“Yeah, which means my parents will never know I was here.” He sounded like a mischievous little boy getting away with something sneaky. Without asking, he pulled down the covers, fluffed up the pillow and slipped into bed beside her as if he belonged there, all the while balancing that huge piece of cake. Settling in, he shoved a bite into his mouth and chewed. “So, you couldn’t sleep either, huh?”
He sat so close, her next breath was filled with the warm, male scent of him. And the fragrance of chocolate. The powerful combination went straight to her head. “No, but I feel totally relaxed.”
“That’s exactly what I want to hear.” He lifted his fork to her mouth, tempting her with a piece slathered in rich frosting. “Want a bite?” His smile was wolfish and daring.
It wasn’t sweets she suddenly craved. “No, thanks. I’m still full from dinner.” She watched him devour the slice in record time and shook her head. “Isn’t that your third piece tonight?”
“Yeah,” he said, unrepentant. The last bite disappeared between his lips and he closed his eyes to savor the taste.
Her gaze dropped to his lips, watching the way his tongue licked away the crumbs and frosting there. Her stomach fluttered and an achy emptiness grew inside her. Struggling to keep her need for this man at bay, she poked him in his firm abdomen and teased, “You’d better be careful, Detective Marchiano, or you’re gonna get soft around the middle.”
His lashes lifted, and a frown wrinkled his forehead, as if the possibility concerned him. “You think so?”
Her mouth tipped up in a grin. “Keep eating like that and you will.”
“No worry there.” Setting the plate on the nightstand next to him, he rolled onto his side to face her and propped himself up with his elbow. The movement twisted the covers around his hips, made them slide down to her waist. His dark, smoky eyes didn’t miss that fact, or the sight of her nipples beading against silk. “Once we get home I’ll be back to my steady regimen of coffee, fruit on the run and prefab microwave dinners, when I remember to eat.” He rubbed his flat belly. “That bland diet always keeps me fit and trim.”
“Microwave dinners?” Infusing her tone with feigned pity, she reached out and with her palm, caressed the light stubble lining his jaw. “Aww, poor baby.”
He caught her hand before she could withdraw it, and just like that, the spark between them flared to life. She saw the magical awareness in his gaze, felt it in the subtle tightening of her body. His eyes seemed to pull her into their golden depths, seducing her, leaving her breathless with anticipation.
Bringing her fingers to his lips, he touched the tips with his tongue, let his warm breath caress the dampness. A delicious shiver raced up her arm, pooled heavily in private places.
That lazy smile of his slowly eased up the corner of his mouth. “If you genuinely felt sorry for me, you’d marry me and make sure I got three healthy meals a day.” His voice held an odd tightness, despite its casual, humorous tone.
A growing pressure banded her chest, painful in its intensity. She wanted to believe he was joking, but knew beneath all that charm and seduction his words were as serious as an out-and-out proposal. She let him down as gently as possible. “You wouldn’t be home most of the time to eat dinner, let alone breakfast and lunch.”
He absently stroked the inside of her wrist with his thumb, generating tiny circles of heat. “If I had you to come home to, you could bet I’d make every effort to enjoy every meal and then some.”
Sadness and regret flickered through her. “That kind of devotion ends once the honeymoon is over.”
Promises of forever shimmered in his gaze. “It doesn’t have to.”
“In my experience, it does,” she argued.
Somewhere along the way, their conversation had taken a personal spin, their words filled with meaning. Josh wanted her in his life, intimately and permanently; she couldn’t bring herself to commit her heart and soul, and a man like Josh would accept no less.
He didn’t push the issue, though she caught a fleeting glimpse of frustration in his expression. He released her hand, severing the tie between them, and Paige felt as though she were adrift, with no anchor in sight. She fought an overwhelming urge to cry for everything she’d lost in that single moment and blamed it on those unruly hormones flowing through her body.
He pulled in a deep breath and eased it out just as slowly, seemingly searching for his own stable ground. “Joel seemed awfully attentive with you today,” he commented.
That made her smile, because he sounded and looked so sullen-like a child who’d had his favorite toy taken away. “Joel is always an outrageous flirt. You’re just being more sensitive than normal.”
“Am I?” His brows lowered into the same scowl he’d shot at his brother a few times that evening.
“Yeah, you are.” She ruffled his thick, silky hair, loving the feel of the warm strands sliding through her fingers. “I never thought you were the jealous type.”
“I’ve never had a reason to be. Until now.” His voice was slightly rough, a ragged kind of velvet that was as dark and soft as the night. “I’m finding that I don’t like the thought of another man touching you.”
His gaze trapped her, holding her hostage as they teetered on the sharp edge of a very sensitive issue. When she found her voice again, she replied, “That’s awfully possessive.”
He shrugged a shoulder, the look in his eyes unapologetic. “Yeah, I suppose it is. But that’s the way I feel about you, all the more so because I stand the chance of losing you.”
Her heart stopped, then resumed at a breakneck pace. She saw the determination glowing in his gaze, and undiluted panic raced through her blood, filling every pore with a throbbing, aching kind of fear.
“I love you, Paige,” he said, low and fierce.
Oh, Lord, she’d known that was coming, thought she’d prepared herself to hear those three little words from Josh and not let her need and yearning interfere with her self-control. She shook her head in a frantic attempt to stop the rush of emotion bubbling to the surface. “Josh, no,” she forced out, her voice choked.
“More than friends,” he went on with a tender ruthlessness, ignoring her plea. “More than acquaintances.” In a blur of movement she couldn’t have anticipated, he grasped her hips and dragged her closer, until his body pressed against her side and his face loomed above hers. Her hands automatically caught his arms, holding on as uncertainty played havoc with her mind.
Male heat radiated from him, raw and untamed. He locked his gaze with hers, the intensity in the depths of those amber orbs shaking her resolve. “I love you.”
A shudder ripped through her, stripping away the protective layers she’d secured around her heart. She had no defenses when it came to Josh. Her need and desire for him was too strong to deny, and she suspected he knew it, too.
Tears stung her eyes. The reciprocating words jammed in her throat, wouldn’t pry loose. Knowing no other way to express her feelings, she slid her fingers into his thick hair, brought his mouth to hers and kissed him with all the love that crowded her heart to overflowing-for him.
He groaned at the first touch of her lips on his, the sound encouraging her. His strong body shuddered when she boldly stroked her tongue against his. From there he took over, responding to the fevered heat burning between them. He kissed her just as deeply, just as demandingly. Neither could get enough of the other, their hunger and need an insatiable thing.
Hard and urgent eventually gave way to soft and exploring. Time slipped away as they indulged in every kind of kiss imaginable. Languid, drugging kisses. Tender, cherishing kisses. Deep, wet, slippery kisses that made her melt. Sexy, erotic kisses that elicited a greater need and urged her to move shamelessly against him.
With his mouth still fused to hers, he shifted, slipping a hard thigh between hers. She welcomed the pressure, gasped when he rubbed sensuously against that tender nub of flesh that throbbed so insistently at the apex of her thighs.