Jason glanced over at Taylor. “It’s up to you.”

After a moment’s deliberation, she nodded. It was his life, after all.

So Jason gestured to the press line, the throng of waiting reporters, who frantically reached over the rope the moment he and Taylor stepped over. Ten thousand microphones were shoved instantly in her face.

“Who are you?” the reporter from E! demanded to know.

“Taylor Donovan,” she said, a bit awkwardly. Suddenly she knew what it felt like to be cross-examined.

“Are you an actress?”

“Are you a model?” another reporter called out from the back of the crowd.

“No, I’m a lawyer from Chicago.”

The reporters whispered amongst each other, confused by this.

The intrepid correspondent from Access Hollywood pushed out front, microphone in hand. “Are you and Jason dating?” she demanded to know.

Taylor hesitated. Wow—nothing like having to discuss your personal life with a few thousand strangers.

Far more used to this than she, Jason took the lead on that particular question. “No, I wouldn’t exactly call it dating,” he said. Everyone looked at Jason in surprise. Including Taylor.

He winked at her.

“Ms. Donovan is my fiancée,” he declared.

And the crowd went wild!

Again!

The frenzied paparazzi snapped one shot after the other as the fans cheered riotously at this revelation.

Taylor stared at Jason, shocked.

When she didn’t say anything for a moment—a long moment—he shifted nervously. Perhaps he had overshot a bit with that one.

“Well? What do you have to say to that?” Jason asked.

Taylor cocked her head. “Don’t you think we should have sex first?”

Jason laughed, hard. He yanked the pen out of the hand of the reporter nearest them, who had been scribbling eagerly in his notebook. “Don’t print that,” he said firmly.

Jason turned back to Taylor with a sly grin. “Well, yes, I was hoping we could get working on that.”

She raised an eyebrow. “I see. So . . . what are we waiting for?”

Jason pulled her close and whispered huskily in her ear. “One of these days you’re going to learn that that question can get you into all sorts of trouble.”

Taylor turned her face to his. “How long do you have to stay at this premiere?” she whispered softly.

They left twenty seconds later.

AS IT TURNED out, Taylor Donovan was a naughty lawyer indeed.

First she was naughty in the car, as Jason raced along the streets to her apartment.

“If you keep doing that, you’ll be turning in another wrecked PT Cruiser.”

“You said you wanted to drive,” Taylor whispered teasingly as she nibbled at his neck.

“Because I’m the man.”

“Fine. I’ll stop then, if that’s really what you want . . .”

The car careened wildly as it took the next corner.

“Fuck it,” Jason groaned. “I’ll buy you a new car.”

THEN SHE WAS naughty in her apartment, in the foyer inside the front door, on top of the console table.

“My bedroom’s just down the hall,” Taylor gasped as Jason tore open her shirt. Buttons flew everywhere.

“We’ll get there eventually,” he said, pushing up her skirt while sliding one hand along her thigh. He smiled wickedly as his fingers slowly inched their way up. She moaned and arched her back against the wall.

“Let’s go there now, Jason,” she commanded.

“My, my, aren’t we pushy . . .”

WHEN THEY FINALLY made it to the bedroom, she was naughty there, too.

“And you said you’d hate me forever,” Jason teased as he tossed Taylor onto the bed.

She reached impatiently for his belt buckle, yanking him onto the bed with her. “This is angry sex—I actually don’t like you at all.” She wrapped her legs around him, trying to get on top. He grabbed her hands and pinned them over her head.

“Are you sure about that, Ms. Donovan? Because you seem to like it an awful lot when I do this . . .”

LATER ON, SHE was even naughty on the kitchen counter, after Jason innocently pointed out that they had forty minutes to kill until their Chinese food arrived.

“Are you sure you’re not too tired?” Taylor taunted, lacing her fingers through his hair and pulling him between her legs. “Although you do seem to have a lot of energy for a thirty-nine-year-old.”

Jason grabbed her by the back of her neck, pulling her mouth to his. “Thirty-eight, smart-ass. I have a December birthday.”

Hijinks ensued.

FINALLY, WHEN THEY were both so spent that they literally fell into bed, Taylor rested her head on Jason’s chest. He wrapped his arms tightly around her, and they fell asleep instantly. A deep and peaceful sleep.

And in the morning, they were naughty all over again.

Thirty-five

“SO YOU REALLY quit your job?”

Jason handed Taylor another doughnut, the double chocolate with sprinkles per her request. Earlier, she had discovered the one drawback of sleeping with the Sexiest Man Alive: in the morning, she had to be the one to go out and hunter-gather breakfast. Unless, as Jason put it, she wanted a side of paparazzi with her orange juice and muffins.

“Yep, I really quit,” she told him, biting into the chocolately goodness she had wrangled from the bakery down the street.

“But you’re so calm about it.”