Page 111 of To Catch a Latte Thick as Thieves

“I can’t sleep. I w-want to talk,” she stammered.

“Well, get back on your side and talk from there.” He waved his hand in the direction of her bed.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she chided him and scooted closer to him on the bed.

“I’m not being ridiculous,” he retorted, pulling the sheet up to his neck as he shot across the mattress away from her.

“Yes, you are.” She followed him, trying to stifle a laugh at his prudishness. “I promise I won’t touch you.”

Jared eyed her in horror as she settled herself against the headboard, primly crossing her arms over her chest. Her negligee was as thin as tissue and just as revealing. Jared felt heat rush to parts of his body that had no business getting hot. He pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger and tried to concentrate on visions of snowdrifts and polar bears. It was useless.

“It’s your turn,” she declared.

“To what?” He dropped his hand to study her. “Hit you with a pillow?”

“To talk,” she said. “You promised to tell me your life story this afternoon, but you never did. No time like the present, I always say.”

“Talk?” he roared. “Are you out of your skull? It’s the middle of the night!”

“Yeah, well, you snore and I can’t sleep, so start talking.”

“I snore?” he asked, appalled.

“You breathe heavy,” she relented.

Jared studied her green-flecked eyes in amused horror. Only Cat would accost a man in his own bed at three o’clock in the morning to tell him he snored and demand he talk to her. He was sure it would never occur to her that when an exceptionally desirable woman climbed into a man’s bed, the last thing he wanted to do was talk.

But then, Jared was beginning to suspect that Cat didn’t think of herself as desirable, and certainly not as exceptionally desirable. That would explain the outfits she’d chosen today. From the filmy sleepwear she wore now to the tight, curve-hugging shorts and top she’d worn earlier, she’d shown an incredible lack of awareness.

And now she sat in his bed in that flimsy, frilly thing as trusting as if he were Cameron. And, if that wasn’t galling enough, she had the nerve to sit there and say she wanted to talk!

Obviously, somebody had to teach her a lesson – for her own good. And Jared couldn’t think of any soul more deserving of the job than himself. Catherine Levery had to learn once and for all that she was attractive and that he was not her brother!

Cat couldn’t pinpoint when the energy coming from Jared switched from annoyance to something much more serious. All she knew was that out of a sense of self-preservation, she began to scoot toward the edge of the mattress.

The blue gaze fixed on her mouth was predatory, and she felt her pulse pound in her throat while her breath stalled in her lungs.

“You know,” she said, waving a finger thoughtfully in the air, “this may not be the best time for this discussion. It just occurred to me that you’re probably tired. So, I’ll just leave you to that. Good ni—”

“Not so fast.” Jared gripped her wrist and tugged her relentlessly across the mattress. “I find I’m wide awake now, and it’d be a shame to let all of this energy go to waste, don’t you think? Besides, we haven’t finished our conversation yet.”

“I said everything I had to say. Really.” She nodded vigorously, trying not to get pinned beneath the incredibly warm, sculpted muscles of Jared’s frame as it lowered onto hers.

He jerked the sheet from between them, and Cat felt his hot skin press against hers. She glanced down. All he wore was a pair of blue-and-white striped boxers. They weren’t as funny as the smiley-face boxers, but they were very sexy. He placed his hands on her hips and pulled her low onto the mattress while he shifted a leg over hers, effectively locking her into place.

Jared smiled at the look of surprise on her face. Her honey-colored hair was spread over the white pillow like waves of silk, and he indulged himself and pressed his cheek against her curls. They were soft and fragrant like the woman herself.

He nuzzled her ear with his lips and felt her start in surprise. He brushed his mouth across her face, soothing the wild look in her enormous eyes with reassuring caresses. Warnings about little boys who played with matches ran through his mind, but he was too drawn to the flame to worry about being burned.

Her lips responded sweetly, achingly sweet, to the lightest touch from his tongue. Lush lashes swept down, hiding her eyes from his gaze, but he didn’t care. Her response to him was obvious in the way her body wrapped around his, holding him close.

A man could drown in such giving sweetness. Jared plunged his fingers into her curls, to hold her still, while his mouth ruthlessly courted hers. He didn’t give her a chance to think or breathe, only to feel and respond. When she surrendered to the kiss, his hands skimmed down her body, searching out the curves that had taunted him all day.

Like a faithless friend her flimsy nightie gave way to his probing fingers. Cat felt a thousand tiny tremors as he cupped one aching breast. His mouth left hers and his lips whispered across the peak, taunting it into tightening in response. The other nipple demanded similar treatment. He complied, circling the tip with his tongue. Cat found herself gasping for breath.

She’d never been loved like this before. Jared’s intense concentration and pleasure in her responses was a revelation. His brilliant blue gaze was hooded in seduction, his low voice fathomless with harsh endearments, all of which sent her spiraling into a sirocco of desire she’d never known existed.

It was the soft, soughing sigh that escaped Cat’s lips that brought Jared to his senses. She was feeling too much. Sharing too much with him. The woman had no sense of self-preservation, and he could never reciprocate that openness.

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