that she’d never even enjoyed much quality in that department. “And since I have built a whole company around the idea of indulging your inner hedonist, I think I’m going to have to investigate this sex-as-thrill premise.”

His hand cupped her chin tilting her face toward his in a way that sent her pulse into overdrive.

“It can be risky to seek adventure with someone you don’t know much about.”

As if she didn’t have enough phobias without him resorting to scare tactics.

“Trying to warn me away?”

“Not from me.” His thumb dragged slowly along her bottom lip. “Selfishly, maybe I’m just hoping you don’t consider propositioning anyone else. I’d like to be the one to get to know you better.”

The heat that had been flowing through her veins cooled slightly at the reminder that her night had started off with another man.

“I’ll keep that in mind if ever I feel the need to issue a proposition again.” She smoothed the heavy red flannel of her robe over her knee. “Considering my first attempt landed a total stranger in my room, caused a panic attack and proved that the one guy I tried propositioning is flat-out deceitful, I probably won’t put myself out on a limb for sex again anytime too soon.”

“I shouldn’t have brought it up.” Devon leaned back on the couch, giving her enough space to start thinking with her mind again instead of her overheated body that still remembered the feel of his hands on her naked thigh. “There’s a chance this guy Brady used some semi-shady tactics to squeeze me out of a job, and while I’ve got plenty of career doors open to me, I can’t help but resent that his maneuvering flew in the face of his old man’s wishes just a few months after the guy kicked the bucket. I’ll admit, I might just be choking on a couple of sour grapes. But in case I’m not, you might want to be careful.”

“I make it a habit not to let somebody close to me again if they hurt me once.” She had enough problems with trust without putting herself on the line that way. “What about you? Are you leaving the company because this guy stole your spot?”

“I’m not willing to play games to win back the job without the board’s endorsement. I probably should have made more noise about my qualifications sooner in the decision process, but I tend to get wrapped up in projects more than politics.”

“So you bow out gracefully even though you don’t have much faith in the company’s new director?” Jenny knew she’d never have the heart to play those kinds of games either, but Devon built thrill rides for the fun.

No doubt he could successfully handle corporate politics.

“The board chose him, so maybe he has strengths I don’t know about. There comes a time when peace is more important than fighting for what I might think is fair.” He almost looked convinced of it. Almost. “Besides, no one promises life will be fair. You know that going in.”

“So you’re leaving Shore Engineers to do what?”

“Go out on my own. Do some consulting work for a few amusement parks to put together the kinds of rides thrill seekers want.” He pulled over the champagne bucket and refilled their glasses. “Now that our day-to-day lives are so insulated from physical danger, theme parks are more popular than ever because they provide the edge-of-your-seat experience absent from our lives.”