“If you keep doing that, I will.” She felt him smile against her hair. “I’m sorry to be such poor company,” she said, uttering the words through a loud yawn.

“You’re not.”

She half lifted her head. “I don’t know what it is, but every time I’m around you all I do is sleep.”

“I often have that effect on women,” Sam said, and chuckled. The rich sound of his amusement echoed around the room. He was thinking of going to bed, too, but not in the same sense she was. Holding her close was a tough temptation to handle.

She tried unsuccessfully to stifle another yawn. “Believe me, I know how women react to you.”

“I’d better get you home, Kitten.”

“Kitten?” No one had ever called her anything but her name, at least not to her face.

“You remind me of one,” he explained softly. “You’re all soft and cuddly.”

“I have claws.”

Again he smiled. “Now, that’s something I can personally attest to.”

Marjorie was smiling when she unfolded her legs from beneath her and stood. She collected her jacket and purse, and paused in the entryway. “It seems I’m always in your debt.”

Sam’s brow furrowed as he rose. “How’s that?”

“First you rescue me from the jaws of death…”

“That’s a slight exaggeration.”

“Then you buy a car from me…”

“One I intended to purchase anyway.”

“Next you feed me.”

There was a lot more Sam was interested in doing for her, and if she didn’t hurry up and leave, he was going to have more problems refusing her.

“Thank you, Sam, once again.”

“Thank you.”

They paused in front of the door, and Sam turned her in his arms. His hands locked at the small of her back, pulling her closer against the solid wall of his chest. His hips and thighs pressed against hers, and still they weren’t close enough.

Marjorie had no intention of refusing his kiss, not when she craved it herself. His mouth closed possessively over hers, searing his name onto her heart. Again and again he kissed her with a fierce tenderness, shaping and fitting her lips with his own.

Sam’s arms circled her protectively while his tongue explored the soft recesses of her mouth until she shook with a sensation she had never known.

“Sam…”

“Kitten,” he murmured.

Wildly consuming kisses followed, and Marjorie felt as though she were on fire. Never had she felt so willing, so sensuous. There’d been little time for puppy love when she was young. Later, the men she’d dated had resented her streak of independence. When it came to lovemaking and men, she was shockingly innocent. The sensations Sam had awakened in her had been dormant far too long. Now that she’d discovered love, she wasn’t going to let go lightly.