Stolen Heat by Elisabeth Naughton Page B

something of interest. I wasn’t planning on coming back until the fall.”
    She took a breath, because the air was suddenly hot and sultry, and she had a strange feeling maybe she’d jumped to the wrong conclusion way too fast.
    “That dinner we had? The one where you were convinced afterward I didn’t want to see you again? Furthest thing from the truth. I suggested we go for a walk because I didn’t want to take you home, and once we got to your flat all I could think about was dragging you against me and kissing you senseless. I would have given up my left arm to go upstairs with you, but I forced myself to leave instead, because I didn’t want you to be a one-night stand.”
    One-night stand? Oh no. “Then…why am I here now?”
    His gaze ran over her face, down to her lips and back up to her eyes. “Because I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since that night. About how soft your skin is, about how sweet you smell, about the sound of your sexy voice. Just the memory is enough to drive me mad.”
    Her toes curled against the carpet.
    “I have to be in Barcelona in three days,” he said. “I have a mountain of paperwork from my last trip that I never finished, and I left a buyer high and dry to fly out here last night. I don’t have time to do the normal dating ritual of dinner and a movie and an ‘I’ll call you’ goodnight kiss. I brought you here today because I wanted time alone with you so we could get to know each other better before I have to leave again. To find out if this spark between us is real or imagined. And my bags are in that room because I didn’t want you to feel pressured to do something you weren’t ready for.” His voice deepened. “But don’t for one minute assume I’m not dying to get inside you in any way you’ll let me right this second. Because I guarantee you’d be wrong.”
    Liquid slid through Kat’s veins, then pooled in her stomach until she felt like she would burst. “And, um, what did you discover?”
    His brows drew together to form a slight crease between his gorgeous eyes. “About what?”
    “About us. This spark. Is it…is it still there after I made a fool of myself a few minutes ago?”
    One side of his mouth curled in that sexy half grin, the one she’d been itching to lick off his face through their whole dinner. “Oh yeah. Definitely there for me. What do you think?”
    She finally drew a breath. “I think if you don’t kiss me soon, I’m going to die.”
    His arms were around her so fast, she gasped. And when the long, lean line of his body came into contact with hers, she knew she’d been wrong. He was hard as stone and very obviously aroused.
    Warmth spread between her thighs, and even as she berated herself for being a fool, her heart jumped in time with his pulse.
    He leaned down, but he didn’t kiss her. His mouth hovered over hers until she thought she’d scream. She curled her fingers in his dress shirt, trying to draw him closer.
    “This is going to be complicated,” he whispered.
    “The good things always are.”
    He brushed his thumb over her bottom lip, sending sparks of desire straight to her center. “I’m not looking for a one-nighter with you. Fair warning, Kit-Kat, I want a whole lot more.”
    Oh, so did she. She barely knew him, but one thing was clear: he was going to change her life.
    His lips settled over hers, gentle at first, but with growing urgency. As his tongue slid into her mouth and desire exploded in her core, she responded with everything she had in her.
    When they were both breathless and his mouth finally parted from hers, she slipped her hands up into his hair and stared into his smoldering eyes, knowing there wasno going back for her. “So, um, you showed me my room but not yours. I’m curious what the rest of this suite looks like.”
    His answer was a lusty groan followed by strong arms sweeping her off the floor to carry her across the room.

C HAPTER T EN
    Present day
Northern