“Why is this so important?” she asked him.

“You said years.” His hand brushed her hair off her face and he lay a warm, comforting cheek next to hers. “I want you so badly I can barely stand.” His rough voice shook her body. The truth shook her soul. “If I didn’t ask, if I didn’t know, I’d have hurt you.”

Her cheek remained cushioned next to his. He felt so right. Her stiff muscles relaxed, even as her body remained strung tight and begged for sexual release.

Kane loosened his hold, apparently assured she wouldn’t run. She turned, crossing her arms in front of her and clutching her stomach in a death grip as she asked her next question. “And if you had…hurt me, I mean…you’d have cared?”

He swallowed so hard she saw his throat muscles at work. “Is that so hard to believe?”

“About a man, yes. About you, after this…no. I…” Her next words were interrupted by a knock on the door.

He held her gaze for a long second with a hot look that pulled his features taut and put sparks of need in his eyes. Need she inspired. The notion awed her.

“I’ve got it.” He opened the door and waited as a man placed a room service cart with what looked like a thermos of coffee on the only free counterspace available in the room. “Fast work. I guess money does talk.”

“What is that?” she asked.

“Payment.” She raised one eyebrow in question. “For what’s to come,” he explained. Lifting the silver tray off the plate, he revealed two packages of instant hot cocoa mix.

“You remembered,” she said, both pleased and impressed. This caring man had amazed her yet again.

“When an intelligent woman speaks, I listen. Besides how could I deny such a simple request? Especially when it will get me everything I want.” His seductive smile caused her insides to twist into delicious knots only he could undo.

“Had for a cup of hot chocolate.” She couldn’t help but laugh. “I guess I’m easy,” she murmured, rubbing her still-chilled hands against her jean-clad thighs for warmth. His gaze followed the movement, his eyes darkening with unmistakable sexual heat.

“Are you?” He walked to her slowly. His eyes never left hers as his hands went to the zipper on her jacket.

His knuckles grazed her chin as he made quick work of opening the zipper, his large hands brushing the sides open and off her shoulders. The jacket slid to the floor in a heap while his hands lingered. He gripped her upper arms hard, yet his fingers were shockingly gentle as they molded to her flesh beneath the constricting turtleneck.

His next maneuver surprised her. Strong hands slid through her hair, gliding and touching in a soft whisper of movement. Her headband joined the jacket on the floor, creating a pile of clothing destined to grow. Strong hands combed through her tangled hair. The tugging at her scalp felt erotically wicked. Without warning, a violent tremor took hold. Heat pounded between her thighs and a trickling liquid warmth followed in its wake.

Being with this man wouldn’t be slow and easy. It wouldn’t be controlled and simple to understand. She didn’t want it to be. Her first step toward recognizing herself as a woman meant accepting what she’d believed impossible. A wild abandon existed in her soul, waiting for the opportunity to be set free.

Other men had touched-and they’d turned her ice-cold. No one else had inspired such gut-wrenching need. But Kane had seen beyond the packaging to the woman inside, and because he had, Kayla came together at last-body, heart and soul. She didn’t care if she’d only know him one night, she felt so much more. She wanted him and she wouldn’t, couldn’t restrain the gnawing hunger any longer.

She recalled his last question. Was she easy? “For you I guess I am,” she murmured and stood on her tiptoes to place a full, openmouthed kiss on his lips.

His body shook and the tremors vibrated through her as he grabbed her waist and pulled her roughly against him. “Lady, do you have any idea what you do to me?”

Kayla gathered her courage and repeated his words of earlier that night. “No, but you could show me.”

KANE EXPELLED A HARSH breath. In her playful innocence, she obviously had no idea she’d brought him too close, too fast. He hadn’t held back tonight and looking into her clear gaze, he couldn’t start now. He grabbed for her hand and placed it on the front placket of his jeans.

“Oh.” Her gasp of surprise was telling.

If she were as smart as she was supposed to be, she’d pull back before things got out of hand. The rational part of him hoped she would. Instead she cupped him firmly in her palm and molded her fingers to the faded denim, tracing the weight of his arousal pushing restlessly against the restricting denim.

He closed his eyes and tried to think…of sports. Tonight’s game, that ought to keep his mind off sex while her hand explored and his body contracted. Last thing he needed was to embarrass himself before things even got started. The weight and pressure of her fingers was driving him mad. And then she went to the button on his jeans. Baseball, he reminded himself. Bats, balls, stolen bases and home runs…Damn this was a bad idea.

He grabbed for her wrist. “Enough.”

“Why?”

He met her startled gaze. “Ever hear of too much too soon?”

Understanding lit her embarrassed gaze while his traveled the length of her and back again. Large breasts rounded beneath the tight turtleneck top and rigid nipples pushed through the thin white material. Her jeans were fitted, accentuating full hips and generous curves. Kane had had his share of women, and they’d had one thing in common. They spent too much at the gym trying to be model-thin, or had put themselves on ridiculous diets he’d never understand.

Kayla had eaten what she pleased tonight and enjoyed every mouthful. And he’d enjoyed watching her. He wondered if her sexual appetite was as unbridled.

Twice and she hadn’t been thrilled at the admission. What had those experiences been like for her? His groin still ached from a touch that hadn’t been hesitant but…experimental. Despite the body made for sex and sin, this woman was fresh and new.

Too wholesome for someone like him. Yet he couldn’t turn back. He needed her, something he wasn’t ready to face now…and probably not ever.

“I don’t really believe there’s such a thing as too much, do you?” She touched a soft hand to his cheek and he knew. She trusted him, yet everything about them was a lie. He’d known enough about her going in to wrap her around his finger, and he’d done it easily. He hadn’t counted on being floored himself. But he had been…as much as she.

Since she believed he’d be leaving the state after tonight, he could give them both a time to remember. No risk involved for either of them. She was too good at chipping away at the rough exterior he’d built and relied upon to survive. If not for the softness in her, if not for the softness she brought out in him, they’d be in a sweaty tangle on the floor by now. His throbbing body reminded him they hadn’t gotten that far. Yet.

He held his hand toward her. “Why don’t we find out?” Her fingers twisted in his, he led her to the oversize chair beside the table. He sat down and lowered her into his lap, facing him. “Still cold?”

She turned so she straddled his hips with her own and met his gaze head-on. “Not anymore.” He heard a smoldering heat in her voice. “Or should I say yes so you’ll warm me?”

Her impish grin was at odds with the questions in her eyes. Kane decided to erase those, as well as all rational thought once and for all. He wrapped his hands around her waist. “How about you say nothing at all?” he said and sealed his mouth to hers.

She tasted as good as before. She made him as hot as before-only faster this time. He pulled her shirt from the waistband of her jeans, needing to feel, taste and savor the sensations only she aroused. A willing partner, she helped, raising her arms to make his job easier, and before he could blink, he was facing his fantasy.

Ever since stealing a glimpse of Kayla Luck through a glass storefront window, Kane had been waiting for this. He just hadn’t let it enter his conscious mind. It was there now. She was there now.

He traced the edge of white lace surrounding her plump breasts, feeling her soft flesh beneath his fingertips. Her chest rose and fell in time to her rapid breathing, but she held his gaze and didn’t say a word.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re beautiful.”

“Don’t worry. If I let you get this far, I believe the compliment.”

“Unlike this morning.”

She shrugged. “I didn’t know you this morning.”

“And you do now.”

She laughed and he discovered even her grin made him hard.

“I know what’s important,” she said playfully. “Isn’t that what you said?”

He nodded and pushed the material beneath her breast, exposing all of her for view. The blood in his veins pumped fast and furious. “Still hot?” He placed a kiss on the distended tip of her nipple.

A strangled sound escaped her lips.

“I’ll take that as a yes-which makes hot chocolate out of the question.”

She stared at him wide-eyed.

“But I am hungry. How about you?” Reaching to his side, he felt beneath the room service cart left by the hotel staff earlier and came up with a can of whipped cream. “Special request,” he said.

“You think of everything, don’t you?” she asked.

“I try.” He shook the can with one hand.

She was already willing. He also wanted her hot…and wet…and enjoying every moment. She hadn’t done much of that in the past and he wanted her to remember him even after he was gone. He didn’t want her ever to forget.

With great show and care, he circled her nipple with a generous helping of whipped cream. Her smoldering gaze met his. “Something wrong?” he asked.

“It’s cold.” Laughter and anticipation lit her voice.

“Not for long.” He lifted her breast in his hand, savoring the weight, the feel, the warmth and then he proceeded to devour his dessert until he was tasting beyond cold and sweet, until he was tasting Kayla.

Unfortunately for him, his plan worked too well. She lost herself in sensation. She moaned aloud, her thighs clenched and unclenched around his. And Kane knew she was past conscious thought, past the point of asking him to stop.

Which meant she trusted him. He glanced at her glazed eyes, and her honest face. A protest of his own rose to his lips. Before he could speak, her hips bucked against him and his coherency vanished. He met her thrusts with unrestrained pumping of his own until he thought he’d come right then. Lifting her up, he waited only for her to wrap her legs around his hips and he took the few steps needed.

Together they toppled onto the bed. In between spurts of laughter and the mess of the whipped cream, which she attempted to lick from his lips, they managed to stand and undress. Kane grabbed for his jeans and pulled a condom out of his wallet, realizing on some subconscious level, he’d been prepared for this. He’d made sure his wallet wasn’t empty.

Shaking off the implications, he joined her on top of the mattress. She lay beneath him, naked and ready. His. He shook his head to clear that thought, but it remained. He pushed a strand of hair off her cheek, stuck there thanks to leftover whipped cream.

“I never realized making love could be fun,” she said, out of breath.

He’d never laughed while having sex, either. At least he’d given her something after all. He grinned. “Sweetheart, you haven’t seen anything yet.” He shifted his weight and slipped his hand between her thighs.

She was everything he’d wanted her to be. Warm, slick and, if the sighs greeting his ears were any indication, she was definitely enjoying. He slipped one finger inside her moist heat.

“Kane?” His name came out on a groan.

“What?” Closing his eyes against the tension threatening to burst inside him, he eased his finger out…

“I’d rather you…I mean, we…”

He knew what she meant. But he wasn’t ready. He wanted more for her than a fast tumble. More memories. He slipped his finger back in once more. “Patience is a virtue,” he told her through clenched teeth.

“Then I’m not virtuous.” As if to make her point, she wrapped her hand around his straining length and proceeded to pick up a rhythm that brought him to the brink.

“Point made.”

Taking care of protection seemed more of a nuisance than it should. Then, grabbing her wayward hands, he yanked them above her head and held her wrists with one hand. With the other, he eased himself inside her, trying like hell to keep in mind it had been a long time for her.