Tall, Dark And Daring

He brushed the afghan away, skimming his hand over her thighs. “I’m only interested in following up on one particular opportunity, Tessa.”

Sliding one arm around her waist, he pulled her to him. Her breathing hitched at the contact of his fingers underneath the hem of her sweater. He paused, drinking in the feel of her smooth skin as he splayed his hand over her back.

When her eyes drifted shut, as if she surrendered all control to him, Mitch homed in on her mouth for the kiss he’d dreamed about for eight years.

He groaned at the absolute perfection of her. The lips that were soft as a bubble bath. The scent that drugged him into behaving like a hormone-overloaded teenager. The taste that wavered between earthy-sexy and divinely sweet.

Every drop of blood in his veins surged south. At just one blasted kiss.

What made him think he could ever stop at just a kiss? He left her lips long enough to sample her neck and the hollow valley at her throat. Her fingers bore into his shoulders, and a strangled cry reached his ears.

“Mitch.” She gasped in time with the hungry swipes of his mouth over her neck. “We can’t.”

He could think of about a million reasons they definitely should. The first being her heart hammering against his chest at least as fiercely as his own.

“Why not?”

She inched backward, inserting a sliver of space between them. “Because this will interfere with our work. Besides, we’ve been down this path, and it doesn’t have a happy ending.”

Her words rained ice on his wayward libido. Not nearly enough to freeze it over, but enough to resurrect his ability to reason. He sure as hell couldn’t jeopardize his plan to make her stay because of his hunger for Tessa.

If she left in a huff because he couldn’t keep his hands off her, then his business suffered. More than anything, he needed to please her first.

Himself second.

In that case, he needed to take it slowly…maybe get away from the temptation of the inn and the sensual memories it posed, or he’d be right back to trying to kiss her within twenty-four hours. He wanted her so much he couldn’t see straight.

Then the perfect solution hit.

He slid away from her. “How about that publicity tour?”

She blinked. “What?”

He was gratified to see the pulse still throb in the small valley between her collarbones. It must have been at least a little bit of a struggle for her to pull away, too.