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As she thought about it, her nipples pebbled and the muscles between her thighs tightened. She’d been able to ignore it because she’d felt ill when she’d woken up next door, but now the sexual desire was back with a vengeance. Stepping from the bathtub, she toweled herself dry and shook her hair free. As she walked past the tiny hand basin, her reflection peered hazily back at her through the steam on the small round mirror. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were bright, her lips red and full. Excitement glimmered from the depths of her eyes and it mirrored the anticipation running through her body. She looked more alive than she had for the past year.

Her suitcase was on the floor and as she reached for it, a wave of dizziness overcame her. Dropping to the bed, she put her head between her knees and waited for the feeling to pass. At least she didn’t feel sick this time. Her eyelids were heavy and she decided to close her eyes for just a moment before she got dressed.

Chapter Twenty

David knocked on the door and waited. He’d spent the past hour trying to decide how to handle this damned fire Megan had lit in him. He’d been deliberately distant when they’d come back through the time slip because he didn’t want her to know how worried he’d been about her when she’d passed out. He’d sat next to her and watched her sleep once he’d put her in his bed, and it had taken all his willpower not to climb in beside her.

The past three days since she’d arrived in his life had turned his world upside down. His life had been settled and he’d been content with the way things were. He’d gotten over being blamed for Emma’s death, and until Holly had shown him that bloody article, he’d managed to put it behind him. He enjoyed living in isolation in the Cayman Islands and coming over to his cottage every summer to go to a festival, do some touring, and put down a new album in the studio. Living and writing his music in the twenty-first century and slipping back to be a part of the seventies scene gave him the best of both worlds. Most importantly, he had the privacy to live his life exactly how he wanted and the royalties from the songs he was singing were keeping him very comfortable.

Until today, Bear and Slim, Clive, and of course Alice, were the only others who knew how he lived across the span of time. His two band members made a habit of coming back with him occasionally for a visit to the pub. The connection among them enriched their music.

And now dear Alice was gone.

Megan’s knowing about the time slip could make things difficult. Putting herself in danger had brought the bad publicity surrounding Emma’s death back with a vengeance. He needed to keep Holly in control, too. It was time to get another publicist if she was going to go for the sensational. All he hoped was that Holly hadn’t seen Megan on the stage, because if she had, he was sure she’d plan some out there publicity about Davy’s new woman. He snorted in disgust. This festival couldn’t come to a close soon enough for him. The high from the music had been the usual buzz, but the double complication of the bad publicity and Megan’s staying next door was doing his head in.

This connection to her and the urge to be with her was purely sexual. She’d gotten beneath his skin.

And into my head. And he didn’t want to admit that she was on the way to his heart.

Once he checked she was okay, he was going to say good-bye. He knocked again and looked at his watch. There were only a couple more hours before he had to go back and join the guys for the next set. He would move on and put her behind him, too

“Megan? Are you there?” He lifted his hand and rapped his knuckles on the solid wooden door. When she didn’t answer a frisson of fear rippled through him. He’d not seen anyone be so badly affected by going through the gates.

God, what if she’d passed out in the bath?

This time, he pounded on the door and when she didn’t answer, he turned the knob. The door opened and he stepped in.

“Megan?”

Taking the stairs two at a time, David hurried along the narrow hall upstairs and looked through the open bathroom door. The bath was full of water and her clothes were on the floor but there was no sign of her. The panic subsided a little. Swiveling around, he headed for the bedroom and stopped in the doorway. Megan was curled on her side in the middle of the bed wrapped in a pink towel. His heart kicked up a notch. One hand rested beneath her cheek and a rosy flush stained her skin. Crouching next to the bed, he ignored the blood pumping through him and placed his hand gently on her forehead and brushed the loose hair back from her face.

“Megan,” he said softly. “Are you okay?”

She rolled over onto her back and stretched. “I’m fine. I fell asleep after my bath, but I feel great now.” Looking up, she smiled and held his gaze. It was like getting a jolt of electricity through his entire body.

For the love of God, he couldn’t keep away from her. With a groan, he buried his face in her hair and tried to contain the raging need that was coursing through his body. He’d thought he had it under control, but one look at her lying on the bed wrapped in a towel and all his good intentions flew out the window.

Standing up, he peeled his T-shirt off and threw it on the bed before stepping out of his jeans. He looked down at Megan—the intensity of her gaze had not left him and it held the same fire that was coursing through his body.

At the window, delicate lace curtains blew softly in the light morning breeze and the smell of roses filled the room as Megan reached a hand up to him. She kept her gaze locked on him without speaking.

Need rushed through him, and he closed his eyes. A thrum of need throbbed through his blood and this time he wanted to go slowly.

But damn it to hell, he had to be back with the band in an hour or so.

“Shit.” He dropped down beside her onto the bed and stared at her. Her gaze raked him up and down as he hesitated.

“What’s wrong?” Her voice was a low, throaty purr.

“I want to stay here with you, but I’ve only got a short time before I have to go. I don’t want to rush you again.” He ran his finger lightly up her stomach and covered the hand on her breast with his.

“Do you have to leave?”

David held his breath as Megan lifted her butt from the bed and pulled the towel away from around her. His gaze travelled down her body, past her full breasts and down past her flat stomach. In their swift coupling in the dark the other night, he’d not been able to see and appreciate her beauty.

“Yes.” He dropped his mouth to her neck and nipped the delicate pale skin, and she gasped. “If I don’t go back this time, it will change the future. Or what is my present. This is the set where we get picked up by the agent and the band will take off. If I don’t go—”

“Well, then, you’d better hurry up here and get on over there.”