Read Online If She Dares (Contemporary Romance) by Tanya Michaels - Free Book Online

sacrificing a Friday night. I promised my mom a favor. She’d never let me live it down if I backed out.” Dammit. “You know how moms are.”
    His expression tightened. “I guess.”
    They rounded the corner and went up the next flight in silence.
Mental note: Jack doesn’t like talking about his mother
. It was awkward, walking together with nothing to break the stillness besides their footfalls on the steps. Unable to stand it, she ventured hesitantly, “Are you closer to your dad?”
    “He died before I was born.”
    She was so taken aback by his icy tone that she didn’t even offer her condolences. Riley kept her mouth shut until they stepped through the doorway on the fourth-floor landing. She couldn’t part ways without saying
something
.
    “I really do wish I could go with you and your friends tomorrow,” she said as she fished her apartment key out of her purse. “Ask me again sometime?”
    “Sure.” He punctuated the agreement with a smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes. It barely reached his mouth. Then he disappeared into his apartment.
    She opened her own front door, feeling that any shot she might have had with Jack Reed had died a swift death in the stairwell. No, that wasn’t true.
We were shotless long before I stuck my foot in my mouth
.
    A casual invite to blow up virtual bad guys with a group of buddies wasn’t necessarily a prelude to anything more. Jack didn’t want romance. And she wasn’t entirely sure she could kiss a man good-night without reflexively clutching her pepper spray. Still, if things were different...
    Steamy images tumbled through her mind—the smoldering look in Jack’s eyes before he kissed her, the erotic contrast of his dark hair against her pale breast.
    Maybe it was for the best that Jack’s aloofness put a wall between them and that she wasn’t free to join him and his friends tomorrow. Blurring the lines between platonic reality and naughty dreams could lead to something she really regretted in the long run. No matter how blissfully orgasmic it might be in the short run.
    * * *
    T HREE AND A half hours couldn’t possibly be a world record for longest date ever, yet to Riley, tonight had certainly felt like it. Worse, because she’d caved to her mother this afternoon, the date wasn’t technically over yet. They had another awkward five minutes before they reached her apartment.
I knew I should have taken my own car
.
    Her mother’s call earlier had startled Riley out of work, catching her off guard because she’d lost track of time while troubleshooting a connection string. When the phone rang, Riley experienced a guilt-stricken moment of panic that she was already late. Sheryl had explained that Mitch still needed a gift for his friend’s wedding and that she’d directed him to a department store near Riley’s building.
    “He’ll just pick you up on the way back,” her mom had decreed. She’d ignored Riley’s protests about not wanting Mitch to go to any extra trouble. “Nonsense. He’s happy to do it, and the store is so close, practically around the corner.”
    “Know what’s even closer than around the corner from my place? My actual place. Where my car is parked. It’s silly to send him back out to drive me home later.” Of course, her being dependent on Mitch gave her mother assurance that Riley couldn’t make any excuses to flee during dinner.
    Sheryl had sighed. “But then I have to worry about you out at night, driving alone.” It was difficult to tell if she was being sincerely protective or just manipulative—knowing her, probably both at once. In the end, Riley had capitulated.
    And now she was kicking herself, counting the seconds until she and Mitch reached her building.
    “Nice neighborhood,” he said. “I mean, I noticed earlier. Before it was dark out. Savannah is really nice, too. Have you ever been?”
    “Nope.” Which she’d told him when he asked her at the dinner table while regaling her parents with