Slow Seduction by Marie Rochelle

that she didn’t like talking about herself, but she still needed to open up a little more.
    “Can I ask you a question?” Jenisha asked, breaking into his thoughts.
    She wants to know more about me? He would tell her anything she wanted to know. “Sure. Ask away, Precious.” His voice was calm and steady, but inside his heart was pounding a mile a minute. Jenisha was showing interested in him. It was a small step toward him winning her over.
    “Did you love any of those other women you dated? Was there a woman who got away and you wished she hadn’t?”

    Taking his eyes off the road for a second, Clinton glanced at Jenisha. Always wanting to be honest with her, he answered her openly. “Yes, there was one woman I wished I had won over from my past.”
    Jenisha hated the jealousy she felt at hearing that. “Can I ask who she was,” she asked in a low voice.
    “Sure.” He paused just long enough to grab Jenisha’s attention and hopefully make her a little jealous. “It was you.”
    “What? How could it be me?” she muttered in disbelief. “We didn’t know each other that long.”
    “Precious, I think I fell in love with you the moment we were introduced,” Clinton confessed. “I wanted a relationship with you then, but you were like an ice queen-cold to the touch.” He still remembered how she didn’t make eye contact with him over dinner. No matter what he did that night, she acted like he wasn’t even in the same room as her.
    “If I came across so standoffish, what made you come all the way here and seek me out,” she questioned, hurt.
    Clinton heard the hurt in Jenisha’s voice and it upset him, but he had to be honest with her. “One thing had me come to California for the job at your school and that was love.”
    He didn’t miss the wide-eyed looked Jenisha threw his way. He knew he sounded crazy, but he wasn’t. What else could be it but love? He had never felt this away about another woman in his life.
    “Jenisha, I love you more than I thought I could ever love anyone.” He took another quick glance at her to make sure she was listening, and then he looked back at the road. “I have to admit when Hayward fell so hard for True I thought he was crazy until I saw your beautiful face.” His mouth kicked up into a smile. “Then I had to control myself so I wouldn’t drool all over you in the living room.”
    “You didn’t do a very good job at hiding what you felt,” Jenisha muttered. She still remembered his hot gaze like it was yesterday. “You made me a little uncomfortable with all the questions at first. I wasn’t use to an attractive man giving me his full attention like that.”

    Pulling the car in the empty parking lot, Clinton turned off the car and gave Jenisha his full attention. He leaned forward and looked at her intently. “I can’t believe that for one minute,” he whispered. “You are too striking not to draw appreciative stares.”
    She shrugged. “I’m not saying I don’t draw attention from men. But, they usually don’t want to know my life story in one night.”
    ‘Well, sweetheart, you will learn pretty quickly that I’m not most men.” Clinton frowned at the thought of Jenisha being with other men before him. He would make sure there weren’t any after him. Jenisha was his now his, even if she didn’t believe it.
    “Is that a promise or a threat?”
    “Neither. It’s a fact, sweetheart. I’m not a very jealous man, but I can be if I have too. So, let’s not discuss any more men from your past,” his deep voice muttered.

    Jenisha heard the cool tone of Clinton’s voice, but the heat in his eyes showed her his true emotions. He didn’t like thinking about her with anyone else but him. This odd possessiveness he felt for her should have scared her away, but it didn’t. She was kind of getting used to being the center of attention.
    “Is this where the date is going to be?” she asked, looking at the dark parking lot through the car