“How did you manage this?”
She grinned. “It is San Francisco, after all. Anything’s possible. Isn’t that what you told me when you were trying to convince me to move here with you?”
“I’ll bet the cake’s not my favorite,” he said, already poking a knife speculatively through the thick coating of whipped cream frosting.
“Oh, but it is. Chocolate with raspberry filling,” Jane confirmed.
He turned and smiled at her. “You’re amazing.”
“So you’ve always told me. I suppose I’ll always have to go to extraordinary lengths to live up to my reputation.” She opened a drawer and extracted three small, brightly wrapped packages. “These first, then cake.”
As he always had, he opened the smallest one first. It was a gold key ring with a bright beach design enameled on it and Virginia written in bold red letters.
“Afraid I was going to forget home?” he asked, laughing.
She gazed at him, then said quietly, “I was afraid you already had.”
His laughter died and his gaze locked with hers. “Never.”
Jane swallowed hard, then looked away. She couldn’t read too much into that, she didn’t dare. “Open the biggest one next,” she insisted.
“But I always save that for last.”
“Not this year.”
“Okay, okay,” he said, picking up the flat, ten-by-twelve-inch package. As if to taunt her, he took his own sweet time with the ribbon and paper. When he finally had it open, she saw the heat rise in his cheeks as memories tumbled back. He glanced at her, his astonishment plain.
“It can’t be.”
“Oh, but it is,” she assured him. “It’s a picture of your car, that old blue convertible you loved so much.” She paused, then added softly, “The one we made love in the first time.”
“Where on earth…? I thought for sure this was on the junk heap long ago.”
“Nope. I was walking through town one day and heard the sound of that engine—”
“Who could ever mistake that?” he asked, chuckling. “It sounded like a lawn mower on speed. The word clunker was coined for that engine.”
“Maybe so, but that clunker still runs, and a teenager, one of Velma Scott’s boys, has it now. He thinks he’s the hottest kid in town.”
“Just the way I did.”
“You were the hottest boy in town,” Jane said softly. “Anyway, I asked him if he’d take me over by the river and let me take a picture for you.”
“I hope you didn’t tell him why,” Mike said.
She chuckled. “Didn’t have to. He figured that part out all on his own. He said he remembered watching the two of us in that car when he was just a kid.”
“Hopefully not while we were parked by the river.”
Jane laughed at his horrified expression. “It was ten years ago when you sold it. He was maybe eight at the time. I doubt he was allowed out at midnight.”
“Thank God for that.” He ran his fingers over the glass as lovingly as he once had touched the finish on that beloved car. He met her gaze. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Why the trip down memory lane?”
She shrugged, trying to feign indifference. “I don’t know. I suppose I was feeling nostalgic when I realized it was your birthday and it would be the first one in years we hadn’t shared.”
“Have you missed me, Jane? Is that it?”
She forced herself not to look away, not to skirt the truth. If ever an occasion called for honesty, this was it. “I missed you, yes. More than I’d imagined possible.”
“Oh, baby,” he whispered, gathering her close. “I’ve missed you, too.”
He tilted her face up, then slowly—inevitably—lowered his mouth to hers. And with the touch of their lips, passion raged and a lifetime of memories came flooding back.
CHAPTER 2
No one back in Virginia would have called Jane plain if they could have seen her tonight, Mike thought as his touch brought color to her cheeks and a flare of heat to her eyes. He’d always thought she was pretty, but tonight he was certain he’d never seen any woman more beautiful.
Cupping her face in his hands and gazing directly into her eyes, he asked, “Are you sure? We promised we wouldn’t do this again. You said—we agreed—it would only drag things out, complicate them.”
“I haven’t had a decent complication in my life in a long time now. I’ll take my chances,” she said, her gaze steady. “Please, Mike, I want you to make love to me again. I’ve missed being in your arms. I’ve missed the way I feel when you touch me.”
“Like this?” he asked, caressing her. “And this?” His hand slid lower, caught the hem of her skirt and lifted it as he stroked the inside of her thigh above the sexy black hose she wore.
Her familiar whimper of pleasure was his answer. Teasing and taunting, he came closer and closer to the hot, moist place between her thighs, never touching it, until she was arching against his hand, demanding more. In bed, her natural shyness had always vanished. She let him know what she needed, provoked him into giving it to her, then shared every bit of her pleasure with him. She was doing the same thing now.
His own pulse was racing, his body hard, but still he concentrated on Jane. He took her to the edge, then retreated, until she was gasping and pleading with him to come inside her.
He wanted to. Oh, how he wanted to, but he hadn’t come prepared. Making love had been the last thing he’d imagined them doing tonight, because they’d both so vehemently declared the relationship over. He’d figured he’d be lucky if she allowed him to steal the kiss he’d been wanting since she’d waltzed into his office earlier.
“Mike, please,” she whispered against his ear. She reached between them, sought his erection and almost jolted him off the bed with her cleverly wicked touches.
“We can’t. I
