“Then maybe you aren’t looking in the right place.”
Kalina wasn’t sure exactly what she was expecting, but it wasn’t Micah reaching out and gently pulling her from the stool to wrap his arms around her. His manly scent consumed her and his touch sent fire racing all through her body. She drew in a steadying breath and tilted her head back to look up at him. And when he brought her closer to his hard frame, she felt every inch of him against her.
Although her pulse was drumming erratically in response, she said, “I don’t want this, Micah.” She knew it was a lie the moment she said it and, from the heat of his gaze, he knew it was a lie, as well.
“Then maybe I need to convince you otherwise,” he said, seconds before lowering his mouth to hers.
She had intended to shove him away…honestly she had, but the moment she parted her lips on an enraged sigh and he took the opportunity to slide his tongue in her mouth, she was a goner. Her stomach muscles quivered at the intensity and strength in the tongue that caught hold of hers and began sucking as if it had every right to do so. Sucking on her tongue as if it was the last female tongue on earth.
He was devouring her. Feasting on her. Driving her insane while tasting her with a sexual hunger she felt all the way to her toes. A strong concentration of that hunger settled in the juncture of her thighs.
And speaking of that spot, she felt his erection—right there—hard, rigid, pressing against her belly, making her remember a time when it had done more than nudge her, making her remember a time when it had actually slid inside her, between her legs, going all the way to the hilt, touching her womb. It had once triggered her inner muscles to give a possessive little squeeze, just seconds before they began milking his aroused body for everything they could get and forcing him to explode in an out-of-this-world orgasm. She remembered. She couldn’t forget.
And then she began doing something she was driven to do because of the way he was making love to her mouth, as well as the memories overtaking her. Just like the last time he’d overstepped his boundaries in a kiss, she began kissing him back, taking the lead by escaping the captivity of his tongue and then capturing his tongue with hers. Ignoring the conflicting emotions swamping her, she kissed him in earnest, with a hunger only he could stir. She took possession of his mouth and he let her. He was allowing her to do whatever she wanted. Whatever pleased her. And when she heard a deep guttural moan, she wasn’t sure if it had come from his throat or hers.
At the moment she really didn’t care.
* * *
Micah deepened the kiss, deciding it was time for him to take over. Or else he would have Kalina stretched across the nearest table with her legs spread so fast neither of them would have a chance to think about the consequences. He doubted he would ever get tired of kissing her and was surprised this was just the second time their tongues had mingled since seeing each other again. But then, staying away from each other had been her decision, not his. If he had his way, their mouths would be locked together 24/7.
As usual, she fit perfectly in his arms, and she felt as if she belonged there. There was nothing like kissing a beautiful woman, especially one who could fill a man’s head with steamy dreams at night and heated reality during the day. He found it simply amazing, the power a woman could wield over a man. Case in point, the power that this particular woman had over him.
It didn’t matter when he kissed her, or how often, he always wanted more of her. There was nothing quite like having her mouth beneath his. And he liked playing the tongue game with her. He would insert his tongue into her mouth and deepen the kiss before withdrawing and then going back in. He could tell from her moans that she was enjoying the game as much as he was.
His aroused body was straining hard against his zipper, begging for release, pleading for that part of her it had gotten to know so well in Australia. Her feminine scent was in the air, feeding his mind and body with a heated lust that had blood rushing through his body.
A door slamming somewhere had them quickly pulling apart, and he watched as she licked her lips as if she could still taste him there. His guts clenched at the thought. He’d concluded from the first that she had a very sexy mouth, and from their initial kiss he’d discovered that not only was it sexy, it was damn tasty as sin. She took a step back and crossed her arms over her chest, pulling in quick breaths. “I can’t believe you did that. What if someone had walked in on us?”
He shrugged while trying to catch his own breath. His mouth was filled with her taste, yet he wanted more. “Then I would have been pretty upset about the interruption,” he said.
She glared. “We should be working.”
He smiled smoothly. “We are. However, we are entitled to breaks.” He leaned against the table. “I think you need to loosen up a little.”
“And I think you need to get a grip. You’ve gotten your kiss, Micah. That’s two now. If I were you, I wouldn’t try for a third.”
He had news for her, he would try for a third, fourth, fifth and plenty more beyond that. There was no way his mouth wouldn’t be locking with hers again. She had sat back down on the stool and had picked up one of the vials as if to dismiss not only him but also what they’d just shared. He had no intention of letting her do that. “Why can’t we kiss again? I’m sure there’s plenty more where those two came from.”
She lifted her gaze to his. “I beg to differ.”
He chuckled. “Oh, I plan to have you begging, all right.”
Her eyes narrowed, and he thought she looked absolutely adorable. Hot, saucy and totally delectable. “If you’re trying to impress me then—”
“I’m not. I want you to get to know me and the one thing you’ll discover about me is that I love the unexpected. I like being unpredictable, and when it comes to you, I happen to be addicted.”
“Thanks for letting me know. I will take all that into consideration while deciding if I’m going home with you in a couple of weeks. You might as well know none of it works in your favor.”
“I never took you for a coward.”
She frowned. “Being a coward has nothing to do with it. It’s using logical thinking and not giving in to whims. Maybe you should do the same.”
He couldn’t help the grin that spread across his lips. Lips that still carried her taste. “Oh, sweetheart, I am using logical thinking. If I got any more sensible I would have stripped you naked by now instead of just imagining doing it. In fact, I’m doing more than imagining it, I’m anticipating it happening. And when it does, I promise to make it worth every moan I get out of you.”
Ignoring her full-fledged glare, he glanced at his watch. “I think I’ll go grab some lunch. I’ve finished logging my findings on today’s report, but if you need help with what you have to do then—”
“Thanks for the offer, but I can handle things myself.”
“No problem. And just so we have a clear understanding… My invitation to go home with me to Denver has no bearing on my kissing you, touching you or wanting to make love to you. You have the last word.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Do I really?”
“Absolutely. But I’d like to warn you not to say one thing while your body says another. I tend to listen more to body language.”
“Thanks for the warning.”
“And thanks for the kiss,” he countered.
She frowned, and he smiled. If only she knew what he had in store for her… Hell, it was a good thing that she didn’t know. His smile widened as he removed his lab jacket. “I’ll be back later. Don’t work too hard while I’m gone. You might want to start storing up your energy.”
“Storing up my energy for what?”
He leaned in close, reached out, lightly stroked her cheek with his fingertips and whispered, “For when we make love again.”
Seeing the immediate flash of fire in her gaze, he said, “Not that I plan on gloating, but when you find out the truth, that I’ve been falsely accused, I figure you’ll want to be nice to me. An
d when you do, I’ll be ready. I want you to be ready, as well. I can’t wait to make love to you again, and I plan to make it worth the hell you’ve put me through, baby.”
The heat in her gaze flared so hotly he had to struggle not to pull her back into his arms and go after that third kiss. He was definitely going to enjoy pushing her buttons.
As he moved to walk out of the lab, he thought that if that last kiss was anything to go by, he might as well start storing up some energy, as well. He turned back around before opening the door and his gaze traveled over her. He wanted her to feel the heat, feel his desire. He wanted her to want to make love to him as much as he wanted to make love to her.
She held his gaze with a defiant frown and said nothing. He smiled and gave her a wink before finally opening the door to leave.
* * *
“It’s all his fault,” Kalina muttered angrily as she tossed back her covers to ease out of bed. It had been almost a week since that kiss in the lab and she hadn’t had a single good night’s sleep since.
She was convinced he was deliberately trying to drive her loony. Although he hadn’t taken any more liberties with her, he had his unique ways of making her privy to his lusty thoughts. His eye contact told her everything—regardless of whether it was his lazy perusal or his intense gaze—whenever she looked into his eyes there was no doubt about what was on his mind. More than once she’d looked up from her microscope to find those penetrating dark eyes trained directly on her.
It didn’t take much to get her juices flowing, literally, and for the past week he’d been doing a pretty good job of it. She knew he enjoyed getting on her last nerve, and it seemed that particular nerve was a hot wire located right at the juncture of her thighs.
She had tried pouring her full concentration into her work. All the test results on the tissues had come back negative. Although they suspected that some deadly virus had killed those five people, as of yet the team hadn’t been able to pinpoint a cause, or come up with conclusive data to support their hypothesis. The granules were still a mystery, and so far they had not been able to trace the source. The Indian government was determined not to make a big to-do about what they considered nothing and wouldn’t let them test any others who’d gotten sick but had recovered. The team had reported their findings to Washington. The only thing left was to wrap things up. She knew that Micah was still concerned and had expressed as much in his report. A contagious virus was bad enough, but one that could not be traced was even worse.
Although it had been over a week since he’d issued his invitation, she still hadn’t given Micah an answer regarding going with him to Denver. With only three days before they left India, he had to be wondering about her decision. Unfortunately, she still didn’t have a clue how she would answer him. The smart thing would be to head for Florida for a month, especially since Micah hadn’t made the past week easy for her. He deliberately tested her sanity every chance he got. And although he hadn’t tried kissing her again, more than once he had intentionally gotten close to her, brushed against her for no reason at all or set up a situation where he was alone with her. Those were the times he would do nothing but stare at her with a heated gaze as potent as any caress.
Kalina drew in a deep breath, suddenly feeling hot and in need of cool air. After slipping into her robe, she crossed the room and pushed open the French doors to step out on the balcony. She appreciated the whisper of a breeze that swept across her face. The chill made her shiver but still didn’t put out the fire raging inside her.
Over the past two years she’d gone each day without caring that she was denying her body’s sexual needs. Now, being around Micah was reminding her of just what she’d gone without. Whenever she was around him, she was reminded of how it felt to have fingertips stroke her skin, hands touch her all over and arms pull her close to the warmth of a male body.
She missed the caress of a man’s lips against hers, the graze of a male’s knuckles across her breasts, the lick of a man’s tongue and the soft stroke of masculine fingers between her legs.
There was nothing like the feel of a man’s aroused body sliding inside, distended and engorged, ready to take her on one remarkable ride. Making her pleasure his own. And giving all of himself while she gave everything back to him.
Her breathing quickened and her pulse rate increased at what she could now admit she’d been missing. What she had given up. No other man had brought her abstinence more to the forefront of her thoughts than Micah. She felt hot, deliriously needy, and she stood there a moment in silence, fighting to get her bearings and control the turbulent, edgy desire thrumming through her.
Nothing like this had ever happened to her before. All it took was for her to close her eyes to recall how it felt for Micah’s hands to glide over the curve of her backside, cup it in his large palms and bring her closer to his body and his throbbing erection.
The memories were scorching, hypnotic and almost more than she could handle. But she would handle them. She had no choice. She would not let Micah get the best of her. She had no qualms, however, about getting the best of him—in the area right below his belt.
She rubbed her hand down her face, not believing her thoughts. They had gotten downright racy lately, and she blamed Micah for it. She was just about to turn to go back inside when a movement below her balcony caught her attention. A man was out jogging and she couldn’t help noticing what a fine specimen of a man he was.
The temperature outside had to be in the low thirties, yet he was wearing a T-shirt and a pair of shorts. In her opinion, he was pneumonia just waiting to happen. Who in their right mind would be out jogging at this hour of the night, half dressed?
She leaned against the railing and squinted her eyes in the moonlight. That’s when she saw that the man who’d captured her attention was Micah. Evidently, she wasn’t the only one who couldn’t sleep. She found that interesting and couldn’t help wondering if perhaps the same desire that was keeping her awake had him in its lusty clutches, as well.
Serves him right if it did. He had spent a lot of his time this week trying his best to tempt her into his bed, but apparently he was getting the backlash.
He was about to jog beneath her balcony, so she held her breath to keep him from detecting her presence. Except for the glow of the half moon, it was dark, and there was no reason for him to glance up…or so she reasoned. But it didn’t stop him from doing so. In fact, as if he’d sensed she was there, he slowed to a stop and stared straight up at her, locking in on her gaze.
And he kept right on staring at her while her heart rate increased tenfold. Suddenly there was more than a breeze stirring the air around her, and it seemed as if her surroundings got extremely quiet. The only thing that was coming in clear was the sound of her irregular breathing.
She stared right back at him and saw that his gaze was devouring her in a way she felt clear beneath her robe. In fact, if she didn’t know for certain she was wearing clothes, she would think that she was naked. Oh, why were the sensual lines of his lips so well-defined in the moonlight? Knowing she could be headed for serious trouble if their gazes continued to connect, she broke eye contact, only to be drawn back to his gaze seconds later.
He had to be cold, she thought, yet he was standing in that one spot, beneath her balcony, staring up at her. She licked her lips and felt his gaze shift to her mouth.
Then he spoke in a deep, husky voice, “Meet me in the staircase, Kalina.”
His request flowed through her, touching her already aroused body in places it shouldn’t have. Turbulent emotions swept through her, and from the look in his eyes it was obvious that he expected her to act on his demand. Should she? Could she? Why would she?
She was bright enough to know that he didn’t want her to meet him so they could discuss the weather. Nor would they discuss their inability to pinpoint the origin of the deadly virus. There was no doubt in her mind as to why he wanted to meet her on the stairs, and she would be crazy, completely in
sane, to do what he asked.
Breaking eye contact with him, she moved away from the balcony’s railing and slid open the French doors to go back inside. She moved toward her bed, tossed off her robe and was about to slide between the sheets, when she paused. Okay, she didn’t like him anymore, but why was she denying herself a chance to have a good night’s sleep? She had needs that hadn’t been met in more than two years, and she knew for a fact that he was good at that sort of thing. She didn’t love him, and he didn’t love her. It would be all about needs and wants being satisfied, nothing more.
She drew in a deep breath, thinking she might be jumping the gun here. All he’d asked her to do was to meet him at the stairs. For all she knew, he might just want to talk. Or maybe he merely wanted to kiss her. She gave herself a mental shake, knowing a kiss would only be the start. Any man who looked at her the way Micah had looked at her a few moments ago had more than kissing on his mind.
Deciding to take the guesswork out of it, she reached for the blouse and skirt she’d taken off earlier and quickly put them on. She knew what she wanted, and Micah better not be playing games with her, because she wasn’t in the mood.
Heaven help her, but she was only in the mood for one thing, and at the moment, she didn’t care whether she liked him or not just as long as he eased that ache within her.
As she grabbed her room key off the nightstand and shoved it into the pocket of her skirt, she headed toward the door.
* * *
Micah paced the stairway, trying to be optimistic. Kalina would come. Although he knew it would be a long shot if she did, he refused to give up hope. He had read that look in her eyes. It had been the same one he knew was in his. She wanted him as much as he wanted her. He had been playing cat-and-mouse games with her all week, to the point where Theo had finally pulled him aside and told him to do something about his attitude problem. He’d almost laughed in his friend’s face. Nothing was wrong with his attitude; it was his body that had issues.
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