So this time, when she met his eyes over the steaming cups, she didn’t bother giving him any long, smoldering looks. Instead, she rose from the leather bar stool and rounded the island to stand on the same side of the counter as him. She was done denying that she wanted him.

Later, she’d figure out how to handle the aftermath of giving in to this attraction. For now, she planned to give herself to the moment. Without hesitation, she levered up on her toes and kissed him.

Gage tried like hell to remind himself that gratitude wasn’t the same thing as passion.

But having Elena’s slender arms twine around his neck, her sweet curves pressed against him and her lips teasing over his, made it damned near impossible to distinguish the difference. For a moment, he allowed himself to breathe in the hint of lavender fragrance on her skin; he wanted to lick every inch of her to find the source. He savored the silken brush of her mouth despite the need to deepen the kiss and tangle his tongue with hers.

All of which meant he was breathing like he’d run a marathon by the time she eased back to study him with her dark eyes.

“You’re holding back on me?” she asked, pursing her lips as she tipped her head sideways to look at him. “After all those seductive words in stolen moments at Jonah’s house?”

This. Woman.

She seemed to have an IV right into his bloodstream and could heat it up at will.

“After the way things ended last time, I think we need to be very, very clear about what we’re getting into before we let passion burn away all of our best intentions.” He ached to touch her. To peel away every last stitch of clothing and run his fingertips over her bare skin.

He wanted to see her shiver with pleasure. Give her goose bumps. Watch her come undone from nothing more than his touch, his breath on her most sensitive places.

“Then I will make what I want very, very clear.” She mimicked his cadence, reaching up to unfasten the clasp that held her long dark hair in an updo. She opened it, the waves tumbling down her back. “I don’t want this night to end any other way but with us in bed, and I trust you, Gage Striker, to make sure that happens.”

Wordless, he could only stare for a moment while she held the jeweled combs between her fingers, then let them fall to the countertop. He hadn’t thought this would happen tonight. But he’d be damned if he would argue when Elena looked at him with fire in her eyes and in her words.

He’d fallen hard for that strength and passion. Seeing it resurrected now shredded any last restraint.

“Count on me,” he vowed to himself more than her.