A wry, yet adorable smile twisted her lips. “It’s a known fact men don’t always think with their…well you know, when they’re looking to get lucky.”

He laughed at her forthright response. That was his Mallory, the honest woman who didn’t hold back what she was thinking. “I wouldn’t call it getting lucky if it was just an easy lay with someone I didn’t give a damn about.”

Her lashes fluttered, showing her uncertainty. “Well it’s also a known fact men will say many things in the heat of the moment and mean very few of them.”

“We’re not in the heat of the moment.” He eased forward until he could push her legs apart and kneel between. “Yet.” He kept his gaze on hers but bent lower, his lips inches from paradise.

She let out a slow exhale of air. “You talk a good game.” And her husky voice told him how much she liked his talk-as well as his obvious intent.

“It’s no game. If all I wanted was any woman, I wouldn’t be here now.” Because she was too damn complicated, too compelling, too everything as far as he was concerned.

If he lost himself inside her to forget the pain of the day, he risked losing himself to her forever. But he was here and too far gone. He wasn’t running away.

“And sweetheart, if all I wanted was any woman, I’d be inside you by now, taking care of my needs instead of doing this.” He dipped his head and licked her, tasting her femininity, feeling her heat and fueling the dewy dampness.

“Believe me now?” he asked.

A shuddering moan was her only response. Her hands gripped the bedding by his sides and her hips jerked upward. From her liquid heat Jack knew she was close to the edge and he couldn’t wait any longer. Good thing he didn’t have to worry about readying her for the next step.

She caught him off guard, toppling him over onto his back, straddling his waist. He barely saw her reach for the drawer or rip open the foil packet, but he most definitely felt her ease the moist plastic sheath over his penis, and pause for deliberate handling that went above and beyond merely donning protection.

The desire to drive himself inside her was strong. The need to watch her as she lowered herself onto him and accommodated his width and length even stronger. But he couldn’t stop himself from touching her, from taking his fingertips and parting her feminine flesh and from placing himself at her opening.

He grabbed for her hips at the same moment she released her restraint. He slid inside her heated core, feeling her slick and moist passage close around him.

“God.” The word erupted from him in a guttural groan. Her body’s initial resistance was his tight consummate pleasure. He’d never felt anything so hot, so right, so perfect, he thought, and their fit brought a choking sensation to his throat.

And because he’d promised himself he’d watch, he forced his heavy eyelids open and pushing himself up on his elbows, he glanced down. Big mistake, he thought as he viewed himself cushioned inside her body. If he thought he’d be a goner before, he knew he was lost now.

Or was he actually found? Shaking off the intense thoughts in favor of intense pleasure he began a steady thrusting motion that intensified every sensation rocketing through his body.

Mallory nearly screamed from the incredible heat and dizzying friction they were creating. She was wet silk surrounding hardened flesh. Though she thought she’d steeled herself against an overload of emotion, she’d been wrong.

What she felt for this man was so powerful and strong, it would remain with her long after they were no more, something she didn’t want to think about yet. She clenched her muscles tighter around his hard, straining erection, knowing her climax was in sight.

Her grinding met with his thrusting resistance and the tantalizing waves grew stronger. Jack grabbed onto her hips and she opened her eyes to meet his clouded but steady gaze. “Let yourself go, sweetheart.” He lifted his hips, bringing her so close. And he waited.

She tried to breathe and a needy cry came out instead. “Then you take me there-and come with me.” She swiveled her bottom in a slow circular motion. Her pelvis gyrated into his hips and he penetrated so deep the word joining took on a whole new meaning.

“Aah, God. Now.” He thrust and she tightened her muscles around him.

Swirling waves of unending pleasure swamped her. She looked into his incredible face and meeting her gaze, he pumped harder. She couldn’t think, let alone breathe. Their bodies moved together in unison, his thrusting movements coming faster and faster until her grinding resistance became the focal point of erotic pleasure.

“Yes, yes…” She let out a cry of pleasure in a voice she didn’t recognize as her own.

“Yes.” He echoed her words as he came, bursting inside her as he shook with the power of his orgasm.

And the world as she knew it fragmented into millions of pieces of light, blindsiding her-not by the release itself, but because this time they came together-and the beauty brought tears to her eyes.

Her breathing came in shallow gasps as she dropped her body weight onto his. “I love you.” The words escaped before she could stop them and considering what had come before, she couldn’t call them back even if she wanted to.

She didn’t. And that scared her most of all.

MALLORY LAY on top of him, breathless, sated…and expecting an answer, if Jack’s hunch was right. But he had nothing to say. Nothing she’d want to hear, anyway.

Before Mallory, Jack had always had sex. He’d had a damn good hunch as he walked into this room, that this was much more. He’d been right. She wasn’t the only one falling.

Years of preconceived notions and divorce statistics told him they didn’t stand a chance, yet for the first time he considered the other statistics. The marriages that survived. The people who stayed together for reasons that transcended convenience and security. He was willing to look the idea of a soul mate in the eye and not run for protection.

He didn’t miss the irony. The one time in his life he was willing to face the future, he didn’t have one.

Mallory exhaled and he felt the whoosh of air against his cheek. “I won’t lie and say I said it in the heat of the moment, but don’t worry, I don’t expect you to say I love you back.”

“I do care.” More than was prudent. “And I wish I could say the words.” But he couldn’t acknowledge he might feel the same because to do so would jeopardize everything she wanted out of life.

Jack was the least selfless person he knew, yet protecting Mallory and the things she held dear had become his priority. Her career most of all.

“Hey, wishing doesn’t make things happen, and we both knew the rules going in.”

Jack didn’t buy her lighthearted tone. “Rules change.”

“But outlooks don’t. And we both know yours.”

He forced a laugh he didn’t feel. “Yes, it parallels yours. Career first. Everything else second.”

“Right.”

Yet suddenly faced with the thought of returning to his empty New York City apartment didn’t feel as invigorating or liberating as it once had.

But he’d already made partner, already achieved his dream. Whatever her reasons for wanting to make partner, and regardless of whether it would alter her relationship with her parents, that was her goal. One she’d worked and strived for. One she’d suppressed her sense of self to achieve.

I love you.

He couldn’t admit he felt the same. Couldn’t confront his own demons and decide whether to take the risk and trust Mallory with his heart. He had no choice but to push the truth away.

For her sake.

From violating the no-office-romance policy to playing around on the job, the old guard at the firm would view Mallory’s actions with disdain. They wouldn’t fire Mallory-they couldn’t without risk of a lawsuit-but they could stall her partnership and make her miserable until she left on her own. They wouldn’t mourn the loss of their only female associate. Meanwhile Jack would get a reprimand, a slap on the hand and maybe even a ribald joke about controlling his baser urges. But he’d have his partnership and his career intact. Unfair, but true.

“Jack?”

He rolled to the side, taking her with him. Her flesh pressed against his, warming him. He glanced into her worried face and admitted to himself he cared about her too damn much. “I’m here.”

But he didn’t love her, Mallory thought. Her heart twisted with regret. Even if fate dictated they had no future, she wished he felt the same. But she figured he was too used to the line to take her seriously anyway. No matter how much her pounding heart already belonged to him.

“What happened at home?” she asked, changing the subject.

He visibly winced. “My parents are getting divorced, finally.”

“So your father stood up for himself. You must be pleased.”

“Pleased doesn’t begin to describe it. My mother went home to pack her things-boyfriend by her side.”

Mallory cringed. “That’s insensitive.”

His expression turned shuttered and blank. “That’s my mother.”

And that’s where Jack’s views on long-term relationships and women came from, Mallory realized.

“Onward and upward. She constantly wants more and better and doesn’t care who gets hurt on her way.”

“Why did she stay with him so long then?” she asked of Jack’s father.

“Financial security. And he allowed it.”

“We’re not all like her.” Mallory wasn’t sure where the words came from, only that they were necessary.

“I know you aren’t.” A muscle ticked in his clenched jaw. “But forgive me for not having tested the theory. The divorces and statistics I’ve seen were enough to convince me to steer clear.”

She shut her mouth and nodded. Perhaps he believed she was different, perhaps not. In the end it didn’t matter because he’d bought into a stereotype too difficult for any woman to overcome. Especially Mallory, who’d made her climb up the ladder, her onward and upward, a public one in a male-dominated world.

She placed a hand over his lips. He’d already confided enough to convince her he trusted her with his personal, emotional baggage. She wouldn’t make him dredge up more. “I can think of more fun things to do than get all emotional.”

His dark eyes met hers, and in those depths she saw a wealth of emotion and feeling-and she refused to believe she’d conjured it up in her mind. That he’d fallen for her a little bit was enough considering they each had their own paths to follow, neither allowing for a long-term relationship.

“What’d you have in mind?” he asked.

She forced an easy smile. “I heard from our P.I. and I have a wealth of information about Mrs. Lederman.” But lying naked with Jack, for what might be the last time, she had no wish to discuss work. Especially a topic which pained her more each time she thought about it.

His big hand cupped her hip. “You didn’t have work in mind.”

She shook her head. “And it’s not like there’s anything we can do with the information at midnight.”

“You’re right. Whatever it is can wait.” He covered her mouth with his and drew her into a deep kiss. And when he bit down on her lower lip, she moaned.

She desired more but knew she had other things in store for Jack and forced herself to pull back. She grabbed for the scarf he’d brought with him that lay beside her on the bed, then she rose to a sitting position, settling herself above his stomach.

She wrapped the scarf around her hands and pulled at the opposite ends, teasingly. Enticingly.

His eyes darkened with anticipation. “Exactly what do you plan on doing with that thing?”

“I thought I’d have my wicked way with you again. You see, I’ve heard that if you blindfold a man, his other senses become that much more acute.”

“Interesting theory,” he said.

She grinned. “I thought so. Do you think the same holds true for women?”

“I certainly intend to find out.” He pushed his upper body forward so he could raise himself off the mattress and nip at one nipple, causing waves of pleasure to crest and recede inside her. She bent her head back and let out a muffled cry.

While she was distracted, he grabbed the scarf from her hands. “Cheater.” She barely got the words out when he pulled the fabric taut to rub it in a horizontal motion across her breasts. Her hips began an involuntary circular dance on his stomach.

“I don’t see you complaining,” he said with a grin.

Light and fun. He’d relaxed once more. At least she hadn’t scared him away with her declaration of love. She supposed not asking for anything in return helped him push her declaration out of his mind, and if she were smart, she’d do the same herself.