His face went flush with embarrassment.
"Hot Bottom?" Talon asked. "This I've got to hear."
"Oh yeah," Kyrian added.
"We need to be going," Julian said, pushing Kyrian toward the door.
"Oh, like hell," Kyrian said. "Not until I hear this."
"Nice seeing you again, Sunshine," Julian said, shoving Kyrian out the door.
"Don't worry, Kyrian," Talon called. "I'll be sure to give you the full details."
Sunshine set the bag of clothes on her counter as the door slammed shut. "I guess you won't be needing these after all."
"Sorry." He leaned against the counter and watched her. "So, tell me how you met Julian."
She shrugged. "I sell my artwork at Jackson Square and I have a booth space next to Selena. A couple of years ago, she brought this bodacious guy to work with her wearing a tight tank top and shorts. Julian had really long hair back then. Anyway, there was this huge crowd of women who had gathered around to watch him. Selena thought it was a disaster, but I made so much money selling sketches of him that I didn't care."
Talon frowned as a very peculiar wave of jealousy went through him. And before he could stop himself, he asked, "Did you keep any of the sketches?"
"I only had one left, and I gave it to Grace about a year ago."
More relieved than he cared to admit, Talon watched her watch him. Her gaze traced the curve of his lips, the line of his jaw, and it made him ache to possess her, to kiss her lips one more time.
"You know, you are really handsome when you smile."
"Am I?" he asked, taking a strange amount of satisfaction from that.
"Yes, you are."
Sunshine swallowed as she realized there was no more reason for him to stay. Not that she should care; she needed to get back to her work. And yet at the same time she didn't want him to leave. "I guess you'll be going now that you're all dressed."
He looked askance at the sunlight. "I'm afraid I can't leave until the sun goes down."
"Oh." Sunshine tried to stifle the giddiness inside her.
He cleared his throat. "If you have things you need to do..."
"Oh no," she said quickly, then paused. "I mean, I... um... it would be rude, very rude, to leave you here alone. Especially since I don't have a TV or anything else for you to do." She licked her lips. "Well, since you can't leave, what would you like to do for the rest of the afternoon?"
"Honestly?"
"Yes."
"I'd like nothing better than to make love to you."
Sunshine pulled back, startled by Talon's frankness. But more than that, she was stunned by how much she she wanted the same thing from him, a man she barely knew at all. And yet there was no denying how much she wanted to make love to him.
How much she ached to caress every inch of that divinely powerful masculine body.
Her lust didn't seem wrong to her. It seemed oddly right and only natural. In a strange way it felt as if she did know him. As if they were supposed to be much more intimate than just strangers who had collided by happenstance out on a dark street.
She wanted him on a level she didn't comprehend.
"You don't beat around the bush, do you?" she asked flippantly.
"No," he said, his jet-black eyes burning her with their heated potency. "I don't."