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“Yeah,” he said, sighing. “I know that’s pretty weak.”

She shook her head. “Guarding someone’s emotions at the expense of your own is brave, not weak.”

He glanced down. “There’s another reason I feel guilty.”

“What’s that?” she asked.

He glanced up. “Because all I’ve been able to think about these past few days is you.”

Nina’s heart pounded. Me? She tried to think of what to say but her brain had frozen.

Cameron lifted his hand to stroke her cheek. “I’ve wanted to kiss you so many times.”

Nina nearly swooned right off her chair. She didn’t want him to stop talking and yet she wanted to silence him with her mouth.

He trailed his thumb over her bottom lip. “Can I kiss you now?” He swallowed. “I don’t want you to think I’m inappropriate when I’ve literally just finished with my girlfriend.”

Nina gently grasped the front of his shirt. He’d cast a line of vulnerability, and she wasn’t about to leave him hanging. “Come here,” she said.

Cam obeyed, leaning in to brush his lips against hers. He broke away briefly to meet her eyes, then pushed his fingers into her hair and kissed her. Fire pooled in her veins as he softly teased her mouth. She pulled him in to taste him more deeply, pressing her tongue against his. He let out a groan and it sparked the fire inside her. She couldn’t get him close enough so she broke off to climb onto his lap and straddle him.

He gazed at her with an expression of rapture that sent heat coursing into her core. “I love your eyes,” he said. “They sparkle like you’ve got tiny stars inside them.”

Nina smiled, trailing her fingers along his cheek then into his hair. He was the ultimate balance of sweet and sexy.

He studied her face. “I dreamt about you last night.”

“When we were sleeping in the studio?” she asked. “What was the dream?”

He smiled. “This.”

Nina’s heart fluttered. “That’s what that smile this morning was all about.”

He nodded, his cheeks colouring.

She leaned to kiss him again as he ran his hands up her thighs and onto her hips, holding her firmly in place.

Nina felt like she was in a dream. How could it be that this insanely attractive and brilliantly sensitive man was kissing her on her balcony? She didn’t even care that they might be visible to others on their own terraces. She just didn’t want the moment to end.

Nina ran her mouth onto his neck, revelling in the sensation of his goosebumps against her tongue as he shivered with pleasure. She sucked his skin gently against her teeth and he sighed. “I feel like I’ve been fantasising about this for years.”

She lifted her head and kissed his lips. “Try days, not years,” she said, smiling.

He lifted both hands to brush her hair from her face, holding her gently. “There was a bit of a gap in between, but it’s definitely years.”

She frowned, cocking her head to study him. “What do you mean?”

He smiled and pressed his lips to hers in the lightest of butterfly kisses. “I mean I used to like you at university. I remember seeing you around with Isla, but I was too shy to speak to you—until that party, but you had a boyfriend with you.”

She gazed at him in wonder. “I had no idea.”

He brushed his nose against hers. “You didn’t notice me.”

She nodded. “Yes, I did. I thought you were gorgeous. But I was involved with someone and I never saw you again after that.”

He gave her a lopsided smile. “You thought I was gorgeous? Back then?”

Nina kissed him thoroughly before answering. “Of course. And now.”