She was learning Matthew didn’t have it in him to be angry long. His temper would flare when he became angry then quickly went dormant, back under his control. He was the opposite of Owen, who would viciously attack when he became angry and wouldn’t be appeased until whatever had caused his anger lay broken and destroyed.

“We don’t need kids; they just make a mess, according to Greer. Or we can adopt.”

Her hand went to his wrist to remove it from her neck. “We’ve only known each other a few days; I think it’s too soon to discuss children.”

Slowly and methodically, he backed her into a dark corner until her back was against the wall. “You’re the one who brought kids up first. I’m not going to deny it nearly broke me when you said you can’t have children as if it’s no big thing. It is a big thing, and I’m sure, in the future, we’re going to cry about it a lot. I wanted to see your belly swell with my child, hold a baby only we could create, see you nursing our baby. Instead, I will get to see you holding our child, who we will pick out together, and watch as you feed him a bottle. The memories and love we will create don’t depend on whether our child shares our DNA.”

Every word he spoke sparked a fire in the part of her groin that she had assumed no one could make her burn for their touch. The man she had gone out with in her lone attempt to join the dating world had left her passionless and had her wanting to run and wash his taste from her lips.

Her hands were pressed against the wall behind her neck, where she had been trying to remove his. She quit trying now, hers going pliant. There was only one way to find out what she needed to know. Them being soul mates was an impossibility—they didn’t exist—and if they did, soul mates were made for other women, not her. Not a woman who had been born under a gray cloud.

“Kiss me, Matthew.”

Matthew dropped his eyes to her mouth. Alanna could have sworn she saw a flame behind his eyes before he covered her lips with his.

Instantaneous combustion had her knees buckling, and if Matthew’s body weren’t pressed against hers, she would have slipped to the floor. He moved his mouth over hers with the sensuality of man who had been wanting a taste of something inaccessible, and now that it was within his grasp, he was going to linger and savor.