Make Your Move - By Samantha Hunter

1

“OH, MAN, YOU ARE SO HOT,” Jason Kravitz—Dr. Jason Kravitz—whispered in Jodie Patterson’s ear. His hand rested on her shoulder almost shyly as they walked up the stairs of the old brownstone together.

He wasn’t the kind of guy she usually dated, but he was cute in a geeky professor way, with his close-cut brown curls, his serious blue eyes and wire-frame glasses. He’d mentioned playing racquetball, and his physique was nice enough, she was pleased to note.

Mostly, Jodie got a kick out of how attentive and grateful he was. A bio engineer at Northwestern, what woman wouldn’t be flattered when Jason told her he’d never been out with a woman as sexy as her?

It was an ego stroke, sure, but why not?

I’m gonna rock your world, Dr. Kravitz, she thought with a secretive smile as she impulsively pushed him up against the wall near her apartment and found his lips for a kiss. It was a preview of what she wanted to happen once they were inside the door.

He was a decent kisser, thank God, and from what she could tell of the boner inside his conservatively cut dress pants, they were in full agreement about how this evening was going to end.

Jodie looked down the hall where a door shut, though she didn’t see anyone, and stepped away. She’d lived in this apartment building for six years and knew most of her neighbors. On top of that she was a local businesswoman with a reputation to protect. She liked to get wild, but she wasn’t stupid.

She felt Jason watching her as if he couldn’t bear to take his eyes off her. It was nice, compared to the string of smooth operators she’d dated recently, guys who liked to pretend they were too cool to stroke anyone’s ego but their own.

She winked naughtily and crooked her finger. This was going to be fun.

They’d had a pleasant enough evening. He’d sprung for a very nice dinner and a show, and she’d cut him some slack on the social graces. After all, Jason was a scientist. A wealthy, nice looking and—she could tell—a well-endowed nerd.

Jodie knew that social dexterity was not the strength of the scientific male. Her best friend and business partner Dan Ellison had taught her that. Dan was a good friend and the one guy on earth she could trust and be herself with, but he was still a scientist. A true-blue genius, actually, a teenage college student, Dan was going for his second Ph.D. when Jodie had just hit her sophomore year.

She’d be lying if she didn’t admit—at least to herself—that Jason was definitely fulfilling a little fantasy she’d held on to for a while.

Back in the day, more than once, Jodie had thought of what it would be like to sleep with Dan, too. He was sweet, and really good-looking, in spite of his refusal to part with his glasses and somewhat haphazard academic mode of dress. She’d given up buying him beautiful designer shirts and so forth for holidays because he never wore them, though he admired them as gifts. Dan was just…Dan.

Maybe something would have happened in those early days if she’d made a move, but when they opened a business together, the door that led to sex was closed firmly shut. As time went on, she also didn’t want to risk destroying the one real relationship she had with a truly decent guy. There was a world full of men to bring home for a night, but really good men were a rare find. Dan was a really good man.

Opening her apartment door, she led Jason in by the tie and when the door shut, she turned on a low light, sliding her coat off and hanging it in the closet before taking his. Their hands touched, and her heartbeat picked up a little. The territory south of her belly button started to get that warm tingle of anticipation that signaled good things on the horizon.

Jodie loved everything about sex. She loved seduction and men’s bodies and everything that physical coupling had to offer. It was fun, energizing, and she was very, very good at it. Knowing that gave her a sense of control. She could, with little effort, have any man she wanted. And usually did.

Tonight, that was enhanced by Jason’s shy approach. She liked how he wasn’t all over her the second the door was shut. He just kept staring at her as if she was the best thing since pink Popsicles.

Jodie grinned.