Some Like It Hot by Lori Wilde

much with him as with the women he picked. A month or two into it and he would grow bored and restless, knowing there should be so much more, but too afraid of losing control to let himself go for it.
    But over the course of the last four months, working side by side with Melanie, he’d found himself spellbound. He’d never felt anything like it. No woman had ever challenged him the way she did. None had jettisoned his arousal to such heights, leaving him weak-kneed and desperate for more. Quite simply, he had never wanted a woman the way he wanted Melanie.
    Hold on to your control, LeSoeur.
    But holding on to his control was difficult to do when he was locked in a closet with the sexiest woman he’d ever come across. Especially when he wanted so badly to let go. He’d been holding on tightly for so many years. Keeping his emotions bottled up inside, too afraid of the potential pain to allow himself to feel too deeply. Using his journal as a release valve. But it was no longer working.
    She kissed his bare chest and brushed her fingertips past the flat of his belly to the zipper of his pants. He closed his eyes, trying to hold on to his last shred of control.
    He groaned.
    “Do you like that?”
    “I like it too damn much. You’re going to have to stop doing that.”
    She just giggled and ran her tongue around his navel.
    Robert hissed in a breath and closed his eyes.
    Fight it off.
    But he was just a man, and what she was doing felt sogood. This wasn’t just any woman. It was Melanie, the woman he’d been harboring secret fantasies about for months.
    “Oh my,” she said. “Look what just popped up.” She started inching his zipper down with her index finger and thumb.
    He clamped his teeth together and forced himself to grab her wrist. If he didn’t halt her now, he could not be held accountable for what happened next.
    “You’re going to have to stop doing that,” Robert rasped, barely able to breathe. He felt as if he was going to explode.
    “Why’s that?” she murmured, her voice thick and husky with emotion.
    “No condom,” he said simply, although his reasons for asking her to stop were myriad. Lack of protection was the one argument she could not refute.
    “Oh.” She took in a shaky breath. “I hadn’t thought that far in advance.”
    “Obviously not.” Truth be told, neither had he. The way he was feeling, if he’d known an intruder was going to lock them in the supply pantry together, he would have crammed his pockets full of condoms.
    “You know,” she said, wriggling her eyebrows and looking completely adorable, “there are other things we can do. If you get my drift.”
    “I know.” He swallowed hard.
    “But you don’t want to do those things, either?”
    “I want to. Very much.”
    “Me, too, Robert. I’m hot for you.” She slowly unbuttoned her shirt, giving him a scrumptious view of her pink lace bra and lovely cleavage.
    He forced himself to avert his eyes. “I’m hot for you, too, babe, but I’m not sure this is what either of us really wants.”
    “Trust me on this. I want you. Bad.”
    “It’s just the proximity.”
    “It’s not. I’ve been having X-rated dreams about you for weeks.”
    “So you were dreaming about me.” He smiled.
    “Every friggin’ night. Now come on, please, put me out of my misery.”
    “Sorry. You’re too vulnerable. Ten minutes ago claustrophobia had you flipping out.” He wished she’d stop trying to convince him. Couldn’t she tell he was hanging by a thread?
    “I’m all better now.”
    “I don’t want you regretting this in the morning.”
    “Life’s too short for regrets. That’s my motto.” She was still kissing him, running her tongue along the inside of his jaw.
    “Melanie,” he said sharply. “You’re killing me here. You might not regret it tomorrow, but what if I do?”
    “Oh,” she said, and blinked at him.
    “I like you too much. I don’t want to ruin that.”
    “So once you sleep with me, you