She even loved his voice, all deep and serious. Realizing that was enough to snap her control in half. She only knew one way to get it back, and there was a fifty-fifty chance it would backfire. “Okay, this is ridiculous.”

“I don’t know what you’re—”

“Kiss me.”

He looked like he’d swallowed his tongue. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” It was a stupid idea but it was the only one in her head. It had taken over every other thought since they walked in the door and now it pounded inside her. She needed this over, done, and forgotten.

“I can’t really hear anything right now.”

Okay, that was kind of cute . . . as if she needed to find one more adorable thing about him. “There’s some weird charged thing happening between us. Adrenaline. Frustration. Boredom. Whatever you want to call it, we need to burn it off.”

He took a step back and rammed his leg into a table. “Shit.”

“You okay?”

He waved off the concern. “You think a kiss will do that?”

“That’s the only choice we have.”

He winced. “Actually.”

Was he saying no? That made the need inside her rev up faster. “The only one I’m giving you.”

He’d stopped fumbling and running into things and stared at her now. “Okay.”

Okay? Not exactly loads of excitement in his tone, but she wasn’t about to argue.

“So, do it.” She wanted to add now but stopped herself. But she was pretty sure she was yelling. That general loudness didn’t block out the churning inside her or the ringing in her head, but it would happen. One kiss and all of this would be wiped away.

“Maddie.”

She needed this to happen. Now. “Come on.”

“I think the charge is gone.”

Her mind went blank. All the need rushed right out of her and bubbling frustration settled in its place. “What did you say?”

“Yeah, you killed it off.”

Now she could add one very unattractive quality to the list about him. He could be a jerk. Noted.

She grabbed her bag and headed for a door she hoped held the bathroom or this might be the most embarrassing exit of all time. “You had your chance.”

He was an idiot.

She offered and he stumbled around until she started with the shouting. Still, he wanted to kiss her. If his brain hadn’t kicked back to life and thoughts about her safety hadn’t started running through his head, they might be kissing or on the mattress right now.

And that would have been the wrong move . . . right?

He sat down hard on the end of the sofa mattress. A bar dug into the backs of his legs but he ignored it just like he needed to ignore all the date-like parts of this evening.

Dropping his head into his hands, he tried to focus on protection, not seduction. “This can’t happen.”