He nodded slowly, his gaze resting on hers, and she forced herself to pause for breath. After several seconds of silence during which he continued to study her, an embarrassed warmth crept up her neck. Yikes, he probably thought she was a total blabbermouth. With a nervous laugh, she said, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to go on and on. I told you more than you ever wanted to know, I’m sure.”
He shook his head. “I liked listening to you. You’re…easy to talk to. And it’s refreshing to hear that someone loves what they’re doing, that their goals involve helping other people. You’re obviously passionate about what you’re doing with your life and I find that very commendable. Very admirable.” He reached out and brushed a single fingertip across the back of her hand. “Very attractive.”
That gentle stroke ignited a firestorm under her skin, and her gaze riveted on the sight of his hand touching hers.
“In fact,” he said, slowly stroking her again, “you didn’t tell me nearly enough.”
“I…I didn’t?”
“No.” Another slow caress. Another explosion under her skin.
She licked her suddenly dry lips. “Happy to tell you anything you want to know. Especially if you, um, keep doing that.”
He took her hand in his and continued to lightly stroke her with the pad of his thumb. “My pleasure. Your skin is amazingly soft.”
“I…thanks. I use a lot of lotion in my line of work.” She fought the need to fan herself with her free hand. “Was there something else about me you wanted to know? You’d better ask quick, before I melt into a puddle on your floor. I’m a sucker for a hand massage.”
“Good to know. And yeah, I’d like to know how it is that someone like you doesn’t have a boyfriend.”
“Someone like me?”
“Someone with such soft skin.” He lifted her hand, touched his lips to her sensitive inner wrist, then breathed deeply. “Someone who smells so good. Someone who’s smart and committed to her work.” He lowered her hand, still caressing her, and it was all she could do not to purr.
Forcing herself to concentrate on the conversation, she said, “My last boyfriend and I split about six months ago after two years together. After that, I decided I was better off with puppies than another boyfriend.”
“My yard might disagree with you,” he said in a dry voice.
Heat flooded her face even though the wink he then gave her made it clear he was kidding. “Have I mentioned what a good sport you’ve been? How incredibly patient?”
His lips curved upward in a slow smile that curled her toes inside her Keds. “I’m a very nice guy.”
“Says who—your mom?” she teased.
“As a matter of fact, she does. So what happened with what’s his name, or would you rather not talk about it?”
Carlie shrugged. “He was pressuring me to get married because he was ready to start a family—now. I told him that even if we were to marry, I’d want to wait to start a family. Finish my degree then get a couple years of job experience under my belt before taking on motherhood.”
“Sounds reasonable.”
“I thought so. But he didn’t. After going around and around about it, he issued me an ultimatum—marriage and kids now or never. I picked never.”
“That must have hurt.”
“It did. It also pissed me off that after all our time together he still had no clue how important my work is to me. That he wanted so badly to change me. That he couldn’t accept me as I am.”
“No regrets?”
“None. Well, except for the next guy I went out with. He lasted two hours. I was done with him after he told me I’d be really cute if I lost ten pounds. That’s when I decided I was done with my unfortunate tendency to find men who wanted to change me or make me into something I’m not, and that puppies were the way to go. They’re always happy to see me, they don’t care that I’m not built like a pencil, they love to snuggle, and they don’t speak English. Perfect qualities in a male—no offense.”
He laughed. “None taken. And that guy who said you needed to lose ten pounds? He’s an ass.”
“Thank you. I thought so, too. Especially since he wasn’t exactly a Calvin Klein model himself.”
“How’d you hook up with P.B. and J?”
“I adopted them from a shelter. I’d only intended to get one dog, but they were the last two from the litter and I just couldn’t choose. I figured they could keep each other company, and besides, two watchdogs are better than one.”
“I’m sure. Between the two of them, they’d lick the robbers to death.”
She laughed. Then, deciding she’d better quit yakking while she was ahead and hadn’t yet stuck her foot in her mouth, she said, “And now that I’ve bored you with all my chatter, it’s your turn. When I moved in, you had a girlfriend…” She left the sentence hanging and shot him a questioning look.
He nodded, looking down at where his hand still held hers, his thumb drawing hypnotic circles on her skin. “Nina. She wanted more than I could give her.”
“Emotionally?”
“Financially. She wasn’t impressed with my job as a website designer, my less than grand house, this small town, my unspectacular car. She always wanted…more. When she finally realized I didn’t aspire to be the next Bill Gates, she gave me the heave-ho.”
“Heartbroken?” she asked, hoping he’d say—
“No.”
Right answer. Still, she couldn’t help but ask, “Does she know about your swanky new job?”
He shook his head. “No. We haven’t stayed in touch.” He gently released her hand then slid off the stool and rounded the snack bar into the kitchen. “Coffee’s done. Are you ready for your truffle?”
“That’s one of those rhetorical questions, right?”
He smiled into her eyes and Carlie heated up from the inside out, deciding she needed a hot cup of coffee like she needed a hole in her head. While he poured, she asked, “Did you find a birthday present for your mom at Sinfully Sweet?”
“I did. A mini chocolate fountain. It uses special melting chocolate that flows, sort of like those champagne fountains at weddings, only smaller. It comes with great ideas for stuff to dip—marshmallows, strawberries, cubes of angel food cake. She’s going to love it.”
“How could she not? It sounds like a fantasy come true. The Valentine’s Day promotion is a pretty wild idea, isn’t it? Find the chocolate heart half that matches yours and you win dinner for two. Did you get your blue-wrapped chocolate heart half?”
“Yup. Haven’t opened it yet, though. Did you get your pink-wrapped half?”
“I did. I hid it way in the corner behind the soup cans on the top shelf in my pantry in an effort to make it last at least through the night.”
“Good luck with that.”
“Thanks. I’m going to need it.”
After adding milk to both ceramic mugs, he set the silver foil-wrapped box on the counter with a flourish. “You may have the honors,” he said.
Daniel pressed his lips together to hide his amusement as he watched Carlie open the box with a reverence he’d have thought was only bestowed on royalty. The woman definitely loved her chocolate. After removing the lid, she leaned over the box and breathed deeply. Her eyes slid closed and a smoky “oooooh, my” whispered from between her parted lips. His amusement faded, replaced by a punch of lust that practically knocked him on his ass. Her eyes opened and she looked at the truffles as if she were gazing upon a cache of jewels.
“They all look so delicious,” she said in that same smoky voice, elevating his temperature another notch. With her gaze still riveted on his chocolates, she asked, “Which one do you want?”
The sexy, curly-haired one. He pressed his lips together before he actually said the words out loud. After clearing his throat, he glanced down at the truffles and after a brief perusal, pointed to one. “What flavor is that?” he asked.
She consulted the inside of the box top, which provided a pictorial guide. “Milk choco
late hazelnut. Yum.”
He pointed to another. “How about that one?”
“Ooooh. White chocolate raspberry.”
“And this one?” he asked, pointing to another.
“Hmmm…let’s see…cappuccino. Double yum.”
With his gaze riveted on her rapt expression, he just chose one at random. “I’ll take this one.”
After consulting the chart, she nodded her approval. “Double chocolate praline. Good choice. I think I’m going to go with the French vanilla.” After she picked up the glossy pale treat, she held it out and said, “To your generosity in sharing. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he said lightly tapping his truffle to hers. She slowly lifted the chocolate to her lips, then took a small bite. He watched, fascinated, as her eyes drifted closed, and erotic, sensual sounds of pleasure started coming from her. Her head fell limply back, exposing the tempting length of her neck, and suddenly chocolate was no longer what he wanted to feast on.
“That. Is. Soooo. Unbelievably. Good.”
You’re. Making. Me. Soooo. Unbelievably. Hard. He would have shifted to relieve the strangulation in the front of his Levi’s, but he simply couldn’t move. He actually felt his eyes glaze over, probably from his retinas melting from the heat she generated. He stood perfectly still, transfixed, watching her turn the simple act of eating chocolate into a sexual fantasy. When her moans tapered off and she finally opened her eyes, he managed one husky word. “Wow.”
“Mmm. I’ll say.”
“Was that as good for you as it was for me?” he asked.
Her gaze fell to the forgotten truffle he still held between his fingers and her eyes widened. “But you haven’t even tasted it yet.”
“I was too busy watching you.” Setting his truffle back in the box, he rounded the snack bar, stopping in front of her. He felt as if steam pumped from his pores. “I’d rather taste yours.”
She blinked, then held up the remaining piece of her truffle. “Oh. Sure. I’m happy to—”
He cut off her words by covering her mouth with his.
The instant his lips touched hers, every thought drained from his head. He drew her off the stool, then into his arms, and she went willingly, twining her arms around his neck. She made that incredible moaning sound and parted her lips, inviting him to delve deeper, an offer he immediately accepted, his tongue exploring the delectable heat of her mouth while his hands roamed slowly down the curve of her back.
So good…God, she tasted so good. Sweet, warm and delicious. The erotic friction of her tongue tangling with his arrowed needles of fire through him. He shifted, leaning against the snack bar, then spread his legs and drew her into the V of his thighs. She pressed herself against him, incinerating him where he stood.
More…more…more. The word pounded through him, demanding, stripping another layer off his control, a situation that wasn’t helped at all by Carlie’s ardent response. He’d meant to kiss her slowly, lightly, but nothing about this kiss was slow or light. Instead it was a deep, intimate flash fire of heat and hunger and want. His hands tunneled through her silky hair, holding her head immobile while his mouth devoured hers.
He lost all sense of time, and when he finally raised his head, had no idea how long he’d kissed her, other than to know that it wasn’t long enough. He looked down at her and saw…
Fog.
Talk about having your eyes glaze over.
He blinked and realized his glasses had steamed over. Yeah, just like the rest of him. Before he could reach for the glasses, he felt her removing them. As she lifted them from his face, she came into view. With her eyes half closed, her cheeks flushed red, and her full lips moist and parted, she looked utterly gorgeous and completely aroused. After she set his glasses on the snack bar, she leaned back in the circle of his arms and whispered, “Wow.”
He was impressed she managed to utter a word. He sure as hell wasn’t able to. How was it that what was supposed to have been nothing more than a simple kiss felt so damn…complicated? He had to swallow twice and clear his throat just to locate his voice. “Yeah. Wow.” He still sounded as if he’d scraped his vocal chords with sandpaper.
“I fogged up your glasses.”
“I forgive you.”
She studied him for several seconds. “You look different without them.”
“So do you. You’re sort of…blurry.”
She leaned closer, until they were nearly nose to nose. “How’s that?”
“Oh, it’s you,” he teased. He bent his head and touched his lips to the side of her neck. “You taste delicious.”
“That was the chocolate.”
He lifted his head and looked into her eyes, and experienced that same rush of sensation he felt when he jumped off the high diving board. “No. It was you.”
“I’ve gotta tell you, that kiss made me forget all about my truffle, and that’s a sentence that has never before passed my lips.” Again she studied him for several seconds. “Probably I shouldn’t admit this, but I’ve wanted to do that for a while.”
“Relieve me of my truffles?”
She smiled. “Well, that, too. But I meant fog up your glasses.”
“Why shouldn’t you admit that?”
“According to all those rule books, I should act coy and mysterious. Unfortunately, that’s just not my style.”
“Doesn’t sound unfortunate to me. I prefer the brutal truth.” He tucked a stray cinnamon curl behind her ear. “And the brutal truth is I’d like to continue our conversation—”
“Conversation?” Mischief glimmered in her eyes and she nudged her pelvis against the hard ridge of his erection.
“Our evening together,” he corrected with a smile, “when you have more time. Are you free tomorrow night?”
“That depends. Are you offering more truffles?”
“That depends. Will you give me that massage?”
“I will if you will.”
“Seven o’clock?”
“Better make it eight. I have a load of studying to do.”
“Great. Looking forward to it.”
And that, he decided, was a sentence that belonged in the Guinness Book of World Records under the heading of “Hugest Understatement Ever Spoken.”
5
DANIEL THOUGHT ABOUT her the whole damn day.
He hadn’t felt this kind of anticipation about seeing a woman in a very long time. And never to this degree. The taste of her kiss, the feel of her pressed up against him…wanting to experience those sensations again made the day drag along at a snail’s pace. He found himself looking out his office window every few minutes hoping to catch a glimpse of her, a fact that annoyed him and made concentrating on his work nearly impossible.
But the day finally passed and she was due to arrive in forty-five minutes.
Thank God.
Stepping from the shower, he wrapped a towel around his hips then snagged another to towel-dry his hair. After shaving, he dressed in a blue polo shirt and his most comfortable jeans, then glanced around his bedroom. Bed neatly made, condoms stashed in the nightstand drawer. Perfect. Satisfied, he made his way to the den.
His box of truffles, or as he’d renamed them, “The Best Fifty Bucks He’d Ever Spent,” rested on the coffee table. He slipped a blues CD into the stereo, lowered the lights and found a pair of candles, which he set on the coffee table. The only thing missing was Carlie.
His gaze once again strayed to the clock. She was due in seven minutes.
He hoped like hell she wouldn’t be late.
Sure, the promise of a massage, and what would hopefully follow, was enough to fill any guy with anticipation, but somehow this felt like…more. Which was crazy since they barely knew each other. And especially since he’d be gone in two weeks. Clearly he was imagining things. No doubt because he hadn’t been with anyone since Nina had left. Yeah, that’s all this was: a case of extreme horniness. A bout—or two, or maybe three or four—of hot, sweaty sex with his hot,
sexy neighbor would set his head back on straight.
The thought of hot, sweaty sex made him feel decidedly warm, so he headed to the fridge for a bottle of water. When he opened the door, his gaze fell on the blue foil-wrapped half of a chocolate heart he’d received with his purchase from Sinfully Sweet. He’d put it the refrigerator because every once in a while he enjoyed a eating piece of chilled chocolate while drinking a cup of hot coffee. Instead of grabbing a water, he slid out the heart half, suddenly curious to know what message was hidden beneath the foil. He undid the shiny blue wrapping and pulled out a slender strip of paper.
Pushing his glasses up his nose, he read, “Passion is best described as unpredictable because it’s often found in surprising places. With unexpected people. Leading to unanticipated encounters. All of which can result in unforeseen outcomes.”
His brows shot upward. Talk about apt. Well, everything except the last part. There was nothing unforeseen about the outcome of any passion he and Carlie might share. It had a two-week expiration date stamped right on it. And they both knew that going in.
He hadn’t wanted to accept the half a heart, telling Ellie there was no point in him doing so because with him moving, he had neither the time nor the inclination to try to discover which single woman might have the matching pink half. But Ellie had insisted, saying that if nothing else, he’d enjoy the delicious chocolate. He’d tried one more time, saying that he felt bad knowing some woman might get his matching half and be a definite loser in the contest because of it, but still she’d insisted. So he’d taken it and offered up a silent apology to whoever might receive the matching half.
Before loosely rewrapping the chocolate, he broke off a small piece and popped it in his mouth. Oh, yeah. That was some damn good chocolate. He grabbed a bottle of water, then leaned his hips against the counter. Another quick look at the clock told him Carlie was due right about now.
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