Page 86 of When She Dreams

The heat in her eyes was real. That was all he needed. She wanted him, and he wanted her—so badly he ached.

“Talk about your amazing coincidences,” he said. “I like kissing a lady who has a vivid imagination.”

He gripped her shoulders and pulled her close, covering her mouth with his own.

He went into the kiss thinking that this time he was prepared for the bone-deep sense of rightness. He was wrong. The sensation zinged through him again, stronger than the first time. His marriage had started out red-hot. He ought to know how to handle raw physical attraction. Hedidknow how to handle it. What’s more, he was older now—maybe not wiser, but definitely older. More experienced. He liked to think he had learned a few things along the way.

But kissing Maggie was different. Somehow he knew it would always be different, because Maggie was unlike any other woman.

Last night he had been shaken by the longing that had welled up inside him when he held her in his arms. It was the feeling a man got when he knew that something he desperately wanted was just out of reach. Tonight the longing was shot through with something infinitely more dangerous—the euphoric pleasure that came with knowing Maggie wanted him.

When her mouth softened under his and she started to fumble with the buttons of his shirt, he forgot about all the excellent reasons why going to bed with Maggie was probably a mistake.

He eased the blouse off her shoulders and took the pins out of herhair. When he picked her up and carried her through the doorway to his bed, he was intoxicated with anticipation.

He pulled the covers down and then slowly went about the process of undressing Maggie. She returned the favor. It wasn’t long before most of their clothes were scattered across the rug and draped over the chair and the table.

When she was wearing only a pair of silky, wide-legged panties and he was in his briefs, she went up on her toes and sank her teeth gently into his ear.

“Sam,” she whispered.

They fell onto the bed together. The feel of her soft, warm body beneath his filled him with pleasure. He tasted her mouth again and then the scented skin of her shoulder, her breast, and lower still.

When she slid one bare foot down his leg he took a sharp breath and rolled off her and onto his feet.

“Back in a minute,” he said.

He turned off the lights on his way across the room. In the bathroom he got a pro from the tin in his Dopp kit, sheathed himself, and went back into the bedroom. He stopped when he saw Maggie lying in the light angling through the connecting doorway. Her hair spilled across the pillow. Her eyes were mysterious pools of sensual invitation and desire.

“You are so beautiful,” he said.

She smiled. “You make me feel beautiful.”

He continued across the room to the bed and lowered himself beside her. When he started to kiss her she stopped him with a finger on his mouth.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Are you having second thoughts?”

“I was just wondering if most men travel with a tin of condoms.”

He groaned. “I have absolutely no idea and zero interest in the answer. I bought mine from the pharmacist on Tyler Avenue in Adelina Beach the day before we left for Burning Cove.”

“Really?”

“He keeps them behind the counter. Guarantees they are the best quality.”

He started to pull her closer. She moved her hand to his shoulder, stopping him again.

“You planned to seduce me?” she asked.

She sounded curious. Intrigued. Not angry.

“I don’t have that much faith in my powers of seduction, and even though I haven’t been in the private detective business very long, I’m pretty sure it’s a bad idea to sleep with the client. So no, there was no plan.” He paused. “But deep down I had hope.”

She brightened. “So did I.”

He suddenly felt on top of the world. “You did?”

“After I met you I finally understood what was wrong with the hero in my novel. That night I rewrote him, and now he works perfectly. You inspired me.”

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