Page 62 of Love In Hiding

“I’ve dated. Dated a few women for a month or so, but don’t consider that a relationship.”

“Because they wanted more of your time than you were able to give?”

“I like how you said able and not willing. It was that more than anything.”

“Was there anyone you wanted to give more time to?” she asked.

“No. So that means I didn’t try.”

And that ate at him too.

“Are you willing to try here?”

“I wouldn’t be here if I weren’t,” he said, continuing to eat. She did the same.

It was as if she needed more time to comprehend what he’d admitted. “Is it because we work together?”

“No. I don’t want to mix them up. I’m being clear there,” she said.

“Good. Me neither.”

And she couldn’t get much clearer when she invited him to her apartment, saying that it was on his way anyway, and she wasn’t ready for the night to end.

“This is a nice place,” he said. “I can see a combination of you both here.”

“It’s more Paris than me. I don’t have the patience for decorating.”

That didn’t surprise him in the least. “It’s calming,” he said, tongue in cheek.

“Which should have told you right away it wasn’t me. We know there isn’t anything calm about me.”

“There isn’t,” he said, reaching for her arm and tugging her into his body. To see if she teased him like before.

If she got right in his face and then pulled back again.

He’d give her a pass on the first one. Because the truth was, she was right. It took the guilt off his shoulders not kissing her in the office environment.

But if she did it this time, he’d be done. It wasn’t the type of games or flirting he had the time for.

She didn’t though. She slipped her arms around his neck. She held on tight like he had wanted her to do days ago.

Her body pressed to his, her hips nudged against the very obvious reaction straining in his jeans.

Her breath was just a whisper away from his mouth. “This time I want you to kiss me,” she said.

And he did. There was no reason to push it off.

No reason to deny them both.

His mouth slanted over hers, the heat he’d been feeling for days ready to be unleashed.

Her lips parted beneath his, welcoming him in, and the kiss went from a spark to a full-on ignition. She tasted likewine and challenge and something he’d been craving long before he admitted it.

She tightened her arms around his neck, drawing him closer, like she wanted every inch of space between them obliterated. He slid one hand down her back, tracing the dip of her spine, and stopping at the flare of her hip.

She fit against him too perfectly, and the groan he swallowed against her mouth was pure reflex.

She nipped at his bottom lip, teasing, testing, pushing him right to the edge.