“When I said I was taking precautions, I was serious. I haven’t had a social life for weeks. No impulse shopping or popping out for an errand. I use the treadmill in the gym in my building instead of running outside. It’s stifling and the walls will close in again when I get back. Honestly, the idea of being able to spend an hour with—” She cleared her throat, skin feeling tight. She tried to sound flippant, but it came out husky, “a neighbor—”
He snorted at the descriptor.
“I’m just saying, I really am tempted. It would be nice to feel normal again. I always feel so much better when I’m home,” she added, accosted by a poignant feeling. She wasn’t ready to leave this time and she suspected this man was the reason.
He shifted to face her, leaning his wrist on her seatback so he edged into her space. “C’mere,” he invited.
“What.” A grin tugged at her mouth, but wicked, sexual reactions took her at the same time. Her nipples prickled and her breathing changed. “You want to kiss me?” She wanted him to. Rather badly.
“I do.”
“Is it a test?” She turned her head, aware of how close he was, how he smelled faintly of aftershave and clean Montana air.
“Little bit,” he murmured.
“Gonna leave me here if I don’t pass?” she challenged, trying to sound urbane when she actually felt girlish and shy.
His fingertips played gently against the ends of her hair, coaxing her to lean a fraction closer toward him. “I’m the one making the pass, sweetheart.”
He closed in. Warm male lips brushed hers, giving her a moment to savor the sensation of smooth, sensitive skin rubbing lightly against her own. Then he pressed with more purpose, enticed her into parting her lips and playing her mouth against his in delicious rubs as he gradually settled into the kiss. He stole over her so skillfully, she was caught and held before she realized how completely he owned her.
She thought—
Actually, there were no thoughts in her head. Just his scent and the warm dampness of his strong mouth exploring hers. The tip of his tongue briefly tagged her inner lip. Their breaths hissed quietly as their breathing changed. His cheek was smooth enough not to snag her knit gloves, making her want to pull them off so she could run her fingers into his hair.
She slanted her head, encouraging him to deepen the kiss. Pressing the back of his skull to encourage more pressure.
His free hand settled on the side of her neck, thumb stroking deliciously under her throat while he pulled at her bottom lip, his flagrant sucking making arousal bloom down her front, spiking her nipples into sharper peaks and spearing hot need between her thighs. Oh man, did she want to go home with him.
And he was drawing back, making her primal core weep.
“What do you think?” he asked in a voice that was like a velvety summer breeze caressing her naked skin.
She made herself sit straight, breath unsteady and way too revealing of his effect on her. Her fingertips pressed her buzzing lips, trying to calm the rest of her.
“I didn’t realize it was that kind of test,” she said, voice papery.
“It’s not. Come over for a drink if you just want to throw off the shackles for a while. I wasn’t trying to see if you put out. But if we were going to fizzle, I figured here was a better place for it.”
Fizzle? She choked on a laugh, mildly horrified by that phrase ‘put out,’ and even more horrified by how disappointed she would be if he left her here instead of taking her to his place.
“Do you think we fizzled?”
“Ha! No,” he said firmly, making her tuck a grin into her collar.
It was gratifying and flattering, but…
“You do this a lot, don’t you?” she asked in a voice that came out smaller than she meant it to. “Pick up women, I mean.”
Silence as he eased back into his own seat, then he sighed. “I’m not good at relationships, Meg. A lot of it was the nature of my job, but the truth is, I’ve never seen myself married with kids and the whole nine yards. But I like women and I like sex.” His jacket shifted as he shrugged and made himself more comfortable behind the wheel. “What do you want me to say? That I’ve never taken a woman home? You’d be the first here. Does that help?”
“I’ve never done it,” she said, then hurried to add, “I mean, I’ve had relationships. Just not, um, such a brief one.”
Somewhere along the way, maybe because she had friends that she respected who sometimes had one-night stands, she had developed a sense that they could be empowering. She didn’t feel emboldened, though. She felt insecure. Longing gripped her, like she was wishing for something she would never get.