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  “So they’d naturally want you two together,” he said, pushing down the emotions that rose with her story. Jealousy was okay. Annoyance that her family thought her destined for someone else was not.

  She bit down on her lower lip. “That’s part of it,” she murmured.

  “There’s more?”

  She looked down at her hands, which now ran up and down her thighs. “I’m not sure.”

  “But you think so. Why?”

  “It’s complicated,” she said, still not meeting his gaze.

  He’d seen her in an interrogation room, and she’d been at turns feisty and scared but she’d always looked him in the eye. He shook his head, beyond confused by her words and demeanor. To the cop in him, she was hiding and avoiding, yet he couldn’t deny there was truth in much of what she said. She just hadn’t said everything.

  “Can I ask you something?” Now she met his gaze head-on.

  “Sure.”

  “What did you mean when you said you overreacted when you found out about Tyler because of your past?”

  He blinked, startled by the change in subject. He wanted more information about her ex but sensed she’d told him the truth when she said she didn’t know why Tyler was pushing so hard to get her back. Oh, he didn’t doubt she knew more, but that more wouldn’t change things between them, and he had enough faith in his skills to know he’d get the information eventually. And since Jenna, at least this time he knew better than to invest his heart in any woman, but especially one with secrets. And Nicole had plenty.

  They didn’t need full disclosure to have phenomenal sex and a great time together. They just needed enough of an exchange for there to be trust and a sense of comfort, and they could give each other that.

  “I was engaged once too,” he told her.

  She sucked in a surprised breath.

  “What? You can’t imagine someone wanting to marry me?” he joked, because when discussing this part of his life, which he never did, he had to deflect somehow.

  “Sam—”

  “I’m kidding. But I was engaged. To my high school girlfriend. We stayed together through college, and honest to God I thought my future was set.”

  “What happened?” Her blue eyes remained steady on his, full of compassion and curiosity.

  Pity, he didn’t want, but so far she seemed far from that emotion. “She dumped me for my best friend,” he said bluntly. “The morning of the wedding.”

  Nicole winced.

  “And that’s why I reacted so harshly to the news that you broke it off with Tyler. It’s also why I understand where the guy’s coming from, even if he’s a complete pain in the ass,” Sam muttered.

  She straightened her shoulders defensively. “Tyler and I hadn’t set a date yet, and I did not and would not cheat.”

  “I didn’t say you would.”

  “You painted me with that same brush.”

  “For a little while,” he allowed. “And I apologized.”

  She nodded. “You did. But I sense you’re still holding it against me.”

  He shook his head. “No. It’s just that you need to understand what that did to me and my ability to trust—”

  “Anyone. You won’t let yourself fully trust anyone.”

  He inserted his hands into his pockets, letting her words speak for him.

  She sighed. “Okay, now I know. Is there anything else?” she asked.

  Sam groaned, knowing he was screwing this up badly. “Just that I don’t want any unrealistic expectations between us.”

  Her full lower lip came out in a pout. “What was it I said at the fund-raiser? I’m not looking for complicated or serious myself. So . . . tell me your problem again?”

  Put like that, he didn’t have one. Although he was surprised by how much he disliked her easy acceptance of his demands. And for the first time with a woman, after making sure they were on the same page, he wasn’t comfortable suggesting they head home for sex. She deserved more respect from him than that, also a new thought for him. Usually if a woman was willing to go to bed, so was he.

  She cocked her head to one side. “Sam? Are you still thinking about things?” she asked, her voice a husky purr as she stepped closer. “Because I’m thinking we’re talked out, thought out, and in agreement about what we want to come next.”

  It wasn’t like Nicole to be forward or brazen, but she forced herself now, sensing that any step they took next hinged on her convincing Sam they were on the same page. Not having him was unacceptable. Especially when she knew, from how angrily he’d dragged her away from Tyler, he desired her as much as she did him.

  True, her experience with men was limited to Tyler and one other, but her realm of flirting was much broader. She knew how to schmooze a man in order to get him to loosen his wallet for a good cause. How different could it be to get Sam to relax and trust that she wouldn’t push for more than he wanted to give?

  She braced a hand against his T-shirt, feeling his heart beat through the thin cotton fabric. “Don’t you want to pick up where we left off the other night?”

  He grasped her wrist with a low growl. Next thing she knew, he’d pulled her against him and sealed his lips over hers. So much simpler than she’d anticipated, Nicole thought, before his tongue darted out, swiping over her lips, and she stopped thinking at all.

  She already knew Sam was a master kisser and he didn’t disappoint now, taking control of both her and the situation. And she gladly ceded power. He devoured her with his mouth, ravished her with his tongue. Their bodies came together and he rolled his hips against hers, slowly, methodically, over and over until flames lit her up from the inside out.

  Together they created a raging inferno—there were no other words for the heated passion flaring between them. When he lifted his head and she looked into his eyes, they sizzled with the same urgency thrumming through her.

  “Home?” he asked.

  She managed a nod, thrilled with the knowledge that she’d broken through the last of his reserves. Now she hoped she didn’t get crushed in the dust when he was through.

  Nicole had been packing for her move, and once they were at her apartment, boxes surrounded them but the atmosphere didn’t matter. She and Sam had been building to this moment since they’d laid eyes on each other months ago.

  She shut the door behind them and Sam spun her around, her back coming up against the wall. She didn’t know who was more desperate. Her hands went to the hem on his shirt, his to the bottom of her tank. Clothes ended up in piles on the floor.

  He cupped her breasts and she fit perfectly in his palms. She arched her back, pressing her nipples against his flesh, seeking pressure. He gave it to her, brushing his thumbs over the turgid peaks. She moaned and he tweaked them harder between his fingers, working both breasts at the same time. Sensation spiked from her nipples to her core.

  “You are so much more beautiful than I imagined,” he muttered. “I need to see more.”

  With a fast rip, he tore the flimsy bra from her body, baring her to his hot gaze.

  “Oh, man.”

  She trembled beneath his yearning stare, so sinful and hot, she could almost come from that look alone.

  “This is why I ended things with Tyler,” she said.

  Sam froze.

  Her limbs felt heavy, her body already his. “I knew, if I felt like this just meeting you, I couldn’t marry someone who didn’t give me one tenth of this feeling.”

  With a low growl, he bent down and swung her into his arms, carrying her the few paces across the apartment to her bed.

  In her entire life, she’d never felt so desired. She’d never wanted anyone as much as she did Sam. She stared up at his handsome face, his hazel eyes glittering, his jaw set. He stripped off his jeans, taking his boxer briefs off along with them. Freed, his erection stood proudly against his stomach and she swallowed at the sheer size and beauty of him.

  Her mouth watered and her clit pulsed with desire, her insides clenching wi
th need. As if in a daze, she reached for him, wrapping her fingers around his rigid length, sliding her fingertip over the head and the drop of come there.

  He groaned, his hips jerking forward into her waiting hand.

  Her hips bucked upward of their own accord. “Sam—”

  “I’ve got you.” He eased her jeans down her hips, then her legs, tossing them on the floor. Keeping his promise, he cupped her mound, his thumb brushing over the thin fabric of her damp panties.

  He had her all right, in more ways than one.

  She jerked beneath his touch, sensation shooting through her, pleasure just out of reach—but he wasn’t. She pushed up on her elbows and cupped his firm erection in her hands once more. Silk and steel, she thought, the need for his hard shaft inside her building like the rising tide.

  He shook his head and jerked away. “If you want me to last, no more touching beforehand.”

  She laughed. “Then get on with it, Detective,” she said, her voice huskier than she’d ever heard it.

  Her underwear went the way of her bra earlier and as he stared at her body, she found herself oddly unembarrassed. He slid one finger through her wet folds and a keening sound escaped her throat. She would have been mortified, but he immediately followed by inserting the same finger inside her and beginning a steady pumping rhythm that built her need. In and out, in and out, pausing only to make sure she was with him. And oh, she was. She so was, and when he pressed inside her, on a spot no one had found before, she cried out. He followed up with his other hand on her clit and the crescendo had built to epidemic proportions.

  “Is this working for you?” he asked.

  “Oh yes.” Her entire lower body was on fire, but the slow pressure he exerted wasn’t enough. “And no. More, please.” Her hips gyrated with unanswered need.

  “Like this?” His fingers worked magic inside and out. He rotated his thumb over her clit, harder and harder, then pressed upward with the single finger inside her.

  She cried out, her body spasming. “Oh God. More. Harder.”

  He replaced his thumb with the heel of one hand and her climax took hold and from a distance, she heard herself chanting. “Oh God, oh God, Sam, yes. Yes.”

  Her womb contracted, his finger kept up a delicious pulsing inside her, his whole hand worked her sex, and wave after wave of pure pleasure crashed against her body.

  It was the most amazing orgasm she’d ever experienced. On and on the sensation went until she collapsed, spent, against the mattress.

  She heard the crinkling of a condom wrapper, thanked her lucky stars he was prepared, and then the head of his erection pressed against her wet heat.

  She forced her eyelids open and met his gaze just as he thrust deep and filled her, thick and hard, pausing to give her time to adjust. Time in which she felt him completely, and to her shock, her arousal rose again from the sensation of him throbbing inside her.

  Her eyes opened wide in amazement. She was barely a mini-one-orgasm girl. From the aftershocks still rocking her body to the new sensations building again, Sam was surpassing anything in her admittedly limited experience.

  He braced his hands on either side of her head and began to move, sliding in and out, his hot gaze never leaving hers. Another thing that was different—by looking at her as if he could see into her soul, he increased the heat, the urgency, the intimacy of their joining.

  “Wrap your legs around my waist,” he ordered.

  Knowing her eyes were still wide with wonder, she did as he asked, and suddenly he was harder, rooted further in her body. Even better, the position provided more friction to her clit and she began the slow, steady climb once more.

  When he pulled out and pushed back in deep, he hit that place inside only he’d ever found. She moaned and clenched around him.

  “Damn, you feel so good,” he said. “So warm, wet, and tight.” With those words, he picked up the perfect movement that synchronized their bodies and drove her higher.

  Her hands gripped his shoulders, her nails digging into skin. He groaned his approval and pumped his hips faster until she saw stars behind and in front of her eyes, the pleasure so beyond anything in her world that once again, her orgasm hit without warning.

  “That’s it, come for me,” he said, and the ripples and waves of pleasure continued, finally cresting.

  “Sam!”

  His name on her lips triggered his release and he pumped into her once, twice, and on the third time, his groan vibrated through her body, which was just beginning to come down from her climax.

  She held on to him as he came, aware that this wasn’t the tepid sex she’d had before. This was explosive. It could get addicting. What scared her most of all? So, she feared, could he.

  Tyler paced the small room he was renting at the Serendipity Inn, which in reality was a large Colonial that the owners had remodeled into a bed-and-breakfast. The floral décor and the warm colors were soothing at a time he felt anything but. Macy had been right when she said he’d be comfortable here.

  Hell, she’d been right about a lot of things, including the fact that Nicole meant what she said and wasn’t coming home to him anytime soon. The thought should bother him more than it did, but instead of focusing on Nicole, he couldn’t stop thinking about Macy.

  There was something appealing about the dark-haired woman, and it wasn’t that she looked a little like Nicole. Macy Donovan was a force of nature, a gorgeous woman who wasn’t intimidated by anyone, who said what she thought and did what she wanted. He admired her a lot.

  Unfortunately, he was also extremely attracted to her. But he didn’t have the luxury of acting on it. Indulging in anything beyond friendship with Macy was something he could not afford. Even if he had gone to bed thinking of her instead of Nicole, the woman he was trying to win back as his fiancée.

  He’d been shocked to feel the stirrings of desire for Macy when he’d been so convinced he and Nicole were meant to be. But meeting Macy had forced him to reevaluate Nicole’s breakup words—maybe she had a point about there being no fireworks after all. With Macy, her quick wit, and her ability to force him to do what she wanted, there were sparks aplenty.

  How had his life gotten so out of control? Tyler ran a hand through his short hair. Not long ago, he’d thought everything was perfect. Family investment firm doing well, him due to take over when his father and Nicole’s retired. And Tyler had been engaged to the woman he’d been in love with for what felt like forever. Turned out he’d been living in complete denial.

  First Nicole had informed him that what she felt for him wasn’t love, it was comfort and expectation born of being used to each other. There were no sparks between them, she’d said. Tyler convinced himself his fiancée was just getting cold feet. He figured she’d come to her senses.

  Then she up and moved to Serendipity, and he realized she was serious about starting her life over without him. If that wasn’t humiliating and life-altering enough, his father informed him that Nicole had come into possession of information that could bring down the entire business and put them all in jail, Tyler included. Then Robert Stanton admitted he’d added mob money to help their coffers when the market was bad, and now he was in too deep to ever stop.

  He’d ordered Tyler to get himself to Serendipity and return with his obedient fiancée in tow—or he’d have no choice but to tell his clients that there was a chance Nicole had overheard a conversation and knew about the money laundering. And those clients weren’t the type to leave any loose ends no matter how uncertain. They would put out a hit on Nicole, and Tyler would be responsible. He wanted to believe his father was bluffing but couldn’t take that chance.

  Nausea and panic threatened to engulf him—still did—but he ruthlessly pushed those feelings away. He couldn’t afford to give in to weakness in the huge mess he called his life. Tyler was in deep trouble and so was Nicole. So he had no choice but to remain here and try to persuade her to reconcile and pick up where they left off—with her running
his mother’s campaign for borough president, him heir to the family financial firm, their marriage set.

  And he had to persuade her without letting on that he knew about his father’s illegal dealings. Though it would be damned easier to get her to come home with him out of fear and loyalty, there was still a chance Nicole didn’t know the truth, and his admission would be filling her in. The more people who knew, the greater the risk of someone going to the police. Especially Nicole, who was now involved with a cop.

  Of course, Tyler was considering turning his father in himself. But he needed time to insulate himself, his mother, whose campaign accepted funds from the firm, and Nicole. Tyler also needed Nicole to cooperate. But from the way she looked at Sam Marsden, he didn’t see them separating anytime soon.

  But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t do everything in his power to try. Even if guilt rode him the entire time and he couldn’t stop thinking about a woman other than his ex-fiancée.

  Sam woke in a strange bed, with a warm body wrapped around his. Since he didn’t normally spend the night anywhere but his own place, he came awake immediately and realized where he was and who he was with. Instead of relaxing, he tensed even more because no sooner had he realized he was with Nicole than he instinctively pulled her deeper into him, wrapping his arms tighter around her smaller body. She fit him perfectly.

  Sex last night hadn’t been good, it’d been incredible. And that was what put his radar on high alert. The last time he’d felt anything remotely like this, he’d been a naïve younger man, being duped by his fiancée and best friend. And he was enough of an adult now to be able to look back and see that what he’d felt for Jenna paled in comparison to the beginnings of what he felt for Nicole. Young love had been just that, he realized now. And if Jenna was able to hurt him, what kind of havoc could Nicole wreak on his heart if he let her?

  He wondered if he could extricate himself without waking her. He was just about to roll over when she stirred, easing onto her back and looking up at him with big blue eyes.

  “Hi there,” she said in a sexy morning voice.

  “Morning.”