She could barely breathe.

“He’s got so much to offer, and we need some more cousins in the family.” He let out a long breath. “They never wonder when I’m going to settle.”

“You don’t know what they say when you’re not in the room,” she pointed out.

He gave her a bland look. “I know.”

“You’re younger,” she offered. “You have time.”

“They’ve been talking that way about Kyle since he broke off his engagement. I see how he looks at you, Bell. I see how much my family would welcome you into the fold. It would be perfect.”

“No.” Her heart was kicking against her ribs so hard she thought maybe Sam would hear it. “It wouldn’t be perfect at all,” she said despite the pounding of blood between her ears. “Because I don’t like your brother that way. Not even a little bit, Sam.”

“Why not?” he whispered.

She almost laughed at that question. “Do you really not know?”

He shook his head.

“That’s how I feel about you.” She gathered her hands in front of her as if she needed protection from his response. There was no way she could say more, not without gauging his reaction first. And she was so darn afraid that one sentence was already too much. What if he laughed at her or walked away or, worst of all, felt sorry for her?

What if she’d misread this night or the look in his eyes? Maybe the light from the starry sky had led her astray.

Sam stared at her for so long, she almost started to fidget under the weight of his gaze. Oh, yeah. She’d probably misread it all.

But just as she was about to make a joke of things, he closed the distance between them and pressed his mouth to hers.

CHAPTER SIX

SAM HAD NEVER dreamed of kissing Bella, not in any real way. Yet, at the first brush of his lips across hers, it felt as though she was an answer to a question he’d been asking all of his life.

He deepened the kiss, his tongue sliding along the seam of her mouth. She opened for him, and his knees went weak when she drew closer. His hands sifted through her soft hair and he reveled in the soft moan she made in the back of her throat. Bella might be practical and understated, but she kissed like a woman on a mission.

It was almost too much. His need for her threatened to obliterate every last shred of common sense he possessed.

He’d get back to that common sense part in a second. First, he released her mouth to run a trail of kisses along her jaw and down the graceful column of her throat. His body hummed with satisfaction at the sweetness of her skin and the scent of lemons that enveloped him. She had a tiny beauty mark just above her collarbone, and for the past several months it had tempted him beyond measure every time she wore a shirt with a collar low enough to reveal it.