on. I guess I should go drop you there before His Highness arrives.” Cradling the dog in one arm, she gathered the diaper bag of dog goodies she’d packed him. “Let’s get you next door.”
Saying goodbye was difficult, but once inside Mrs. Beasley’s, Yoda didn’t seem to mind at all that Faith would be gone all weekend.
“No worries. He’s Miss Cupcake’s favorite guest,” the older woman promised as they walked to the door. “She and I will take good care of Yoda, and you know I can use the extra money from dog-sitting.”
Standing in the doorway, Faith leaned in and kissed Mrs. Beasley’s weathered cheek. “I know. Bye, love you.”
Closing the door, she turned to go back to her apartment and caught Vale in the hallway admiring her backside.
Vale blinked, attempting to clear his eyes.
That stunning derrière and killer legs he’d been admiring were Faith’s?
He’d known she had a decent body, he wasn’t blind, but her scrubs did nothing to accent her curves and apparently everything to hide them. Where had all that tantalizing flesh come from?
And her eyes.
He’d always liked Faith’s eyes. But without her glasses they were huge, luminous, tempting. No, he wasn’t tempted by Faith. Only he was.
Tempted to push her up against the apartment hallway wall, push up that nipped-at-the-waist tease of a skirt, and thrust between those long, long legs.
Where had she gotten those legs and why hadn’t he noticed before?
Okay, so he had noticed a time or two when she’d had on one of those ugly gray suits she sometimes wore that she had great calves. The kind that plumped out when she reached for a book on a high shelf. But Lord help him at the expanse of thigh on display beneath the hem of the dress she wore now.
And her shoulders.
His fingers itched to rub over her bare skin. He’d never seen her shoulders bare before. There should be laws against covering shoulders like hers. He liked what he saw beneath the stringy dress straps. He liked it a lot. Her hair was up but, unlike her work style, long, highlighted tendrils hung low, daring him to set free the caught-up strands. The style revealed the tantalizing curve of her exposed neck. He wanted to kiss her there, taste her, work his way down, sensitize every neuron in her body.
Oh, hell. He was in trouble. He couldn’t bring her to his parents’ house like this, with him on the verge of busting through his pants just from looking at her, with him practically licking his lips in anticipation of her feminine delights.
“My money bought that?”
Her lower lip disappeared between her teeth. Uncertainty marred her expression. She glanced down at the blue dress she wore, exposing those long legs that had his brain working overtime—or, more like, not working at all.
“You don’t like my dress?”
“What’s not to like? You’re gorgeous, Faith.” The insecurity in her eyes had him scampering to put the glow back on her face. “Absolutely stunning.”
Her gaze lifted to his and a smile played at her lips.
“Really?”
He laughed at her obvious fishing for a compliment.
“Best return I’ve ever gotten off a few hundred bucks.” Immediately, he could see he’d said the wrong thing. Again. And again the overwhelming need to repair the damage filled him. “Why do you hide yourself away when you were obviously meant to be admired by the world?”
But this time she didn’t light back up, just moved past him and unlocked her apartment door.
Knowing he’d unintentionally hurt her, but not sure how, he followed her into the apartment and grabbed her wrist, turning her to face him.
“I didn’t mean that the way you obviously took it. You’re a beautiful woman, Faith, always. If what I said made you think I was implying otherwise, then you’re wrong. Nothing could be further from the truth.”
Without looking his way, she shrugged. “Okay.”
Placing his finger beneath her chin, he forced her to look at him and felt his heart kick up at the swirling emotion in her green-apple-candy eyes. Had he ever seen bigger, more expressive eyes? “No, it’s not okay. I’ve hurt you.”
“I’m not some fragile ninny who needs coddling, Vale.” Her gaze lowered, settling near his throat. “We’re business colleagues going away for a working weekend at your cousin’s wedding. There’s no reason for you to explain your comment. I know I made a big change.”
Like a beautiful butterfly emerging from its cocoon. The same on the inside, yet so utterly different on the outside.
He felt humbled to have played a role in the transformation, even such a tiny role. Yet he wanted her to see what he saw—a stunning young woman.
His thumb stroked along her jaw line, caressing the soft skin, noting the pink flush spreading across her cheeks, the parting of her pouty pink lips, the way his heart beat faster in his chest when her stunned gaze met his.
Vale did something totally out of character.
He lowered his lips to hers.
Faith’s knees wobbled. Firecrackers detonated in her chest, pounding her heart against her ribcage, demanding freedom to burst into a million projectile pieces.
No way was Vale kissing her!
If a trip to the salon and an upscale dress boutique was all it had taken to get his lips on hers, why hadn’t she gone shopping months ago? Had her hair streaked with strands of gold and a trained professional paint her face?
What was she thinking? This was Vale. Her boss. She should not be letting him kiss her.
He cupped her cheeks, drawing her closer, tasting her lips with a softness that belied the tough man she knew him to be.
She stood stock still, hands at her side, sure if she moved or even breathed, the fantasy would disappear, a pleasurable vapor she’d grasped at but failed to hold on to.
For eighteen months she’d wondered what this man tasted like, what his lips would feel like against hers, and now he was kissing her. So she gave in to the desire erupting within her, kissed him back, tasted his lips, opened her mouth to let him inside and hoped he’d never let her go, that he’d never stop kissing her.
Tiny explosions ripped through her one after another in the wake of his tongue thrusting into her mouth.
He was no longer cupping her face but her bottom, pulling her fully against his hard body.
He was hard. Amazingly, eye-wideningly … Oh, my!
As much as Faith wanted to spread her arms wide and welcome him, to take whatever he would offer her, she had to stop him before she completely lost her mind and became one of the many women to move in and out of his life.
Before
