When he raised his head, Michelle didn’t move. But he could see her wide eyes gazing up into his.
“I want you, Michelle,” he said.
What an ineffective statement. He yearned for her, craved her. Needed to know everything about her, from where she liked to be touched to how she slept at night. Her taste inflamed him, her scent nearly drove him to his knees. He’d never experienced this with another woman. Why Michelle?
And what was she going to do now?
“Michelle?” His lips touched hers again, trailed slow kisses across her cheek and nibbled gently against her earlobe. Her hands twisted themselves behind his neck and she pressed against him.
Her fingers began tracing patterns against his hot skin. She let one hand skim across his bare shoulder and down his muscular chest. She was driving him crazy.
“Say yes, Michelle.” He kissed her again and prayed she’d say yes.
“Yes, Josh,” she whispered.
He heard her. Sweeping her up into his arms, he headed for the porch.
“I’d love to make love to you beneath the stars, but I want our first time to be special, not complicated by leaves and twigs,” he said, mounting the shallow steps that led to the porch.
The cold air in the house sent an instant chill through them both and she snuggled closer. “Guess that sprinkler cooled me down,” she murmured, daring to kiss his jaw, let her lips move across his shoulder.
Josh carried her into his room and nudged the door shut with his shoulder. Standing her beside the bed, he kissed her again. Grateful her hands were still locked around his neck, he knew she was fully involved.
“You need to get out of those wet clothes,” he said softly, already beginning to unfasten the buttons that kept the dress closed.
“I guess you seem to have a head start on me,” she said, lightly running her fingertips over the muscles of his chest.
“Oh, honey, if you want to drive me insane, do that one more time,” he said, batting her hands away and peeling the dress from her shoulders.
She sought to get closer to Josh.
“Let me shuck these jeans,” he said. The rasp of the zipper sounded. Then he heard another sound.
“What’s that?” Michelle asked, looking around.
“The baby monitor. I use it to keep track of Penny during the night. If she wakes up and calls, I can hear her in here.”
“Is it a two-way setup?” she asked.
“No, she can’t hear us. Anyway, she’s sound asleep.”
Before she could say anything more, he kissed her again.
Michelle woke slowly, moving restlessly. Opening her eyes, she stared at the pillow next to hers. An indentation showed where Josh had slept, but he had already gone.
Slowly she sat up, feeling awkward. . Rising, she picked up her dress which was still damp. Wrinkling her nose, she held it in one hand. No way was she going to put it on. She pulled the sheet from the bed and wrapped it around her for the short trip to her own bedroom.
The house was silent. On the way to her room, she peeked into Penny’s. The little girl lay on her stomach, still fast asleep.
Maybe it wasn’t as late as she thought it was, Michelle mused as she hurried into her room. The clock said seven fifteen. Why had Josh gotten up so early? Was he downstairs? Or did he have an early appointment? She had time before she needed to get to work, or should she stay home with Penny today?
Gathering her things, she headed for the bathroom. The warm shower felt good. Dressed a short time later, she again checked on Penny, then went to the kitchen. She’d make pancakes for the little girl and see how she felt about going to the day care today. If she wasn’t up to it, Michelle would skip work, as well.
But Penny seemed raring to go a few minutes later when she whirled into the kitchen.
“Hi, Michelle. Did you see my stitches. I gots two!”
“Have, honey. You have two. And yes, I saw the doctor put them in.” And hoped never to go through something like that again. Michelle truly thought it hurt her more than Penny. The child had a local anesthetic, after all.
“Where’s Daddy?”
“Gone to work, I guess.”
She found the note leaning against the milk carton when she opened the refrigerator. Her heart skipped a beat and Michelle reached for it. He hadn’t left without a word, just put the note where she was sure not to miss it.
Lunch around noon?
“Short and to the point,” she murmured. What had she expected, protestations of undying love? Just because—
“I’m hungry,” Penny said.
Michelle slipped the note into her pocket and began to fix breakfast. But she couldn’t slip away from the tingling sensation of anticipation that curled within. The warm glow that seemed to fill her. Josh wanted to see her again at lunch! He didn’t even want to wait until after work. That had to mean something, right?
She called once she reached work to let him know she’d be there. And update him on how Penny was doing. As far as she could tell, the little girl was totally fine and not traumatized in the least by yesterday’s accident.
It was ten minutes after twelve when Michelle entered the investigative offices. She remembered the first time she'd come, how he’d been so impatient to leave to get Penny. So much had changed since then. Yet it had only been a few weeks.
“Hi, Mrs. O’Malley,” the receptionist said with a warm welcome on her face.
“Hi.” Darn, she couldn’t remember the woman’s name. “I’ve come to have lunch with Josh. Is he here?”
“He’ll be back soon. He had to go out on a case a couple of hours ago. I know he remembered lunch with you. Would you like to
