“Before I commit to anything, I want you to agree to something,” she said.
He lifted a dark brow. “Agree to what?”
“Agree that you won’t try to get me into your bed.”
He smiled. “My bed?”
“Or any bed in this house.” She thought it best to clarify. “And to be more specific, I want your word that you won’t try to seduce me into bed with you.”
He laughed softly and held her gaze for a long moment. “Define seduce,” he said.
Alyssa was aware that he was toying with her, but she was more determined than ever to make sure he understood her position. “You’re a man, Clint. You know very well what seduction entails,” she said.
His smile deepened. “And you think I’d do something like that?”
She didn’t hesitate in answering. “Yes. I’m certain of it. In less than twenty-four hours we’ve kissed twice, which leads me to believe you would try seducing me.”
He stared at her for a moment, eyed her reflectively and then said, “You’re right. I would in a heartbeat.” And then he asked, “And we’ve kissed twice, you say?”
Like he didn’t know it. “Yes,” she said, now very annoyed.
“Want to go for three?” he murmured in a voice that was so husky that it sent shivers through her body.
She eyed him sternly. “I’m serious, Clint.”
“So am I.”
She stared into his deep, penetrating gaze. Yes, he was serious. He was dead serious. The very thought that he wanted to kiss her again, tangle his tongue with hers and taste her, made the breath she was breathing get caught in her throat. Had he just admitted that he enjoyed kissing her? Well, she could admit that she enjoyed kissing him, as well. There was something devastatingly mind-blowing about the feel of him thrusting his tongue deep into her mouth, moving it around, latching on to hers and...
“Anything else you want from me?”
She shot him a cool look. “Maybe I’d better add kissing to the mix. I think it’s a good idea if we refrain from doing it,” she said.
“That can’t happen,” he said. She noticed that his lips curved into an easy smile.
His response had been quick and decisive. Alyssa tried remaining calm. She felt a rush of blood that gushed through her veins. “Why can’t it happen?”
“Because we enjoy kissing too much. The best thing to do is to stay in control when we do kiss. Personally, I don’t see anything wrong with us kissing. It’s merely a friendly form of greeting,” he said.
Yeah. Right. It was a form of greeting that she could do without. Especially because kissing Clint Westmoreland made her want to indulge in other things. Things that were better left alone.
“Like I said, Alyssa,” he said, interrupting her thoughts. “The key is self-control. As much as I want you and as much as kissing you places temptation in my path, I promise I won’t take our attraction to the next level. I have too much work to do around here to get involved with a woman—in any way,” he said.
She admired his iron-clad control...if he really had it. He sounded so confident, so sure of himself, she would love to test his endurance level to see what it could or could not withstand.
“But I have to admit you bring something to the table a lot of women haven’t,” he said.
She glanced over at him and her pulse jumped at the way he was looking at her.
“And what might that be?” she asked softly.
“Although it’s only on paper, you’re my wife. Perhaps it is because I’ve seen things from a male perspective, but it’s as if knowing you’re bound to me is opening up desires and urges that I usually don’t have. The fact that we are married makes me crave things.”
She frowned. In other words, having a woman under his roof was making him horny, Alyssa quickly surmised. “Then I need to add another condition to my visit. That from a female perspective, whatever desires are opening up for you, I suggest that you take your time and close them. I may not have all the self-control you claim to have, but I have no interest in getting involved with a man—in any way. Besides, if I were to get involved with a man it would have to be serious. I’m not into casual relationships where the only goal is relieving sexual frustrations,” she said.
He was silent for a moment as he stared at her, and for a fraction of a second she thought she saw a challenging glint in his gaze. And then he said, “I won’t try getting you into my bed...or yours...but I won’t promise to keep my mouth to myself. I can’t see us denying ourselves that one bit of indulgence.”
“Why? When it won’t lead anywhere?”
He inclined his head. His gaze locked with hers. “I desire you. Kissing you is a way to work you out of my system. I believe the same could be said for you, as well. At the end of the thirty days I suspect you will be ready to leave as much as I’ll be ready for you to leave,” he said.
Alyssa held his gaze and read what she saw in his eyes. He really believed that and she would go even further to say he was counting on it.
“Because we would have kissed each other out of our systems by then?” she asked, needing to be sure she understood his logic in all of this.
“Yes,” he replied evenly.
“And you think you’re that elusive and wild at heart.”
He lifted a brow. “Wild at heart?”
“Yes. You don’t think there’s a woman who exists who’s capable of capturing your heart,” she said.
“I know there’s not.”
He had said the words with such venom that she was forced to ask. “Have you ever been in love, Clint?”
She could tell by the look that appeared in his eyes that her question surprised him. She saw the way his shoulders tightened, the firm grip he held on his coffee cup and knew she had waded into turbulent waters.
For a while she thought he wasn’t going to respond, but then he did.
“No,” he said.
For some reason she didn’t believe him. Not that she thought he was lying to her, but she figured that the love he might have had for someone had been so effectively destroyed that it was hard to recall when that emotion had ever gripped his heart. It had been that way for her after she’d discovered what Kevin had done. It was as if her love had gotten obliterated with that one single act of unfaithfulness. She couldn’t help wondering about the woman who had crushed Clint’s heart.
“Are you satisfied with our agreement?”
Alyssa dragged in a deep breath. The issue of them kissing hadn’t been fully resolved to her liking, but the way she saw it, he was not a man to force himself on anyone. If she resisted his kisses enough times, he
