Kelsey couldn’t ask him about any of that. She might not like what he had to say.

Their food arrived, and she tried to focus on just how heavenly her coconut shrimp tasted. Exist in the moment, she told herself. Awesome food, awesome scenery and the company she most craved on this earth. Forget old hurts, don’t anticipate new ones. It was hard for her, who’d grown so accustomed to looking at the dark side of things. To waiting for the axe to fall. She wished she could be like Evan, who did see that glass as half full and would argue his case to death. Just for that alone, she admired him more than she could ever tell him.

He fascinated her. Every move he made, her eyes followed it. For the thousandth time, she wondered what it was about him that kept her so riveted. Why she shivered at the simple way he held his wineglass, or his fork, or his pen when he signed the credit card slip with a flourish. Why those little things never struck her from other people. Never had she salivated just watching the way Todd’s lips touched the rim of his glass.

Kelsey was taking a sip of her own water when Evan’s hand slid over her naked knee, and she nearly spit it out at the shock of his touch. Maybe that was why. She was imagining that touch on her flesh, not some inanimate object that couldn’t appreciate it. His fingertips slid beneath the hem of her flimsy black-and-white print skirt and over the flesh of her inner thigh, leaving little trails of fire. She set her glass down, trying to retain her composure when she wanted to erupt out of her chair and straddle him where he sat.

“You have the softest skin I’ve ever touched,” he murmured, and it was only then she dared to look him in the eyes. In the dimness, they were dark, unreadable. As if there was hardly a sliver of green around his pupils. Aroused.

“Evan…” She trailed away when his fingers crept as far up her leg as they could without him leaning over and looking too obvious. It wasn’t far enough. She inched down in her seat, just barely, surely imperceptibly, and spread her legs, thanking God this tablecloth was so long. His touch slid higher. Still not enough. “Oh, God.”

“I think we’ve tortured ourselves enough today,” he said, watching her. “Are you ready to head back?”

Her breath was a shudder. Last night, every minute of it, was a blazing beacon in her thoughts. She wanted that again. All of it. Unable to speak, she nodded.

He remembered everything about that night he’d been so sick. He remembered waking up with her in his arms, so hard it hurt. When it became impossible to lie still next to her without the urge to grind his aching c**k into her backside, he’d had to get up, gulp more Tylenol and crash on the couch. She’d looked so tired he hadn’t wanted to wake her.

All that day one single scary thought had been at the forefront of his mind: This girl is wife material. It had been thoughts like that one that sent him running for the hills, desperate to replace it with rationalizations. This is your very good, very sweet, very virginal friend. Yes, she’s pretty. Yes, she’s perfect. She’s everything you should want to find in someone. Which is why you’re going to keep your dick far, far away from her. You have a girlfriend. Don’t do it, don’t be that guy.

The years had only removed all those inhibitions. “Wife material” wasn’t such a terrifying concept anymore. Someone who was perfect for him was to be treasured, not run from. No girlfriends anywhere in sight. And he couldn’t wait to get inside Kelsey again.

Evan had always found it quite hard, though not at all unpleasant, to drive with a scorching hot woman trying to crawl into his lap. Planting nibbling, sucking little kisses along his throat. Her hands doing unspeakable things in unspeakable places, driving him out of his mind. God, but Kelsey was going to get it when he could stop this vehicle. He only hoped he could wait to get into the suite to give it to her. She didn’t know how close she was to inducing him to pull over into some dark lot, drag her onto his lap and impale her on his c**k right here where he sat. He didn’t think she would complain. And God knew at this point he probably wouldn’t last long enough to get them busted. She had him ready to blow.

“Honey,” he groaned as she nibbled his earlobe and gave his stiff shaft a long, hard stroke through his pants. “I’m concerned for the safety of the public right now.”

“I trust you,” she murmured, moving her lips around to the corner of his mouth. “I think the public is in good hands.”

“Mmm, and I think you’re about to be.”

“God, Evan, I’m so wet.”

He nearly drove off the road. The need to take his hand off the wheel and investigate her claim was almost more than he could resist. It would be easy; she was so close, half kneeling in her seat, and if they hadn’t almost reached the hotel he’d probably exhort her to sit and put her seatbelt on. In the interest of safety, and all. But what she was doing felt so good, and they’d be there in a minute…

He managed to squeeze into a darkened space without grazing any other vehicle. It was a miracle. Kelsey’s hands were under his shirt, her lips wet and hot on the side of his neck. He was hard enough to break rocks, barely managing to shove the gearshift into Park before he grabbed her face between his palms and kissed her deeply, thoroughly. She moaned and crawled over him, her hands twisting in his hair.

So easy, it would be so easy to unzip his pants, tug her panties to the side and slide up inside her… He pushed his hand up her skirt to cup her ass and realized it would be easier than he thought. She wasn’t wearing any panties.

Christ. He had to get a grip, or this would be over before it started.

“Sweetie, let’s go inside,” he whispered. “We have all night. I’m not going anywhere.”

Her eyes were wild in the dim green glow from the dashboard lights, her lips dark and full from the pressure of his. “I want you so much. I want to give you everything.”

The words drew out something primeval and possessive inside him, the need to cherish her and protect her and above all else, claim her as his own. Erase all memory that she’d ever belonged to anyone else, that she’d ever given anything to a man who didn’t appreciate her and didn’t treasure her with his entire being. She was the one who deserved everything, everything he had to give.

The journey up to their room was the longest of her life, and the click of the door behind them shutting out the rest of the world, the sweetest sound she’d ever heard…aside from his voice.

She dropped her purse to the floor and toed off her sandals so the thick carpet could well between her toes. Even the swish of her skirt around her legs was sensuous as she turned into his embrace, standing on her tiptoes to reach his lips with hers. His arms encircled her waist, lifting her against him to ease their distance in height. It was her natural response to wrap her legs around his waist, to better press the throbbing apex between her thighs tight against his erection. She moved her hips, loving the friction, stoking it, their mutual groans mingling as their mouths did.

This had to be wrong. Nothing that wasn’t damningly sinful could feel so good. The man was the devil, to do this to her, to turn her into this madwoman strung out on his touch. As he gathered her weight higher in his arms and planted her back hard against the wall of their living room, she was limp as a dishrag, clinging to him to hold her up. Still, she operated on enough strength and instinct to reach down and unbutton his pants, fingers desperate to enclose his cock, to stroke it so that he made more of those delectable sounds. And then to guide it deep, deep inside her.