“Like dating Mitch.”

“Doctor Mitch,” she corrected. “She met him at some fundraiser and insisted I attend the next one with her. Then I was out on a date with him without being sure how it happened.” She still couldn’t remember if it had been Mitch’s idea to take her out or her mother’s. “He was charming and smart. Totally handsome.”

“Oh, please. Tell me more,” he said with the the least amount of enthusiasm, which had her snickering.

“Don’t worry. His personality offset all the good stuff he had going for him. He was nice at first. But when we started dating, after I moved in with him, I realized our lives would always be centered around Mitch and Mitch’s needs.” She paused in thought and added, “I should have seen it so much sooner.”

“Oh?”

“He was nowhere near your skills.”

“My skills?”

She gave a sly grin. “In the bedroom.”

Xavier tripped and hurried to right himself.

“That crack in the sidewalk get you?”

“You can’t just say stuff like that without a little warning.” Xavier’s warm smile made her heart flutter. “Although if you want, you can—you should—say it again.”

“He sucked in bed.”

“Again.”

She laughed, pleased when he laughed with her.

He stopped her in front of someone’s showstopper of a garden just as the moon speared through the clouds, illuminating them as if on stage. “Beautiful.”

“Seriously. Are those poppies?”

“Not the flowers, doofus. I meant you.”

CHAPTER 23

In retrospect, “doofus” probably wasn’t the most romantic name Xavier could have called Justine, but a heavy wave of lust and affection blindsided him, making it difficult to do anything but stare.

The moonlight cast a glow over Justine’s already pretty features, and as she glanced up at him, the moon reflected in her eyes. Her smile lit as if from within, and he thought he’d never seen a more gorgeous woman in all his life.

He leaned down to kiss her just as she reached to pull him down toward her.

Unlike the other kisses they’d shared, this felt more intimate, filled with a heady warmth under all the passion that convinced him they were more than just friends. A pair of people so in tune with each other that they would be crazy not to seek more.

He slowly pulled back, his entire body alive with excitement, lust, and lo—a healthy dose of like. “Wow.”

“No kidding.” She blinked up at him and caressed his chin. “Your beard is so soft, not scratchy at all.”

“I condition it. Yes, I’m vain like that.”

She smiled.

“Justine, I like you.”

“I like you too.”

He needed the words that refused to come. “I like you a lot. A lot-lot.”

“I get that sense, yes.” She squirmed in his hold, obviously feeling the erection pushing through his jeans into her.

“I—” He’d said she should set the pace of their relationship, and yet it was all he could do to hold in his new feelings. This excitement might be due to their newness or to the explosive chemistry they shared. But he’d never been so bowled over by any other woman and had no idea how to classify them as a unit. Friends? Lovers? Something more?