Just Trust Me…

lottery and that it sucks-’cause I’d have a hard time believing that.”

A hard time…thanks to her slowly roaming fingers, he knew all about a hard time. “Not the lottery. But after years of research, I reached a personal and professional goal. Sort of a scientific breakthrough.”

“That sounds like a good thing.”

“I agree. But I found out very quickly that a lot of bad stuff came with the good.”

Understanding dawned in her eyes-which he nearly missed because her fingertips brushed beneath the hem of his khaki shorts, glazing his eyes over. “Everyone suddenly wanted in on your breakthrough,” she said, and he thanked God his hearing was still operating. “Professional jealousy and all that.”

“Um, something like that, yes. And, like the person who wins the lottery, I suddenly found myself with lots and lots of ‘friends.’”

Her eyes twinkled. “Ah-ha. So you did win the lottery. Are you sure I won’t try to hit you up for a loan?”

“If you keep touching my leg like that, I’m apt to give you anything you want.”

Her fingers slid a bit higher on his leg and he sucked in a breath. “Good to know,” she murmured, drawing slow, drugging circles around his inner thigh.

“But to set the record straight, I didn’t win the lottery, and you’d be sorely disappointed in my bank balance.”

“So then these false friends are trying to ride your professional coattails and share in your glory?”

He nodded even though it was only half of the problem, the other part being the relentless pursuit by the cosmetics companies, but her touch was rapidly depleting his ability to prolong the conversation. “I felt as if I was being pulled in a dozen directions, and I was losing sight of what was important. Of who I was and what I wanted. I needed to get away. Far away. Clear my head.”

“No change, no gain.”

“Exactly.”

“So what other aspects of your life were out of balance?” she asked.

“Family and friendships are fine, and since I’m not married, that’s not an issue.”

“What about love and sex?”

“I’m completely unattached.”

Deciding two could play at this game, he leaned forward and reached beneath the table to lightly grasp her ankle, enjoying her quick intake of breath. “And one of the first people I meet is from the same city I just flew nearly four thousand miles to escape. Unbelievable.”

“Sorry. If I’d known you were trying to escape all reminders of home, I wouldn’t have said hello.”

He stroked his fingers up her silky calf, a move she answered by stroking her palm higher up his thigh. “If you hadn’t said hello that would have been my very great loss.”

“Maybe not. I think I probably would have said hello anyway.”

“Why’s that?”

“Fishing for compliments?”

He slipped his hand over her knee. “Shamefully.”

Her gaze roamed his face, then said softly, “Something about the way you were sitting there, your expression. You looked…” She shook her head. “I’m not sure how to describe it other than to say that you looked how I felt. Glad to be here, yet somehow…lonely.”

He studied her eyes and his stomach seemed to swoop downward, as if he were falling. Which, crazy as it sounded, was precisely how he felt-as if he was in an emotional free fall. He’d gone from zero to lust to halfway in love with this woman in a millisecond.

“I was lonely,” he said, softly stroking her knee, “although I hadn’t even realized it. But I’m not anymore.”

“I’m glad. But I would have said hello to you anyway because I also thought you were really cute.”

“Right back at ya. Except I don’t think cute really does you justice.”

“Oh? What would you say does?”

“Fishing for compliments?”

“Shamefully.”

After considering for several seconds, he said, “You possess an abundance of millihelens and microhelens.”

“Whatever that means.”

“You’ve heard of Helen of Troy?”

“The woman over whom the Trojan War was started?”

“That’s the one. It’s said that her face launched a thousand ships. In the Troy system of units, a millihelen is the amount of beauty required to launch one ship. A microhelen is roughly the amount of beauty needed to motivate one sailor.” His fingertips skimmed behind her knee. “You possess enough of both to launch an entire armada of ships and motivate an entire army of soldiers.”

A slow, sexy smile curved her lips. She tickled her fingertips across his thigh and he damn near forgot how to breathe. “Thank you. Looks like I’ll be giving you some more points for originality.”

“Excellent. How can I earn a few more?”

“You could dazzle me with some interesting scientific facts.”

“One square inch of skin contains six hundred and twenty-five sweat glands.” He edged his hand higher under her skirt and slowly traced his fingers up her thigh. He noted with satisfaction that her own fingers stilled on his leg and her pupils dilated when his fingers drew leisurely figure eights on her exquisitely soft skin.

“I believe it,” she murmured in a breathless voice. “I feel like every one of mine is pumping steam.”

Without taking his gaze from hers, he rose, then gently pulled her to her feet. Hidden in their private alcove in the back room, he drew her into his arms and slowly skimmed his hands down her back. “In the adult human body, there are forty-six miles of nerves. The most sensitive cluster of nerves is here…” He lightly massaged the small of her back, urging her closer, until their bodies touched from chest to knee. “At the base of the spine.”

“Fascinating,” she murmured, skimming her hands up his chest then looping her arms around his neck. “What else?”

“Minks have sex that lasts about eight hours.”

“Oh…my.”

“Moose intercourse usually lasts about five seconds.”

“Note to self…would much prefer to be a mink.”

Leaning forward, he nuzzled the warm, smooth skin just below her ear with his lips. God, she smelled delicious.

“Bats have sex in the air.”

She breathed out a sigh then tilted her neck, affording him better access. “Sounds…adventurous.”

His teeth lightly nipped her earlobe. “A female praying mantis devours her partner while they’re mating.”

“Mmm. Depending on your definition of devour, that could also sound adventurous.”

“A female ferret can die if she goes into heat and can’t find a mate.”

Her fingers fisted in his hair and with a groan, she tugged his mouth towards her. “I know exactly how she feels,” she said in a husky whisper against his lips.

His mouth covered hers in kiss that drained every thought from his head. He’d intended to kiss her gently, seduce her slowly, savoring each touch, but the instant their lips met, a flash-fire reaction the likes of which he’d never before experienced sizzled through him, incinerating him where he stood.

She tasted as seductively delicious as she smelled, and, with a low growl, his arms tightened around her. He stepped backwards until his shoulders hit the wall, then he spread his legs, settling her in the V of his thighs, pressing her tighter against his erection, and feasted on her lush mouth, while his hands roamed restlessly up and down her back.

His tongue mated with hers, an erotic friction that quickly depleted whatever control she hadn’t already stolen. His hands skimmed over her lush curves, settling on her bottom. She shifted against him, dragging another growl from his throat. His hips involuntarily thrust into her feminine softness, and he knew they needed to stop this