The erotic picture was interrupted when she tried to turn in his
arms.
He had promised her five minutes. He must have been out of his mind,
but he had given his word, and so he began to count off the seconds.
Heaven help him, if he lasted one full minute without kissing her, he
figured he could last a lifetime.
He wanted a lifetime with her.
The admission stunned him. He realized he'd been ignoring the truth
for a long time, but somewhere in the back of his mind, he'd known, and
accepted. He could even name the moment he knew he loved her. It was
when that bastard, Johnson, was on the roof with his rifle trying to
kill her. Cole had never felt such rage before. As he raced toward
her, thinking he wouldn't be able to get to her in time, the
possibility of losing her had scared the hell out of him. In the
aftermath, he'd been so shaken with fear, he'd reacted with anger, not
love.
If this was true love, he wanted no part of it. Yet he didn't want to
ever let go of her.
It seemed the most natural thing in the world for him to kiss her
shoulder, the side of her neck, her ear. He kept telling himself to
stop this torment, but his senses were already responding. She smelled
so good and felt so soft.
Had five minutes gone by? Maybe she'd gone to sleep, he thought
desperately, and he clung to that hope like a man hanging from a rope
on the side of a cliff.
She tried to turn in his arms again. 'Don't move, ' he whispered.
'I want to kiss you good night.' His heart soared at her shyly
whispered request. 'No, ' he snapped.
'Please? ' He sighed into her hair. 'If you kiss me, I swear I won't
stop. Now leave me alone and go to sleep.' He made a mockery of his
own ultimatum by nuzzling her neck again. He loved the feel of her
skin against his mouth. He loved the little sound she made in the back
of her throat, like a gasp but not quite.
Jessica stayed perfectly still for several heartbeats, and when she
slowly turned in his arms, she knew exactly what she was doing and what
it would lead to. Heedless of the consequences, she stroked the side
of his face, stared into his beautiful eyes, and then slipped her hand
