moving quickly.
Her feet were aching, but she ignored it. She’d go barefoot if she had to. Anything to get out of this part of town.
“Hold tight to the baby,” Max ordered suddenly, slinging the diaper bag up over his shoulder.
She looked up, startled, and the next thing she knew, he’d bent to slide support under her legs and was swinging her up into his arms, baby and all. She squeaked in protest, but he ignored her.
“You’re going to trip in those shoes,” he told her. “I can handle it. Just hold on.”
She held on and somehow, it worked. He cradled them both in a warm, muscular embrace and walked firmly along the wet sidewalk. She clung to the space just above his chest and beneath his chin and closed her eyes, reveling in the sense of his masculine strength. His heart was beating against her shoulder. She let herself fall into a sort of daze, listening to the rhythm and soaking up the whole of him.
He moved quickly, wondering how he’d let himself get into this insane situation. She was light as a feather, despite the added weight of the baby, and she smelled like a garden in sunshine. Strands of her blond hair flew up and tickled his nose, which he found tantalizing rather than annoying. All in all, she was warm and soft and round and he felt like a Neanderthal. He wanted to take her home and keep her—preferably in his bed.
This wasn’t right. She wasn’t meant for him. In fact, he had other fish to fry, and he was late for the barbecue. But she seemed so small and vulnerable in his arms and he couldn’t resist filling his head with her fresh, intoxicating scent.
A few steps more and they were around the corner, and suddenly cars were whizzing past and the streetlights actually lit up the street instead of just muddying the atmosphere.
“Civilization,” Max muttered, lowering Cari to the ground carefully and looking up and down the road. “But still no cabs.”
And more rain. Thunder rolled and the heavens opened up.
“This way, quickly,” he shouted, pulling her and the baby along until he got them under the limited protection of an empty bus stop shelter. They dashed inside and quickly clung together, trying to stay out of the spray, as water poured off the rounded roof of the tiny kiosk, shooting all around them. After the first moment or two, Cari looked up and realized just how close they were standing. Her nose almost touched his chin.
“Oh,” she said, thinking she should pull back. Being this close when she was being carried was one thing, but this was ridiculous.
“No.” Reaching out, he held the two of them against his chest. “You’ll just get wet.”
“But…” She bit her lip, not sure what to say or where to look.
“Don’t worry,” he said, his voice so low she could hardly hear it over the rain. “I don’t bite.”
“Don’t you?” She heard herself say the words and winced, knowing they sounded almost as though she were flirting. She hadn’t meant to do that.
The way his mouth twisted in a half grin let her know he’d heard it that way, too. “I suppose I could be convinced,” he said softly.
She gazed into his dark eyes and somehow couldn’t look anywhere else. The sound of the rain, the momentary isolation, the way they were pressed so closely, all blended together to weave an enchantment around them. He was going to kiss her. She could see it in his eyes. And if she didn’t watch out, she was going to end up kissing him back.
“No,” she murmured, trying to dredge up the strength to resist.
“Yes,” he countered, lowering his lips to hers.
“No,” she said again, shaking her head.
“Why not?” he asked, so close to her.
“The baby…”
“The baby’s asleep. He can’t see a thing.”
“This is all wrong.” Looking up, she searched his eyes. “We’re not even supposed to be on this date.”
“This isn’t a date,” he said, his own eyes deep and smoky with something nameless that set her pulse pounding. “It’s an encounter. A moment in time.” He dropped a quick kiss on her lips. “A bit of magic. You’ll forget all about it by morning.”
“I don’t think so,” she said with a sigh. “You really shouldn’t…”
“But I want to,” he said huskily. “And you taste so good.”
And then he took her mouth with his and kissed her like she’d never been kissed before.
IN THE harsh and revealing sunlight of morning, it all looked a bit fantastical. Cari buried her face in her pillow and wished she’d done a better job pulling together the drapes on her tall windows before she’d gone to sleep. She wasn’t ready to face reality yet. Did last night really happen? Impossible.
The phone rang, but she let the answering machine take it. Her heart thumped as she waited for the voice she knew was coming.
“Cari?”
Yes. It was Max. His deep baritone sent chills all through her system. She drew in a shuddering breath.
“Go away,” she whispered into the empty air.
“Cari? Surely you are there. I wouldn’t bother you so early, but I need a bit of advice. If you could pick up…”
She knew she shouldn’t pick up. In her sleepy, morning state, she imagined herself standing at a fork in the road. Her life could go one way or the other, depending on what she did in the next few moments.
She knew what she should do. She should mark the whole experience from the night before as lessons learned and move on. She had to ignore him. Go back to real life and not fool around with fairy-tale princes who came breezing in from Italy with a knowing smile and a boatload of hunkiness. She shouldn’t pick up. She knew better. She wasn’t going to do it.
“Cari? Please?”
She writhed beneath her covers. Don’t do it, Cari!
“Cari, it’s about the baby.”
The baby? Well, if it was about the baby…
“Cari?”
With a sigh she reached out and picked up.
“Hello,” she said somewhat mournfully.
“Buongiorno,” he responded.
There was a long pause while neither of them said anything. Cari wondered if he was as hesitant about this as she was. After all, last night it had been assumed they would probably never see each other again. Hadn’t it?
He’d kissed her and she’d swooned.
