Kiss Me, Katie! & Hug Me, Holly!

She sighed, all signs of temper and annoyance draining away as he tasted her-soft and sweet and so female.

“Riley.” Just that, just his name, but it was all he needed. He kissed her again, then again, until she slipped her arms around his neck. At the same time he caught her up against him, and the sheer relief of having her there, pressed to him from chest to thigh, was almost more than he could bear. “You feel good.”

“So do you, but I can think so and still not like you.”

“Liar.” He opened the front door of his house and stood aside, giving her the choice.

She stared inside for a long moment, taking in his big, airy living room. “Now is a fine time to be chivalrous.”

“Yes or no, Holly.” His entire body clenched in painful anticipation. “Will you come in?”

“To go to bed with you? Or to…talk?”

Trust her to be so forthcoming. She was obviously far more terrified of talking.

Ironic, since that’s what he wanted more than anything.

He just waited, and when she let out a loud sigh and stepped over the threshold, he took a huge breath of relief.

“I’m thirsty,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around herself.

She was nervous. The realization touched him unbearably, made him feel protective, tender. “Come, then.”

In the kitchen she flipped on all the lights, making him smile. “Do you think you’re safer from what’s between us that way?”

“I’m not afraid of you,” she said decisively, but moved to the far side of the kitchen, on the other side of the island, on which there sat a huge chocolate cake.

“Maria,” he said. “She left me dessert.”

“She left enough for the entire town.” She swiped a fingerful of the frosting, then stuck it in her mouth.

At the sucking sound she made, Riley went instantly hard. She could have no idea what she was doing to him. “Holly-”

She did it again, her eyes meeting his.

She knew.

Slowly, very slowly, she did it again, stroked her finger across the topping and then sucked it in. Helplessly, he moved toward her. “You’re trying to seduce me so I can’t make you talk to me.”

“I already told you, no one makes me do anything, and anyway-” she went for another bite “it’s your own fault, being so easy. All I’m doing is licking a little chocolate off my finger.”

“That’s all, huh?” He became intensely determined to bring her to the fevered pitch he was already at, that he’d been at since the first day she’d come to town. With as much slow precision as she’d shown, he slid his finger through the frosting.

Then he looked at her.

She registered the wicked gleam in his eyes and stepped back, hitting up against the counter. “Don’t even think about it.”

He held up his finger, thickly coated in chocolate. “Oh, I’m thinking about it.”

“Riley-”

He merely stepped toward her, effectively trapping her into the corner, and touched her lower lip.

Heat spiraled through her body without warning. Her mouth opened, and before she could think of the wisdom of the action, she sucked his finger into her mouth.

A slow groan escaped him, and he watched her with such intensity she wondered how long she could stand.

“I want you,” he whispered. “But not in the way you think. I want to know you, inside and out. I want to understand you. I want you to open up to me. I want-”

“You don’t…want my body?”

“Not before the rest.”

She didn’t want to talk to him because she knew that would lead-straight to getting hurt. He’d grow to know her, would realize how terribly unsuited she was for both him and Little Paradise, maybe even realize that she wasn’t a particularly good person, and then it would be over.

But not before her heart got stomped on.

Yes, she wanted him, maybe even in the way he wanted her, but it wouldn’t work, surely he had to see that! All she could give him was her body, not more, please not more.

“Give me the rest, Holly, give me all of you.”

“No.”

What made him want to know her, anyway? He was her polar opposite. He saw the glass half-full, she saw it half-empty. He saw the good in everyone, she was always expecting the worst.

She couldn’t help but wonder what he saw when he looked at her. “Let me get this straight,” she said. “That kiss? It’s going to lead to nowhere?”

“Not unless you’re going to talk to me.”

“About me.”

“Yes.”

No. It was humiliation that had her scooping up more frosting, with two fingers this time, and going at Riley.

He was quick. Catching her wrist, he laughed. “Temper, temper…”

Laughing was his second mistake. Her other hand was free, and she used it, swiping a good amount of the frosting across his jaw. “You made me want you, you…you jerk! And then you brought me here, letting me think that we would…that…” She ran out of steam, realizing she’d just admitted she wanted him more than he obviously wanted her.

He stared at her in shock. But he had amazing regrouping capabilities. And unfortunately for her, she’d forgotten his strength. With little to no trouble, he pinned her back in the corner, both hands held captive behind her back with one of his.

Which left his other free.

Not good.

He stuck a finger in the frosting, slowly, letting her suffer, then smiled down at her, his expression pure trouble. “I’m glad you want me,” he said huskily, chocolate dripping off his jaw. “I want you, too, but apparently I didn’t make that clear enough. I want you, but I want a lot more than a quick roll in the sheets.”

She sucked in a breath. “Not me, that’s all I want.”

“Really?”

Struggling did her no good. Given how he had her arms behind her back, she was at a distinct disadvantage. Not to mention that in this position, her chest was thrust out, slammed up against his.

Her body liked that, too much. She went still.

So did he. Then he brought his finger to the pulse at the base of her neck, stroking it-and the chocolate-down, down, down to where her top began, just above the swell of her breasts.

Against the white cotton material, her nipples thrust out.

At the sight, he made a soft, aching sound. “Then I guess this will have to be enough,” he murmured. “For now.”

“For forever.”

“You’re wrong about that,” he said, making her nervous, because surely he couldn’t read her mind, right? He couldn’t know she’d been starting to dream about him, starting to hope and wonder?

“I should just walk home,” she said bravely. “But it’s dark and dangerous.”

“Princess, looking the way you do tonight, you’re in far more danger from me than anyone on the street.” Then he was back with the chocolate, reminding her that she was his captive. He made another path across the top of one breast, over the soft curve. He made that rough noise again, the one that caused an answering tug from deep within her, a tug that couldn’t-wouldn’t-be denied.

She leaned forward as much as she could and nibbled at the chocolate still on his jaw. Bending his head, he returned the favor, sucking frosting off her skin, as well. Her hands flexed in his, and she couldn’t hold back her