Page 33 of Switching Places

His husky voice sent shivers of pleasure coursing through her. Knowing she wasn’t the type to inspire silly names, she was touched more than she wanted to admit that he teasingly called her that.

Slowly he lowered his face to kiss her gently. His lips were warm and firm. He tilted her head slightly to better deepen the kiss, tracing her lips with the tip of his tongue, skimming the soft inner skin of her lower lip when she opened for him. With exquisite slowness, he explored her lips, then plunged into the sweet heat.

The sun’s brightness faded, a kaleidoscope of colors exploded behind her lids as she savored the sensations his kiss conveyed. She reached to embrace him, but he pulled back, gazing at her with a question in his eyes.

“Are you wearing some new perfume?” he asked, his hands releasing her, dropping to his sides.

“No, no perfume at all,” she said.

She didn’t want the kiss to end, she wanted it to go on forever.

“I don’t get it,” he murmured.

“What?”

“Yesterday I thought it was because I was so tired.”

“What was?”

“Wanting you.”

Her heart skipped a beat, raced. Heat licked through her.

“I wish I could figure out just what game you’re playing,” he said.

“I’m not playing any game.” Except being her sister.

Oh, oh, she should tell him.

“I had one relationship with a beautiful society woman and got burned. I won’t go there again,” he said sharply.

Beautiful? Her?

“I’m not beautiful, it’s the clothes,” she said.

No one had ever called her beautiful. David said she looked nice. Some of her dates in college had said she looked pretty. But beautiful?

He smiled sardonically, his eyes dancing in cynical amusement.

“It’s not the clothes, you are probably even more beautiful out of them. Shall I tell you a hundred times a day how beautiful you are?”

She blushed then looked away before she made a total idiot of herself.

“I’ve got to go.”

Logan stepped back and watched as Lily drove away. She looked exactly like he’d seen her a dozen times before. Yet there was something different. Almost an air of innocence surrounding her. She’d seemed genuinely puzzled at her father’s behavior. He was sure she’d mentioned Damien’s propensity for egotism before. She’d laughed about it.

The biggest mystery, however, was his strong attraction. Why did she appeal to him in ways he couldn’t even define? Some of the brashness and cocky sass he expected was missing. Poking fun at others didn’t seem to be the norm these last two days. Nor being the center of attention. She’d practically ignored the waves in the restaurant when she’d walked in. Was it alla ploy to capture his interest or was there more to his sexy neighbor than he’d yet discovered?

Turning, he headed for his own car. He’d been hurt once by a fascinating woman, hadn’t he learned anything? This was some trickery Lily was up to, changing tactics, probably just to challenge his assertion he wasn’t interested. Some women couldn’t stand an indifferent man.

Crystal had been that way. Once their marriage lost the early glow, she’d tried to reaffirm her own attractiveness by buying new clothes, constantly making a play for anything in pants, asserting her right to her own pleasure before all else—including their marriage vows.

He wasn’t going to fall for that again.

Dodging heavy traffic, Logan drove back to the building that housed his small company. He had plenty of time to think and his thoughts kept returning to Lily. Acting or not, she proved to be an intriguing woman. Maybe she was tired of the pretense. Maybe she was finally allowing the real woman to show through.

And getting involved didn’t mean marriage.

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