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  empty. He hustled Naja out of bedroom and down the hallway toward the backdoor. As soon as they stepped out onto the patio they were surrounded by the lights and sounds of the fireworks show.

  He led her down the stairs to the beach. Once he found a good viewing spot he pulled Naja in front of him until her back was pressed to his front. He placed a kiss against her temple, then tilted his head back to stare at the sky, reveling in how right the moment felt.

  Thinking back to what she’d revealed earlier in the bedroom he had a better understanding of why Naja had responded to him the way she had when he’d first made his request. She was afraid of opening herself up to the possibility of being hurt again. If only she knew that was the last thing he planned to do. He’d never take her feelings lightly.

  She shifted in his arms and he held her closer. Even over the fireworks he heard her sigh and her body went lax. He might have only known Naja for a full two days, but he was smart enough to recognize something special right in front of him.

  As much as she might try to deny it, he was certain if they pursued each other outside of the time they had at Myrtle Beach, something could come of it. His goal was to encourage her to come to that same conclusion. It didn’t matter how much distance was between them. He was positive they could make a go over it.

  Naja turned her head to look at him. “I’ve always loved the firework show. Something about the controlled explosions over the water makes them even more special.”

  “I have to admit this is the first firework show I’ve been to in a while.”

  “Are you enjoying yourself?”

  One corner of his mouth tilted upward. “We’re on the beach. I have you in my arms. How could I not?”

  She stared at him silently for a moment before puckering her lips up for a kiss. He obliged her briefly, not wanting to get carried away. When he pulled back, she was smiling.

  “I’m really enjoying myself as well,” she stated.

  She turned back to the front before he could say anything else.

  He focused his attention back on the night sky. Tonight he had to have her in his arms.

  Whether she was in his bed or he in hers, didn’t matter. He just didn’t want this night to end.

  Try to deny it as she may, something simmered between the two of them and it was more than lust. He’d seen the expression on her face when they’d snuck out of the guest bedroom a short time ago. She’d looked sated, awestruck and confused. It was the last emotion that had stuck with him. He wanted to get rid of it. Instead of her being focused on why they had the connection they did, he wanted her to relax and go with it. One thing was for certain: the night definitely wasn’t over.

  He was pulled from his inner musings as the firework show picked up, indicating it was almost over. Focusing his attention back on the action, he watched as the explosions battled for dominance in the air, each one brighter and bigger than the last.

  Naja laughed and his heart skipped a beat at the pure joy that he heard.

  The sound was still in the air after the last big bang signaled the end of the show.

  Naja spun slowly in his embrace to face him, then wrapped her arms around his neck.

  “That was fun, wasn’t it?”

  “Yes, it was.”

  She went up on tip-toe and with a little hop placed a kiss on his lips. When she pulled back the sparkle in her eyes was even more radiant than any of the fireworks had been. “I don’t know how much longer the party will go. Do you want to stay or are you ready to leave?”

  “Let’s stay a bit longer.”

  “Okay.”

  He stared at her a bit longer then brought his hand up to brush her cheek. “Naja?”

  “Yes?”

  “When we do leave, I want you to spend the night with me.”

  She remained silent as her gaze searched his expression. Finally, she nodded. “Okay, Sterling.

  I’ll go home with you.”

  Chapter Seven

  Naja stirred leisurely, keeping her eyes closed as she stretched. The morning sun shone brightly, but she refused to open her eyes for a few more moments. She wanted to savor her current euphoria for a little longer. Sterling had left the bed a short time ago and she’d stirred, but she hadn’t awakened completely.

  Last night hadn’t gone the way she’d expected in the least. When he’d asked her to stay the night she’d expected them to be all over each other the moment they hit the front door, especially after what had occurred in the guestroom closet. Instead, Sterling had led her to his bedroom, stripped them both down to their underwear then tugged her down onto the bed with him. After a few kisses hot enough to burn her alive, he pulled her into his embrace, intertwined their legs and whispered, “pleasant dreams.”

  While she’d definitely had them, the night had been a complete surprise. It’d also been one of the most fulfilling nights of rest she’d had in a long time. Being wrapped in his arms had left her feeling safe and secure. As much as she didn’t want to, she liked the feeling.

  Finally giving up any pretense of resting, she opened her eyes and sat up. She climbed out of bed and stretched before making her way to the bathroom.

  Once she’d gone through the morning ritual of freshening up, she walked over to his

  dresser. The third drawer revealed cotton t-shirts. She grabbed one and put it on. Several moments later, she entered the kitchen, feeling refreshed.

  Sterling sat outside, lounging in a chair, reading the paper with a cup of coffee beside him.

  She could get used to waking up like this. The instant the thought entered her mind, she froze. She shouldn’t be thinking about permanency with him. It wasn’t a viable option right now. Yet, confusion swept through her at how easily such a thought had entered her mind.

  Taking a deep breath to clear her thoughts, she continued on toward the porch.

  He looked back at her at the sound of the door opening. He smiled. “Good morning.”

  “Good morning,” she murmured as she walked over to place a kiss on his lips. After she pulled back, she placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “Do you have any plans for today?”

  “Not really. I was going to see if you wanted to go do some sightseeing, but other than that, no.” “Sounds like fun. What time do you want to go?”

  “Whenever you’re ready.”

  “Okay. I’m going to head home, grab something to eat, then shower and I’ll be ready.”

  He frowned. “Are you leaving already?”

  “Yes, unless you have plans to take me back to bed and ravish me like you should have last night.” Their gazes locked, and if he hadn’t been thinking anything along those lines, the look on his face told her he was now. The ice melted off the polar cap in seconds, blown apart by the volcanic heat in his eyes.

  “I didn’t mean…”

  “Didn’t you?” His voice was barely steady.

  Maybe it was a reaction to singular mind-blowing orgasm he’d given her last night, but she wanted more from him. Heat started to bubble inside her as he stood and faced her. He reached for her, purpose in his eyes.

  She avoided his touch and reached for the door leading back inside. “While I’m all for adventure, I think we should take this inside. This isn’t the sort of show I think morning beachgoers need.”

  Sterling relaxed a little. “Good. For a moment I thought you might have changed your mind.”

  “Not going to happen,” she replied as she opened the door and walked inside. “You have something I want, really bad.”

  Passion flared in his gaze and she gasped before backing up. It wasn’t fear that had her stepping back. It was the need for a hard surface to brace herself against. She already knew once their bodies collided she’d need the support.

  He stepped toward her and she stepped back in a simple choreography, as though their blood pounded to the same beat. Step, step, step. His gaze locked on hers and she couldn’t have broken the contact if she’d wanted to.

>   It was almost a shock when she backed into the kitchen counter.

  She gripped the granite, cool beneath her heated flesh, bracing herself for the physical and emotional onslaught almost upon her. Close to two hundred pounds of incited, sexually charged male advanced on her.

  Her chin rose slightly as he closed in. She had no idea why. It didn’t make her taller and only exposed the vulnerable length of her neck.

  Her insides quivered with heightened awareness. Then he was there in front of her. Her chin tilted even more in order to maintain eye contact. She could feel the heat pulsing off him, and his coiled tension. He invaded her personal space and she welcomed him. He kept advancing until he was flush against her and she whimpered, deep in her throat.

  Her lips parted as his head lowered, but he didn’t kiss her. He rested his forehead against hers, giving her a close-up view of the knife-straight bridge of his nose. She wondered dimly how he’d made it so far, given his lifestyle, without ever breaking it. Every other man she’d dated had either sported a bump or scar from rugby, wrestling or roughhousing. Sterling either had straighter healing bones than other men or he was a better fighter.

  “What am I going to do with you?” he said, knocking all thoughts of noses, straight or otherwise, out of her head. She’d been fairly certain she knew exactly what he’d do with her. Have sex and soon had seemed the general idea, in his mind and in hers. Had he changed his mind again?

  Before they’d even started?

  She wanted nothing more than to tell him how much she needed him right now. How much she craved the warm embrace of another human being, the temporary release from worry and tense muscles. And what the hell else would she do with the gallons of adrenaline still cruising her system looking for an outlet?

  But she didn’t want to appear as desperate as she was, so she simply asked, “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, we shouldn’t do this.”

  She felt how hot his body was, and raised a trembling hand to touch the crisp hair at the nape of his neck. “Do you want me to go?”

  “No.” The word was short and sharp, as frustrated as it was husky. He tipped up her chin with one hand and lowered his mouth to hers.

  She gripped the granite counter harder, to anchor herself as lust, pure, unstoppable lust, roared through her body. His mouth plundered hers and she plundered right back, as greedy for sex as she was for life.

  His tongue was insistent, thrusting in her mouth in a rhythm that had her moaning and her hips wiggling in anticipation.

  “I can’t believe what a terrible idea this is,” he murmured as he reached for the hem of the T-shirt and peeled it over her head.

  “The worst ever,” she panted, tugging at his cotton shirt with urgent haste.

  When she pulled it up over his head, her breath caught in her throat at the sight of his chest.

  Not so muscled as if he spent his life pumping iron and popping steroids, but sculpted enough his abs were taut, his pecs defined and covered with just the right amount of darkish, brownish, blonde chest hair.

  She caught him studying her chest with the same fascination, and the intensity of his stare had her nipples contracting and thrusting forward, puckering the silky fabric of her bra. As he lifted a hand to touch her through the satin material, she took the opportunity to study him. She adored the way his chest rose and fell with his breathing, and the steady bump of his heart beneath his skin.

  Oh, and she relished the feeling of air and light on her skin when he removed her bra with practiced ease. Even more, she loved his almost reverent intake of breath as he cupped her breasts in his big hands. “They’re so spectacular, I thought I’d imagined them.”

  She chuckled. He wasn’t the first man to call her breasts remarkable, but she’d be lying if she didn’t admit to being a little vain about them.

  “They’re real,” she assured him.

  “I feel a sudden urge for us to join one of those remote tribes you see on the Discovery Channel, just so I can watch these, loose and free like this, every day.”

  She let her gaze run up and down his half-clothed body. “I don’t think I’d mind watching you in your loincloth and spear,” she said, with lustful silliness, staring straight at his crotch. If spear was extravagant, she thought a bat might be about right. Suddenly, she was dying to know. What was he packing?

  She’d felt his erection in the closet and had been thinking of it more often than she probably should. But now she needed to see it, hold it, taste it. But more than all of that, she needed to feel him thrusting deep inside her body.

  The relentless, wet wanting between her legs became more insistent. She reached for the string to his shorts, but her hands were brushed aside. He worked with quiet concentration, sliding his hand into the waistband of her panties, freeing her of the remainder of the last scrap of her clothing.

  Bright sunlight streamed into the kitchen. It couldn’t be more different than the dark, cramped confines of the closet where this had begun last night. She thought of the encounter in Carson’s closet as foreplay, a teasing hint of what was about to take place.

  A stronger woman might be able to resist Sterling, but Naja knew she couldn’t. Not

  anymore. Having experienced the spine tingling orgasm she had last night seemed to have diminished her uncertainty about getting involved with him. Sure, she might end up losing her heart, but right now, being intimately connected with him seemed a whole lot more important.

  She trembled as Sterling hoisted her onto the counter then gasped as she settled on the granite, so cold against her hot flesh.

  He spread her legs and sank to his haunches.

  Hands behind her on the counter, she braced herself, every part of her quivering for him.

  His head looked dark between her thighs. The sun glinted off brownish blonde colored hair and a few gray strands stood out. She wanted to reach forward and touch the silky strands, but had a feeling she’d need to keep her hands planted behind her to stay earthbound.

  She felt his breath, soft and erotic on the inside of her thighs, could feel it waft against her like a gentle breeze through a wheat field. She ached for the touch of his tongue on her trembling flesh and it came, but not where she most burningly wanted it. He’d kissed the inside of her thigh.

  “Mmm,” she purred, her eyes drifting shut to savor the sensations. She’d probably been this turned on before. She simply couldn’t remember when.

  He placed a row of kisses in entirely the wrong direction from where she so desperately needed him.

  “Mmm-mmm.” This time the sound she emitted was more a groan than a purr.

  There was a time for teasing, a time for long gradual buildup. Now was not one of those occasions. He didn’t seem to have picked up on her obvious clues; the way her muscles were so tense, her hips strained to remain still, her breath starting to hitch.

  Little kisses traveled up to the front of her thigh, and then she felt his tongue. The shock of it lapping in such an odd place had her jerking her gaze to see what in the world he was doing. He lapped at small birthmark on her skin, then raised his head, as though aware of her perturbed gaze and shot her a killer grin. “I couldn’t resist. There’s so much of your body that I want to explore,”

  he said and continued to lap.

  “I’ll let you take time to sightsee every part of my body,” she promised weakly. “Later.”

  “But, there’s so much I want to discover now,” he mumbled against her thigh, and she could feel the warm moist puff of air shivering against her skin as he spoke. He licked slowly up her thigh toward her hip while her mingled tension, frustration and desire mounted.

  It was undeniably erotic, but there was a much more needy spot crying out for his attention.

  She wished he’d travel toward her crotch and check out the sights there.

  As though he’d read her mind, he raised his head once more. “I think I’ll move on to another destination now.”

  With his gaze holdi
ng hers, he took his index finger and traced an imaginary line from her upper thigh, down the crease where her thigh met her pelvis. Closer and closer to her yearning, hungry core.

  She did her best to hold still, but she couldn’t. What those searing blue eyes promised, and the single tracking finger hinted at, had her pumping her hips helplessly in the grip of desire. She wanted to tell him to hurry, but words seemed to have deserted her. Her only available communication seemed to be a kind of animalistic grunting.

  His finger touched her throbbing hot spot and she added moaning to the grunting.

  Her head fell back and she shut her eyes, focusing all her energies inward, on the rising tide of excitement.

  His finger, after that one brief touch, left her and his tongue tracked the course his finger had taken, from her hip, down the incredibly sensitive crease of flesh at the top of her thighs, to land, finally at her entrance, so hot and wet there could be no mistaking her need. His tongue traced her opening and her body open wider in an unconscious plea for him to fill her.

  But he didn’t.

  “Not yet,” he whispered so softly she barely heard him over her own escalating moans. In the closet she’d had to control herself. Here she didn’t, and knew she couldn’t if she tried.