She opened the door with a frown. “What are you doing?”

“Pressing my luck,” he said. He walked in, pushed her gently out of the way and closed the door. He put his hands on her waist and pulled her to him, going after her lips at once. It took her exactly two seconds to melt to him, moan, reach her arms around his neck and return the kiss. They kissed as if they’d been at it for years; they both knew when to open, tilt for a deeper fit, press harder, open wider, twine their tongues, breathe hard and deep. “Oh, God, stop,” she whispered. “This is too good. And so not going anywhere.”

“What if it goes somewhere?” he asked breathlessly.

“Don’t build me up for a big letdown,” she whispered. “Don’t.”

He ran a hand along the hair at her temple and looked into her eyes. “I won’t do that to you, Ellie. I’m not planning to hurt you—I’m not that kind of man.”

She fell into his lips again, kissing him deeply, holding him close, her body pressed up against his. When she broke away, she had tears in her eyes. “You know what my curse is? I can’t help but always hope, that’s what. I have so wanted someone who’s ‘not that kind of man.’ It’s not so bad that I get let down, but it affects my kids, and they’re everything to me.”

“I know,” he said. “I know. I won’t hurt you, I won’t hurt them. These feelings just keep getting stronger. I feel it, and I can taste it in you.”

“Mmm,” she hummed, letting her eyes fall closed.

He carefully backed her up against the wall, pressing her there with his body. His aroused body. He placed the palms of his hands on either side of her head and expertly worked her lips, her mouth. Then he slipped to that place just below her ear on her neck. “I want you,” he whispered. “I want you so bad my hands shake. My eyes cross.”

She put her palms against his cheeks and pushed him back a little. “You’ve just been lonely,” she said.

“That’s just it—I haven’t been lonely since you came to town. I can’t stop thinking about you, feeling you, tasting you, imagining you. I should be stronger than the craving you set up in me, but I’m not. And I’m not just thinking about making love to you once, but making love to you over and over. And I think about how much I want to hear you laugh, how fun it is when you’re teasing me. Then I think about our bodies, skin to skin. It’s powerful, Ellie. And very real.”

“God, Noah, you’re confused…You just haven’t been with a woman in a long—”

“Ellie, I can be with women anytime I feel like it, but I want to be with you. I want to feel you under me. I dream about that.” He shifted slightly, pressing himself against her right in that vulnerable place where her legs were joined. He ground against her convincingly and heard a slight whimper escape her even as she held him closer. Tighter. And she moved her hips against him.

“I want to undress you, touch you, kiss you, taste you. And then I want you to taste yourself on my mouth.” He kissed her again, hot and strong and long. One hand crept to her clothed breast, kneading it. “I want you hard and hot and deep and fast. And then I want you slow and sweet. I want you to wrap those beautiful long legs around me. I want you under me and on top of me and sitting and standing. I want to see your eyes when pleasure makes you light up. I want to hold you when you come down and try to find your breath. I want everything with you, Ellie. I care about you more than I’ve cared about a woman in so long, I hardly recognized the feelings. I’m dying for you.”

“Oh, God,” she whispered, moving against him.

“Tell me,” he demanded. “Tell me you feel something for me. I taste it. Tell me you’re not just lonely.”

“Of course I feel something, you big dope. Why do you think this scares the holy hell out of me? But I thought you’d be the one with the great control! Besides, we’re too different!”

He ran a hand down her bottom, down her thigh and to the back of her knee, lifting her knee to his hip so he could press himself closer.

“But the difference is what’s so exciting, so beautiful. Sometimes I remember your last tease and laugh out loud when I’m all alone. I wake up in the middle of the night and I smell your skin, like you’re next to me. And I want you. I can’t stop how bad I want you. I don’t want it to stop!”

“Noah,” she whispered, her arms around his neck, her mouth open and wet under his. And to her core, she was wet and quivering. He couldn’t know how turned on she was, but as he pressed and gyrated, she just fell headlong into pleasure. She was balanced on the brink of orgasm, and no one had removed a stitch of clothing. He pressed harder, moved his hips against her.

“I want to love every piece of you. I want to be inside you. I want our bodies together, to make the two of us into one. I want it all, and I want it hard, soft, anything that will make you happy. I want to hold you, keep you safe, make you scream…I want to make you gasp and tremble and lose control, like I’m losing control. And tip over the edge. And fall.” He kissed her again. “And fall,” he whispered against her lips. “I want to make you fall in love with me. The way I’m in love with you.”

With those words, she tumbled right over that edge and without even getting undressed, experienced a shattering orgasm. She tipped her head back so that it hit the wall, pressed hard against him, put both hands on his butt cheeks to hold him tightly to her, and enjoyed a very beautiful orgasm. Fully clothed, right against the wall. She closed her eyes, bit her lower lip and groaned as unbelievable pleasure washed over her, through her.

Then she let out a long sigh and smiled. She moved her arms over his shoulders, dropped her leg from his hip and laid her head on his chest. She went so limp he had to hold her up.

“Ellie?”

“Hmm,” she hummed. “Hmm, be with you in a sec.”

He chuckled. “Well, now.”

“That was a first,” she muttered.

“Not a first orgasm, I hope,” he said.

“No. The first time I was talked into it. You sure have a way with words, Noah. I just got too turned on.” She took a breath. “I guess you’re in the right job. You can talk a person into anything.”

He laughed, a deep, gravelly, sexy laugh. He lifted her and carried her to her bed. He put her down carefully and kicked off his shoes to lie down beside her. Her eyes were closed; she was in afterglow. He could kiss her good-night and leave her now and he wouldn’t have stirred up too much trouble.

But no, he couldn’t. No more than he could summon thunderstorms.

He slowly began to undress her. He unsnapped her jeans, pulled her knit top up and kissed the top of her breasts. He licked her ear, kissed the inside of her elbow, unsnapped her bra.

“Ah,” she whispered. “Now the foreplay.”

“Well, in your case, I think it’s afterplay. But I bet you’ll enjoy it.”

“Noah, you can talk to me anytime…But don’t you have an RV guest?”

“George is asleep. And even if he’s not, he wouldn’t interfere in my private life. He’s a grand proponent of private lives.”

“Good…old…George…” And she closed her eyes and let herself be stripped.

Noah’s hands were sweet on her body; his kisses were both tender, then not so tender. His touch was soft, then not so soft, causing her to rise off the bed to try to reach him. He was taking his time, though his breathing was becoming ragged and she knew he was struggling to wait for her. He filled his hands and then his mouth with her breasts, drawing on her until she felt she was going to fall over the edge again. He parted her legs gently, and found her slick inner parts.

When he took his clothes off, she found one of his many secrets—a tattoo of his own on his upper left chest. A fish, of course. Not that religious symbol, but more like a trout leaping out of a river. She ran her fingers over it; she loved it.

He was a talker. “I need you,” he whispered. “You’re beautiful, Ellie. And soft and sweet. I love the taste of your skin, I’m already addicted to your scent.”

She almost laughed out loud when she remembered swearing off men and realized that wasn’t going to work for her, not with Noah around. She hadn’t felt so much as a twinge of desire since long before Trevor was born; life was too hard and she couldn’t even imagine a man making it easier. That had been until Noah kissed her, then touched her.

“I can’t say no to you,” she whispered. “Noah, I didn’t think you’d do something like this.”

“I didn’t think I would, either. At least not yet.”

She put her hands against his bare chest and held him back. “Please,” she said. “If you do this, when you leave me, don’t be all guilty and sorry. Please.”

He touched her lips with his finger. “Ellie, I won’t be sorry. Didn’t you hear me? I’m in love with you.”

“No. No, you’re not. You’re in lust, that’s all…”

“That, too,” he said.

When he reached for his discarded pants and pulled a condom out of his pocket, her eyes widened. “You were planning this?”

“I was fighting this, but I knew better than to be stupid. The last thing we need right now is to be in trouble.”

Her eyes drifted closed while he suited up. And she said, “I think we’re already in trouble, but it’s too late. Fill me.”

Noah paused above her for just a second, because this was it, this was the moment. There would be no going back; this would bond them. He had certain values that had been set in stone for a long time. He didn’t take the act of love lightly. It wasn’t recreation, as it had been in his youth. It was more than just a part of life to him, it was a commitment. From this moment, he would belong only to her; he would be hers for as long as she would have him. And he was far past the point of regrets. He just hoped she wouldn’t be sorry.

He pressed his lips against hers while he entered her slowly. She inhaled sharply, rising against him, bringing him deeper. As soon as he began to move, she surrendered again. Another powerful orgasm shook her, causing her to tremble in his arms. And in a breath, he said her name twice. “Ellie, Ellie…” He held her still and deep, and when she was beginning to relax, he pumped his hips and let go with a deep, sexy groan.

He held himself above her so as not to crush her with his weight and he couldn’t even make himself leave her body. “Sweet Ellie,” he whispered, brushing her hair out of her face. “I think you’re saving my life.”

When he began to pull away from her, she tightened her arms around him. “No. Please,” she whispered. “Please don’t leave me.”

“I’m not going to leave you,” he said.

“Stay inside me. A little longer. I don’t think I’ve ever felt that way before.”

“Sweetheart,” he answered, lowering his lips to her neck, her shoulder. “You’re heaven.”

“And here I thought ministers were probably boring in bed. Are you sure you’re a minister?”

His answer was a mere chuckle and a little squeeze.

“And how about the whole waiting-for-marriage thing? I mean, I realize you don’t want to marry me, but I thought ministers especially never messed that up. Isn’t that a real special rule?”

He put a finger under her chin and lifted it so he could look into her eyes. “I’m just a man, Ellie. I’ve had to learn to accept that and so will you.”

“Do you feel like you failed?” she wanted to know.

“This was not a mistake. This was supposed to happen,” he whispered. “Ellie, I’m not going to let you down.”