...Natalie wanted to freeze the moments before their “foreplay” had ended. No man on Earth got her pulse racing the way Doug Carlyle did. He’d had the effect on her since the first time their gazes clicked and they’d clasped hands in a greeting that sent waves of heat racing over her body. In the year since, she’d seen him suited up and dressed down, at work and in play. Everything about the man made her want to scream out, Take me, take me now, take me hard, take me often.

He was the fantasy she’d taken to bed with her as her previous relationship breathed its last gasp. Any guilt she felt over having used her attraction to Doug to try to fix her relationship with Tom had faded long ago. She hadn’t done anything wrong. No one need know what was in her head on those rare moments she and Tom had sex. But Doug might? After all, wasn’t that part of who he was?

If he knew how Natalie felt, he’d never said or acted on it. They’d both been seeing others when they met. She supposed it said a lot about her and Doug that they remained faithful to those relationships to the very end. It said a lot more that neither of them had made a leap for each other since then.

Natalie wondered if he was being polite in not probing her mind. Or if he had read how she felt and wasn’t interested. Neither stopped her from wanting him. He was still her fantasy lover each night. But not knowing either way also made her hesitant to make a move toward him. And yet every second they’d ever worked together, every cup of coffee they’d talked over, was a joy. Hadn’t he brushed his fingers over her arm that last afternoon before he left on vacation?

Tingles had hardened her nipples and dampened her crotch. Just as the memory did now—his smile as he leaned closer over the bistro table, the way his brown eyes gleamed with what she wanted to believe was affection, how he traced his fingers over her knuckles and up her arm saying, “I’ll see you when I get back.”

No wonder her hand had snapped up fast when they needed a volunteer to come up here.

Natalie tucked her arms tighter over her chest, trying to contain the emotions pooling there. More than want for the man brought her here. The instant she’d heard someone was killing all those involved in the Stephen Harcourt conviction, all she’d wanted to do was get to Doug and protect him. It didn’t matter that he was fully capable of protecting himself—in more ways than Natalie could. Somehow, since that pivotal meeting one year ago, she’d fallen hopelessly in love with Doug. No one could protect him more voraciously than she could. Besides, she would have lost her mind with worry if she wasn’t by his side right now.

All this without knowing if her feelings were reciprocated. Why didn’t she simply crawl astride his lap and plaster a big wet one on his lips? She could face down criminals without blinking and yet she couldn’t go after the man she craved. If only he’d given her some sign, other than that heated touch at the coffee house. If only he’d continued the verbal foreplay instead of shifting into work. If only…

Shadow blocked the light behind Natalie’s closed eyes. More clouds moving in. Then she felt warmth edging closer, the shimmer of breath over her face. She peeled her eyes open to Doug’s sparkling brown eyes.

“Yeah…I want you, too.”

He brought his lips to hers, swallowing her gasp. Natalie curled her hand around his neck and twined her tongue with his. He tasted of beer and sunlight, raw man and desire. He kneaded her lips like he was fucking her pussy, with slow deliberation. Liquid warmth seeped into her veins, his kiss as potent as a glass of fine wine. If one kiss had this affect on her, what would it feel like when they were skin to skin and joined?