Love Bites: A Sugar City Novella (Entangled Bliss) by Ophelia London

She lifted her chin. “I’ve never done anything like that—come on to a stranger. Never even instigated a kiss before.” She laughed, but it was dark and self-conscious—not like the woman he was getting to know. “I guess I was giving myself permission because I was in a foreign country for one night.”
    He leaned away from her instinctively. “So I was an experiment?”
    “No. I thought it might be…an adventure.” She lowered her gaze again. “I was into it, into you . Which I’m sure you knew.”
    “I had a pretty good idea,” he said, relieved that he hadn’t imagined it.
    “I know it’s silly, but before we went to your room, I wanted to brush my teeth. I’d been traveling all day and felt a little worn out.” She smiled. “I didn’t want to feel worn out with you.”
    “That’s why you went to your room?”
    She nodded. “When I got there and had two seconds to think without you kissing me and making my brain mush, I realized I couldn’t go through with it. I’m not a one-night-stand kind of girl, Jeff. I’m sorry I gave you that impression.” She fidgeted with her rings; it was her nervous habit he’d noticed. “I was trying to be someone different for a change. But at the heart of me, I’m not that person.”
    When she finally paused to breathe, Jeff blew out a long, relieved exhale followed by a laugh that shook the bunk.
    “What?” she asked, sounding a little hurt.
    He scrubbed at his jaw. “Sharona, I’m not that person, either. It was shocking how it happened, but before I knew it, I was too caught up. Of course I was attracted to you, but I knew there was nothing I could do about it, not with me leaving the next morning. I’m not built that way.”
    “That’s surprising.”
    “My mother taught us manners.”
    “Remind me to thank her.”
    He tried to ignore the way her smile made the pit of his stomach fill with heat and burn with lightning, another wave of want pulling him toward this woman. “There were five of us boys,” he added.
    “I have four siblings, too.”
    He touched a lock of her hair. “I know. You told me about your family last night. It’s funny, I didn’t know your name, but I knew about your childhood and your first boyfriend and how you failed your driving test. It was like we’d gone on five dates in two hours.”
    “I felt the same way, like we were friends as kids and were playing catch-up.”
    He glanced down, adjusting the gauze around her hand. “What was it like growing up in the chocolate capitol of the world?”
    “What?” Her forehead furrowed at the question. “Oh. No, Natalie’s from Hershey. We met in college. I grew up in Tampa.”
    Jeff took a few beats before asking, “Is that where you live now?”
    No, he couldn’t possibly be so lucky. First, meeting an amazing woman like Sharona one night, then remeeting her the next day. But this?
    She shook her head. “My parents are still there, but I moved to Miami for school and fell in love with it.”
    Jeff sat back—this was beyond amazing. “ I live in Miami, too.”
    They were quiet for a moment. The only sounds were the chatters from topside. Sounded like everyone above deck was busy preparing the ship for their next stop. Also meaning, no one would be coming down.
    “That’s…” she said, her dark eyes blinking once, slowly. “Handy.”
    “I travel a lot for work, obviously. My funding comes from UM, but I work out of the uni, too. It’s my home base. And here I assumed our meeting was an accident.”
    “I don’t spill my drinks on just any man, you know.” She touched his cheek. “Only dashing shark lovers with panty-dropping accents.”
    He chuckled and looked down, running a finger over the inside of her wrist. “I was more than willing to let last night progress naturally, even though it wasn’t my style, either. I went along with it because…well, you really didn’t give me a choice.”
    “I was that irresistible last night?”
    “Last night?”