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“Because I’m sure I want this.” His full lips brushed hers. Just a tease that made her shiver. Nothing in the world could feel as good as the barely-there caress of his mouth. “I want to taste you.”

Her eyes opened and met the emerald blaze burning in his. Then he kissed her and shattered her world.

A mouthwatering arousal swept through her, and she moaned for more. Her hunger burned. Need. Desire. It ricocheted and multiplied as if he had captured a ravaging storm and teased her with it. His tongue tested. Her lips parted. Wes threaded his hands into her hair, tilting her head and deepening the kiss, taking what he wanted, and it was so much that she’d give again and again so long as his mouth never stopped moving.

No one had ever kissed her like this, and she was lost. Lost in him, pulled from her responsibilities and worries until she was drowning. Kissing Wes was like learning the world had new colors, and pulling away would hurt.

Wes stroked her cheek and slowed. His hunger transformed, melting into a sweetness that threatened to make her soul cry out from bliss.

He drew back, intense eyes drinking her in. “That’s one hell of a way to end the night.”

Bailey hadn’t shattered into pieces. The world hadn’t ended. They’d stopped kissing, and she was still living and breathing in his arms. A dawning understanding took hold. Her responsibilities didn’t require her to avoid a physical relationship with Wes. Only that she be careful. She could lock away her heart and take everything Wes offered. No strings. Couldn’t she?

Wes checked the time. “Oh, wow,” he deadpanned. “I kept you out way too late.”

“It was worth it.”

His smile made her float. Wes took her hand and grabbed Oink. “I need to get you back to your hotel room before I tell you anything else I’ve been thinking of all night long and really send you running.”

She blushed and almost told him to let it happen. Bailey could have sex with Wes. No strings, she reminded herself. They were on the road. They didn’t have to bring that home. Just get it out of their system.

His thumb ran over her knuckles. She could turn this sparkly excitement into something like a clichéd one-night stand. Sure. Fine. Totally a great idea. Consequences be damned. And she couldn’t wait.

Chapter Thirteen

Wes held on to Bailey’s hand. He needed to hold on tight now because as soon as they reached their hotel rooms, he would have to wrench his fingers away from hers. Maybe he shouldn’t have told her he wanted to take her to bed. It wasn’t as if he said he wanted to hike up her skirt and bury himself to the root. He didn’t admit to wanting those lush tits bouncing in his face as she rode his cock or fisting her hair as he drove into her from behind. Wes had admitted nothing. Though she’d felt everything. He’d been hard as steel and pressing against her for more.

Something clicked when their lips touched. It ignited their simmering attraction into a full-blown wildfire, and his mind raced with what it meant. No answer was clear. No woman had ever made him absolutely terrified and desperate for everything. She single-handedly knocked him into another stratosphere with a kiss. Nothing like anything he’d ever experienced, and, fuck, that included falling for his ex-fiancée years ago.

He shook his head. He didn’t even want that other woman anywhere near his thoughts this evening. His ex had been a one-night stand that never ended. They never talked about what they wanted, what the future would hold, or why they were together. They just were until they weren’t. Wes would never do anything like that again.

And he didn’t know what to do with the temptation drawing him to Bailey.

The only thing he understood was that with a kiss like that, he needed to be damn certain of what he wanted. And he was: her.

Easier said than done.

Wes peeled them away from the bright, brash pier and guided Bailey onto the slightly less busy boardwalk. The crowd had changed as the night had grown late. Fewer families. More young adults and teenagers. He searched for threats while trying to pinpoint exactly what and when everything had changed. Because the want had been there longer than he’d admitted, and now, in his book, their situation had irrevocably changed. “We’re going to have to talk about this.”

Her handhold tensed. Her gait stiffened. “Is this when we talk about how what happens in New Jersey stays in New Jersey?”

His stomach heaved into his throat. Wes pulled her out of the flow of foot traffic and stared down. He searched her face and saw…panic. Even though she was still holding his hand, Bailey had erected a protective barrier. “What changed from two minutes ago?” The evasive tightness at the corners of her eyes kneed him in the guts. “Don’t do that.”

“I’m not doing anything,” she said, her upbeat facade too thick. “I’m realistic. I’m a single mother, first and foremost. We’re on a work trip. It was a long, intense day—”

“You think I kissed you because of a long day?”

She bit her bottom lip. “Those weren’t my exact words…”

He heard what she said, but also the truth in the way she trailed off. She’d had the same thoughts as he had, except where he’d recognized a change that couldn’t be erased, she’d seen insurmountable hurdles. She doubted him. That would hurt a whole hell of a lot, except he’d told her nothing except that he wanted to take her to bed. The shock and awe of their kiss left her worried.

“I kissed you because there was no way I couldn’t. I kissed you because my heart jumps out of my chest when I touch you. There’s electricity between us, and I don’t want to ignore it. It’s not because of a long, intense day, Bailey.” It wasn’t even lust. “It’s more.”

“You have the luxury of more.”

“You’re right. But so do you.” He brushed her hair off her cheek. “I didn’t kiss you because I was bored or tired or horny or in the mood for some inconsequential fuck.”

Her lashes fluttered. “That’s not what I meant. I would never think that.”