Kiss Me, Katie! & Hug Me, Holly!

“I can’t feel anything but warm woman under this robe,” he said, his voice so hoarse it was nearly gone.

“I was just about to get into the shower,” she admitted.

He groaned, and with characteristic bluntness, opened her robe. Never reserved or shy, he bent his head and looked at her, his eyes so hot she was surprised she could stand so close and not get burned.

A flash of doubt hit her, because it had been a very, very long time for her, and because she’d never felt particularly comfortable in her own skin. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, feeling his sudden stillness like a weight. “I’m not- My body isn’t- I really hate to exercise,” she finished lamely.

His unfocused gaze met hers. “What?”

“I’m not exactly…you know, perfect.”

His eyes blinked and focused. “Are you trying to tell me you feel the need to apologize for this body?”

“Well…” Miserable, she nodded.

“You’re kidding me.”

“No. My tummy isn’t flat.” He touched it and her breath faltered. “And my breasts…they’re not exactly… perky.”

He switched his attention to them now and she could hardly speak. “And my hips…”

“Your hips?” he encouraged, but she didn’t want to even go there.

“Forget it,” she muttered.

“Never.” He studied her, apparently not in the least disturbed by her curvy figure because he made a low, rough sound in the back of his throat, almost a growl, and hauled her close. “Perfect,” he murmured. “Soft, round, sweet and perfect. You’re beautiful, Katie.”

“But-”

“But you do talk too much,” he decided sinking to his knees and taking a love bite out of her belly before he dipped even lower, effectively shutting her up. Without another word, he opened his mouth on her. His hands, splayed wide over her bare bottom, drew her closer, then closer still as he nibbled, sucked and licked her halfway to heaven.

Unable to help herself, she cried out, because what he was doing to her simply caught her on fire. She had started to shake the moment he put his mouth on her. When she could no longer stand, he simply scooped her up and, following her breathless directions, took her to her bedroom. He set her down on the bed, but not before he spread her robe wide, gently tugging it away.

Morning light streamed in the windows, streamed over her nude body, but the last of her doubts faded in the light of his naked and fierce desire. Then he began to undress and she forgot all about herself. His shirt fell to the floor, revealing wide shoulders molded to a broad, muscular chest. Desperately ridding himself of clothes as fast as he could, his jeans hit the floor. His belly was flat, his thighs powerful. Between them he was heavy and hard.

“Oh, my,” she whispered, staring, and he let out a groaning laugh. “Bryan, that’s not going to- You’re not going to be able to-”

“Fit? Oh, yes I am.” He crawled onto the bed and reached for her, running his hands over her breasts, her stomach, her thighs and in between, all the while murmuring husky, sexy, earthy promises that mixed with his greedy and oh-so-talented fingers, arousing her to the point of no return.

He kneeled between her legs, his eyes hot and hungry, watching her closely as he put on a condom. He touched her then, making her cry out his name. He said her name, too, on a tight breath as his fingers slid over her hot, glistening center, and then opened her legs farther and entered her. “See?” he whispered roughly, covering her with his deliciously heavy body. “I fit.”

Perfectly.

And then he started to move.

Instantaneous combustion.

It had never happened to her before, immediate orgasm, but it happened now. Endless ripples of pleasure rolled over her body, and her mind continued to reel as he thrust into her again. Then again. Time stopped as he raced toward his completion, and she raced right along with him.

VAGUELY SHE REALIZED Bryan had braced himself above her, his arms trembling violently in the aftermath, his whole body trembling, breathing as harshly as she.

As if to savor the last of his pleasure, he pressed his hips to hers. A low sound escaped him, one that somehow conveyed all she was feeling, and answering it, she reached up for him just as he reached down for her. She pressed her face to the base of his throat, where his pulse still raced.

One big hand came up to cup her head and he held her close. “I had to come,” he whispered.

She smiled against his skin. “So did I. And we could always do it again, right?”

He went utterly still, then laughed. “I meant I had to come see you.”

“Oh.”

He snagged her tight when she would have rolled away in embarrassment. “I like your idea of doing it again,” he said with a grin. “I like it a lot.” His hands slid over her body, holding her hips still so that he could rock against her.

He was already hard, making her hum in helpless pleasure as his fingers came around and slid between her legs. “Yeah,” he said in a rough whisper, finding her hot and wet. “Definitely again.” Before she could say anything, he lifted her up to straddle him, and in one powerful stroke buried himself deep inside her. “Ahhh.” His eyes opened, held hers. “I felt lost this morning. Until you opened your door, that is.”

She could hardly think. It took every bit of energy to open her eyes on his.

“I’ve found what I was missing,” he whispered.

“Me?”

“You.” He arched up, filled her even more, and she had the terrifying feeling that maybe she’d found what she had been missing, too.

THE DAY AFTER Christmas at any airport tended to be a wild one. It was no different at Wells Aviation. Planes coming and going, office staff trying to deal with end-of-year stuff, people milling everywhere, mechanics running like crazy, half-dazed in their after-Christmas glow, sluggish from overeating and overdrinking and not enough sleep.

Bryan felt half-dazed, too, but it had little to do with overeating and everything to do with not enough sleeping.

He’d been with Katie instead.

Thinking about it now had a foolish and idiotic grin on his face. Actually, the grin had been there for a full day now, and he couldn’t swipe it away.

Nothing could.

Had he actually…fallen in love?

Okay, that took away his grin. Easily.

It couldn’t be true. Yes, he cared about her, greatly, but…love?

God, no. How wrong that would be.

But what if she thought herself in love with him?

No. That would be impossible, too. She couldn’t love him. He was unsuitable for that kind of relationship. He didn’t know how to do love, and not for anything would he hurt her.

But what if she didn’t realize that?

He’d just tell her so. Only she wasn’t in her office. She wasn’t in the lobby, or in anyone else’s office, or on the tarmac.

Damn. By now, he had a plane full of passengers, ready for his chartered flight to San Diego.

“Check the mechanic’s hangar,” Holly suggested, when she came upon him standing forlornly in the lobby.

“How do you know who I’m looking for?”

“Oh, please,” she said with heartfelt disgust. “It’s all over your face.”

He left for the maintenance hangar at a fast clip.

Holly followed.

“Don’t you have work?” he asked, annoyed.

“Uh-huh.”