her thoughts. “And to be clear, you went to Tulum to have sex with someone you didn’t know for the purpose of having a child.”
He waited for her to deny him. Her expression gave her away.
“Avery hated the idea.”
He smiled. “I always knew I liked her.”
Some of the stress, anxiety, or whatever it was on Shannon’s face faded with his comment. “It didn’t happen.”
“You met me.”
“And we didn’t have sex.”
“We could have,” he said. “You didn’t let us.” Because he wasn’t a stranger. Because he brought something to her life that made her revise her plan. The more he thought about what her motivation was for not having sex with him, the bigger his smile became.
“You do realize that all of my friends would have advised me to not have this conversation with you.”
Victor stepped forward, brushed a hair from her face, and tucked it behind her ear.
She sucked in a breath.
Such a simple touch, and yet she responded in a way that few did. “And what are your thoughts on this conversation?” he asked.
Her gaze met his and paused. “It’s liberating, I suppose. Honesty. I’m not used to it.”
“Paul wasn’t honest with you,” he deducted.
Her gaze lowered. “I wasn’t honest with him.”
That, he wasn’t expecting.
He lifted her chin. “One day, I want you to tell me what you weren’t honest with him about.” Victor stepped closer. “But today, I want to relish in the fact that you are honest with me.” And he lowered his lips to hers.
She was timid, maybe a little shocked . . . but she didn’t move away.
Victor closed his eyes and pulled in her scent as he drew her close. Her full lips parted. For air? Invitation? He didn’t know, but he took advantage of the opening and deepened their kiss. He tasted coffee and mint and Shannon. His mornings would never be the same after such an intoxicating combination.
The timid tip of her tongue met his and shot all the blood from his head south to his groin. Shannon reached around his waist. He felt her nails through the fabric of his shirt. He stepped closer, pulled her body flush with his. The outline of his erection pressed against the softness of her belly and wept to be closer.
He fanned his fingers through her hair, tilted her head back, and worshiped her with open-mouth kisses that left her gasping.
“This . . . this . . .”
He kissed her words away and finally moved to her jaw and the lobe of her delicate ear.
“Oh, Victor.”
Her pelvis pushed against him, so he nibbled her ear again.
She responded with a soft moan.
He wanted this woman more than he needed his next breath. “Let me make love to you,” he whispered.
Tight fingers spread against his back as he kissed the column of her neck. “The risk . . .”
He’d take the risk. But he told her what she needed to hear. “There are more ways to make love to you without taking risks.” He reached for the belt of the robe and gave it one tug.
Her eyes, half open with desire, met his. He could see her weighing her choices and questioned her resolve as she took a small step back. Shannon reached for the sides of the bathrobe and slowly pulled it off her shoulders.
Victor smiled, his body firing in all directions, praising the prize he was about to receive.
“This is a bad idea,” she said as the robe slid to the floor.
His T-shirt hung on her, filled out in all the right places, and stopped at the tops of her thighs. Long legs, legs he wanted to worship with his tongue, reached to her painted, bare toes. “A really good bad idea,” he countered.
Victor reached for her hand and drew her down the hall to the room where she’d spent the night.
He turned her into his arms the moment they crossed the threshold and kissed away any doubt she had.
Something inside of her clicked. He didn’t hear it, but he sensed it. Her lips traveled over his with renewed energy and need. Her hands roamed the span of his back and down over his ass.
His cock jumped in his pants. If he didn’t get control now, he would embarrass himself before she could take him in her hand, her mouth. And that was how he was going to make love to her. With kisses and strokes of his tongue. It was as if the thought evoked some kind of pheromone from her skin, because it