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СКАЧАТЬ bent over her, his fingers winding in her hair, his one arm still tightly banding her waist. She continued to return his kiss as need escalated, a sweet torment. She knew she should stop, yet she knew she couldn’t stop. She had waited a lifetime for this moment and it had been worth the wait. Dreams burst into spectacular life.

      Never had a kiss been like this. Never before had a kiss made her tremble, turned her insides instantly to jelly.

      He had brought her into a world of fireworks and thrills. She tangled her fingers in his thick, soft hair, felt the warm column of his neck. She wanted to run her fingers across his marvelous chest, to make him react to her the way she was reacting to him.

      As she stood on tiptoe and held him, she kissed him back, putting all she could into her kiss. And then, as if coming out of a fog, she realized what she was doing. This was the rush to heartbreak, to falling for another man who didn’t take relationships seriously.

      Clutching the towel around her, she pushed lightly against his chest, feeling his rock-hard muscles, wanting just the opposite of what she was doing.

      Gazing intently at her, he backed away. The hunger in his green eyes made clear how much he wanted her, and his breathing was as ragged as hers. He ran his hand from her neck, down her back to her waist, and she was too aware that she wore only a bath towel.

      “We have to stop now,” she whispered.

      “Maybe,” he answered, stroking her cheek. He picked up tendrils of her hair and wound them in his fingers, and her scalp tingled from the faint touch. “It’s just kisses, Marissa,” he said. “It’s exciting to get to know each other.”

      “It’s safer to avoid getting to know each other very well.”

      “Safer?” His brows arched. “Don’t take life so seriously. You liked being kissed and I liked it. Deny that one.”

      “I can’t. But I don’t want to get all involved,” she said, too aware she was standing arguing with him when she was almost naked.

      “How about I promise that we won’t. Just kisses, some good companionship. Where’s the harm in that?”

      “The harm is wanting more. Your kisses might be addictive.” She was becoming annoyed with him now. “You think there’s no danger of either of us getting hurt or falling in love or anything that complicates life?”

      “Absolutely not. Remember, you want a saint. I’m no saint,” he answered lightly.

      “Somehow that doesn’t reassure me.” She stepped back, sliding her hand down to his forearm. His hands dropped to her waist as they stood gazing at each other. “You’re so sure you won’t get hurt when I leave?”

      “Past history tells me I’m sure,” he said, his expression becoming solemn. “The last years of my life, I’ve avoided commitment because of the dangers I’ve faced. I’ve done that until it’s a habit. I don’t want commitment. You don’t want commitment. So let’s relax and enjoy each other’s company and have a little pleasure in our lives.”

      “David Sorrenson,” Marissa began, her temper spiking, “someday, whether you want to or not, you’re going to fall in love. You can’t always go through life starting relationships and then waltzing out of them. Sometime, somewhere, you’re going to get your heartstrings snagged and then you’ll see why I’m wary, why it hurts so much.”

      He traced his fingers along the top edge of the towel, across the soft rise of her breasts, and she inhaled, gasping for air as if the walls were closing in on her. “You’re way too solemn. Lighten up,” he said quietly while his caresses were stirring her again and making her want to step right back into his arms.

      She ran her fingers lightly over the jagged scar on his left shoulder. “How’d you get this?”

      When his expression changed, she knew he had just shut part of himself off from her. “In the military. I was shot,” he said brusquely.

      She inhaled sharply, realizing how tough he could be and what risks he had probably taken. His terse answer led her to believe he didn’t want to talk about what had caused his wound. It had broken through the spell he had wrapped around her in the past few minutes.

      “I have to get dressed,” she declared. “You need to go.”

      “Ah, give me one more minute,” he said softly, and she knew he was going blithely on with his intentions just as he had the morning when he had hired her on the spot and gotten everything he wanted.

      Slipping his arm around her waist again, he lifted her curtain of long hair and moved it to one side. When he trailed kisses across her nape, she closed her eyes. Her breasts tingled, an ache deep inside her increased, and she had a fiery need to turn into his arms.

      With deliberation she stepped back and pointed at the door.

      “Now, leave my room.”

      His gaze drifted slowly over her, taking in every inch and setting every nerve in her body quivering. “If you insist,” he said. When he kissed her, he had dropped the T-shirt he had been carrying. He scooped it up and gave her another lingering, hot look. “I’m going to shower. Looks and smells like you just did. We could have done it together,” he added with a twinkle in his eyes.

      “You’re wicked, David.”

      With a cocky grin, he turned to saunter out of her room.

      She rushed to close the door behind him as if demons were after her and felt as though her own little demon of desire was threatening to catch her.

      Marissa moved around the room, getting dressed in fresh jeans and a blue shirt, thinking about the past few minutes, remembering the most fabulous kisses she had ever experienced, wondering what David was thinking.

      Breathtaking kisses or not, she had no intention of falling in love with him. He would be another heartbreak. He had made it painfully clear that he wasn’t into commitment. She wanted a relationship and she knew she wasn’t going to change. But what kisses! Her heart pounded as she remembered them. He was sexy and charming and he cared about Autumn, a baby he barely knew.

      Could she do what he had suggested—lighten up on life? Go dancing, kiss, walk away in a week or whenever the time came and not care? She knew she couldn’t. She sighed. He probably saw her as stiff-necked, fearful, holding out for a commitment. She didn’t know how he saw her, but she couldn’t stop being the way she was.

      If they parted tomorrow, how long would it take for him to forget her—a day, two days, a week? On the other hand, now that they had kissed, how long would it take her to forget him? A lifetime, she suspected.

      Marissa shook her head. Life wasn’t fair. But it would be a lot more fair to her if she took care to guard her heart the way David did his. His was locked in the deep freeze and no one woman was going to get close to it.

      In the past few minutes he had fixed it so she was in knots, and tonight would probably be dreadful. This past year she had been sleeping soundly night after night because she had gotten over the trauma of her divorce. And now she would have to do something to shut out memories of David’s kisses. But not quite yet. For a little while she could enjoy the moment and remember. They weren’t in love, and she wasn’t in any danger yet.

      “David,” СКАЧАТЬ