The Eligible Suspect(43)

                She didn’t return his humor. “Not sexually.”

                There was no mistaking her meaning. She trusted too easily in the men she fell in love with. In that respect, yes, she was easy.

                “You’re not easy if you fall in love,” he said, serious now.

                “I’m no good at picking men.” He’d be another bad choice.

                “I’ve never looked at it that way. Picking someone. It just happens.”

                She looked away. Had it just happened with her fiancé? No, she’d chosen him. But the one after that...him she hadn’t chosen.

                “Either way,” she finally said, “I always lose.”

                He studied her as he digested that comment, which was simple truth to her. She wasn’t insecure. She’d lost love twice. A fact. What wasn’t fact yet was whether she’d lose again.

                “I suppose, then, that we have something in common in that regard,” he said.

                “Do we?” Had he guessed the source of her curiosity?

                “I believe that’s why you asked me if I’d been with anyone,” he said.

                Caught, she joined him for a long stare, communicating without words the understanding of how it felt to have love taken away. Possibility hung in the air, as well. This uncommon attraction between them. This bond they had. Understanding each other. Falling into a mystical abyss of feeling.

                Uncomfortable, Savanna scooted back her chair and stood. Leaving him there with the game, she went to one of the beds and removed her clothes down to her base layer, long thermal tights and matching top.

                With her back to him, she didn’t hear him come up behind her. His hand slid over her hip to her abdomen, drawing a startled breath from her. Then he stepped closer and put his head down beside hers.

                “Let me show you something.”

                What was he going to show her? Sweet temptation burned through her. She didn’t resist when he eased her to face him, pulling her against him. Savanna inhaled another surprised breath and didn’t have time to recover from the feel of his hard body so close to hers. Heat swept her away. He sank his fingers into her hair, tipping her head back without tugging too much.

                His gaze drifted over her face, twin flames licking her features.

                He put his mouth on hers.

                Savanna stopped breathing and she stared up at the detail of his eyes while fire roared through her. He angled his head, sliding his mouth over hers. She parted her lips, unable to stop herself, and he took the hesitant surrender. His tongue brushed hers, his hand holding her head to him. He pressed harder, asking for more. Demanding. With a sound of want she had no control over, she let him have all of her.

                He sank into a deeper kiss with a groan that fanned her desire. She slid her arms over his shoulders and let herself forget how little she knew him. She dragged her eyes closed to sensation.

                He ravaged her mouth with sensuous kisses, tasting, delving, taking her tongue in a deep and erotic dance. She lost herself in him, gave herself over to the feelings he stirred in her. She caught her breath when he warmed a fevered path down her neck, only to find that she needed even more air. She arched her back as he neared her breasts, felt them rub against his chest.

                Then he stepped back. No longer did his mouth work magic on her. She stumbled to catch her balance without his arms around her, staring at him as coherency returned.