Love After Dark by Marie Force Page B

opened, leaving him completely drenched by the time he reached the wooden building that housed the store. Rain in September was a cold rain that had him shivering. Inside the store, he pulled off his shirt, hung it up to dry and found an old towel in the office that he used to wipe his face.
    Paul was waiting for the computer to boot up when he heard a clattering noise from the store. With the towel slung around his neck, he got up to investigate and found Hope, soaking wet and shivering, inside the door he’d left unlocked.  
    She startled when he appeared out of the office. “Oh. Sorry. I was out for a walk, and it started to rain. I didn’t know you were here. I’ll just head up to the house.”
    “It’s monsooning out there.” He handed her the towel. “You can wait it out here.”  
    Hope took the towel from him. “Thanks.” She wiped her face, but her teeth continued to chatter since her shirt was soaked through.  
    “I might have an extra shirt here somewhere,” he said. “I can go look.”
    “That’s okay.” She unbuttoned the wet denim shirt and took it off, revealing a form-fitting tank.
    He knew he shouldn’t take a long greedy look at the wet T-shirt that did nothing to hide her nipples, but he couldn’t seem to get that message to his eyes. “How did you manage to keep your hair from getting wet?”
    She put her arms up over her head, giving him a spectacular view of her breasts.
    Paul took three steps toward her, closing the distance between them.
    Hope dropped her arms to her sides, bit her lip and shook her head. “Don’t.”
    He put his hands on her shoulders and slid them down over the soft skin of her arms, noting her shiver and wondering if it was from the cold or his touch. “Why not?”
    “I can’t. We can’t do this.”
    “We’re already doing it. It’s happening. Tell me I’m not the only one who feels it.”
    “You’re not, but—”
    Because he didn’t want to know how that sentence was going to end, he kissed her. For the first second or two, he waited for her to push him away. If she did that, he would respect her wishes. But she didn’t push him away. No, she pulled him closer and opened her mouth to his tongue. If possible, this kiss was even hotter than the ones they’d shared last night, and those had been pretty damned hot.
    He’d thought about little else since she ran away this morning, leaving him with so many unanswered questions. Paul wasn’t thinking about the questions now or all the reasons this could be the worst thing for both of them. When she was in his arms, kissing him back with enthusiastic strokes of her tongue, it felt like the best thing that’d ever happened to him.
    His hands slid down her back to cup her bottom. He lifted her up and into his arms. She gasped in surprise, but then recovered, wrapping her arms and legs around him. Good God… He loved the way she responded to him and couldn’t get enough of her sweet mouth or the sexy strokes of her tongue. They needed a wall or a flat surface, something that would allow him to get as close to her as he could.
    Paul started walking them toward the office, knocking a glass vase off a shelf that shattered on the floor. He kept moving, ignoring the crash, the broken glass and everything that wasn’t about Hope, warm and soft and pliant in his arms.  
    Then she broke the kiss. “I can’t, Paul. I can’t. I can’t .”
    “Why?” he asked, kissing her neck. “ Why? ”
    She arched her neck to give him better access and tightened her arms around his neck. “I… I just… Paul.”
    “Hmm?”
    “I can’t.”
    The finality of her statement had him drawing back from her, reluctantly and painfully. She slid down the front of him, rubbing against his erection on the way. It was all he could do not to whimper from the desire that beat through him like a live wire.  
    “You tell me you can’t, but you kiss me like you want to.”
    “I’m sorry.” Her hand trembled ever so slightly