chest.
But what a chest it was, and he longed to know how it felt locked against his. “Okay, that’s a start.” He drew her closer. “How about music?”
“I like everything.”
“Everything?” He couldn’t take his gaze from her mouth. So tempting. “Even rap?”
“Some rap is okay.”
He loved the way her lips rounded as she said the o in okay. “Can you sing?” It was a goofy question, but he was so focused on her mouth it seemed semilogical.
“Not very well.” She looked up at him. “Can you?”
“Not very well.” Then temptation overtook him. Forgetting why he didn’t want to do this yet, he leaned down and kissed her.
And what a mistake that was, because she kissed him back. She might not want to tell him anything about herself, but she was perfectly willing to kiss him as if the end of the world had arrived. Her lips parted, her tongue became involved, and when he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, she settled against him with a soft moan of delight.
As kisses went, this one topped the charts. He tasted hunger as strong as his own, which filled his mind with all sorts of ideas he wasn’t supposed to be having. In fact, much more of this kiss and they were liable to get themselves arrested. He pulled back with difficulty and looked into her eyes to double-check that he hadn’t misread her level of involvement. Yep—eyes glazed, chest heaving, body quivering. Just like his.
“I…had a feeling about this,” he said.
“N-not me.”
“Boy, I did. Sometimes there’s just…something between two people.” Now there was a profound statement. Sheesh. He rubbed his hands up and down her arms, as if trying to restore the circulation, which was ridiculous. Judging from her reaction, her circulation was currently excellent. Speaking for himself, he could feel the blood whipping through his veins and arteries at warp speed.
“Something explosive.” She still sounded out of breath.
“Right. But I believe in getting to know each other first.”
She cleared her throat. “Okay.”
“Unfortunately, going to my little brother’s event won’t give us much chance for that. The noise level will be horrific. And I can’t leave too early or he’ll think I didn’t like it.”
“Then we need to go and stay as long as necessary.”
“I’m afraid so. But after that…” He didn’t dare put what he was thinking into words. He hoped she was thinking exactly the same thing.
“After that, we’ll…we’ll see what happens.”
So she wanted to hedge a little. He didn’t buy her act. He’d been there during the fireworks and he knew she was flammable. “I think we both can guess what will happen, given half a chance.”
“I thought you wanted to get to know me first.”
“I do.” He gave her a quick, hard kiss. “And I will.”
4
SOMEHOW KASEY CROSSED the street without getting run over. That probably had something to do with Sam’s tight grip on her hand and his take-charge attitude. Thank goodness he was watching out for them, because she was too dazed by that kiss to notice traffic signals.
So when had kissing become such a big deal? She’d kissed guys before and been able to analyze the process in clinical detail, even during the act itself. She’d evaluated kissing techniques and rated them for firmness, taste and the all-important slipperiness factor. Then she’d taken into account the groping, or lack of groping, and whether that added to the experience or detracted.
Then along came Sam with a kiss that destroyed every analytical brain cell she possessed. Instead of being a mildly amusing mouth exercise, this kiss had thrown her into the center of a tornado where she’d clung helplessly to Sam as winds of lust tugged at her from every angle. Whatever he was offering, she wanted to be first in line.
All her sexual experiences so far had been motivated by curiosity. This driving urge was nothing like that. There was desperation mixed in with carnal desire, as if she might go crazy if she couldn’t satisfy the need he’d created with one simple kiss. No, not simple. That had been a very complicated kiss. Because of it, she had to reevaluate her entire campaign.
Her original plan had included more control. She’d judged her ability to stay in control based on her experiences with men so far. She hadn’t factored in a kiss that would turn her knees to jelly. She’d always thought that was a silly expression, someone’s wild exaggeration of normal sexual impulses.
Apparently not. Apparently there were men like Sam who could accomplish the knees-to-jelly thing. Who knew? In any case, she had a combustible situation on her hands. He wanted to sleep with her. That was the good part, because she really had made him drool. The bad part was that she wanted to sleep with him, too.
So now what? A big juicy flirtation was what she’d intended. A full-blown affair hadn’t been part of the equation. Obviously that’s what he wanted, though.
And so did she, but it wouldn’t be a wise move. In fact, it would be an extremely foolish move. The deeper her involvement, the more likely he’d find out who she was. She didn’t want that to happen.
Instead, she wanted to be the sexy mystery woman who got away. She might still be able to pull that off, but she’d have to keep her wits about her. No more of those high-octane kisses. And this would be their one and only date.
By the time she’d reached that conclusion, Sam had opened the door to the Cactus Club. A warm-up band had already taken the stage and the air vibrated with the sound of drums and acoustic guitars.
Kasey dug into her small purse and pulled out her fake ID. Showing it always made her nervous, but tonight provided a double dose of angst. Nothing could be more embarrassing than getting busted in front of Sam. Fortunately the interior was dim, the guy checking ID knew Sam, and there was no special scrutiny of her card.
“Colin’s saved you a table up front,” the guy said, leaning close to be heard above the music. “He also said the first round’s on him.”
“We’ll see about that,” Sam said with a smile. Then he guided Kasey to an empty table right next to the crowded dance floor.
Once there, he held her chair and leaned down to speak directly into her ear. “What do you want to drink?”
She turned to answer him and her mouth nearly collided with his. When she pulled back, he caught her chin with his hand.
“Hey, there.” He stayed in close, a gentle smile on his face. “You’re not having a shyness attack, are you?”
Shy was the last word she wanted him to associate with her. “Not in the least.” She smiled back. “But I didn’t want to be the cause of you getting teased, in case your brother’s around.”
“Let me worry about that.” His expression grew warmer
