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Her outburst came as a complete surprise. Yes, he felt exactly that. All of what she said, he was experiencing. But he certainly hadn’t expected her to call him on it. Grasping her slender wrists, he stopped her from pummeling him, holding her hands close to his chest. “I must deny it, Paige. I have to.”
Hope flared in her gaze—he would recognize that look anywhere. He wanted to dash it. He wanted to light the flame and watch it flare higher.
“Why?” she asked. “Why must you deny it? Certainly you haven’t forgotten what happened between us before?”
She brought up that one moment in their past and he wanted her. Just like that. He thought of that one night constantly. The taste of her sweet lips, how responsive she’d been and how she’d clung to him as if he were her lifeline. “It’s best we forget it ever happened once and for all, Paige. I—lost control that night. I shouldn’t have done that with you.”
Her hands curled, pressing against his chest. “What if I told you I wanted to see you lose control again?”
A ragged breath escaped him and he shook his head, his grip loosening on her wrists. She curved her fingers into the front of his sweater, as if testing the fabric, and he wondered fleetingly if she was really just testing him. “Losing control would be the last thing you’d want me to do. I couldn’t be held accountable for my actions. I might do something…”
“Passionate?” she supplied for him. “Wonderful?”
“Risky,” he answered. “And I’m not one to take risks. At least in my personal life.”
“You took a risk on me. Hiring me when you didn’t know me.”
“That was my mother’s choice.”
“You could’ve vetoed her choice and you know it. You decided to keep me anyway.” She lifted her chin, studying him with those intense eyes that seemed to see all. “Why?”
“Months after I hire you and you have to ask this question?” She brushed her fingers against his chest and he felt it as if she touched the very tip of his cock. Lord, he had it so bad for this girl. “Matty adored you. He still does.”
“I adore Matty.” She paused, her fingers tightening in his sweater, pulling him in, closer to her. “I adore his father too.”
His eyes filled with emotion. “You shouldn’t talk like that,” he whispered harshly, surprised at her words.
Trembling against his frame, she stood on tiptoe, her mouth brushing against his when she spoke. His entire body stiffened in reaction to the fleeting touch, her potent nearness. “Why not? It’s the truth.”
Their lips met. Clung. Broke apart to meet again. Her entire body trembled, he could feel her vibrating against him, so tense he was afraid she’d shatter like glass. He touched her. Circled his hand around her slender arm and drew her closer, positioning her body so it nestled close to his.
One more kiss, he told himself. One more little indulgence in the sweetness that is Paige Stewart and then I’ll set her away from me. Tell her she deserves someone better for her, which is true. I’m old, set in my ways and absolutely no good for her.
Paige slipped her hands up his chest, circled her arms around his neck. She parted her lips and he took advantage, delving his tongue into the warm depths of her mouth. God, she tasted good. So good. Better than anything he’d ever experienced in his life. He was heady with it. Drunk on Paige, her taste, the way she molded her body against his. She fit perfectly, so perfectly. As if she were made for him, and he slid his hands down the length of her back, over her sexy backside, until he was gripping her ass, pulling her into him. Wishing like hell she understood his need.
His all-consuming need for her.
Finally. She had him back in her arms, his hands all over her body, his mouth fused with hers. Paige had dreamed of this moment for months, hoping like crazy they would both forget their stupid, unspoken vow to leave each other alone and finally do something about this painful attraction they shared.
Matteo tasted, felt, sounded like sin. The low moan reverberated from deep in his throat when she circled his tongue with hers. His heady, spicy scent filled her senses, his hard, unyielding body felt like heaven beneath her coasting, searching fingers. Everything about him, the entire package that made up Matteo Renaldi, drove her insane. He made her want to do wicked things she’d never done before. She wanted to be his only lover, the one he could depend on through the good days and bad. She wanted all of that and more.
“Paige.” He tore his mouth from hers, his breathing heavy, his mouth still poised temptingly close. Leaning up, she touched his bottom lip with the tip of her tongue, shocked at her behavior, thrilled at his reaction when he dipped his head and hungrily captured her lips once more.
