Angi made a face so disgusted he almost laughed. “Lord, no. The stuff I want to do with you...” Her voice grew husky. “To you...has nothing to do with anyone except us.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m not a sicko.”

He chuckled even as a voice inside his desire-addled brain gave the imperative command to shut the hell up. “I mean, why do you want more than what it will take to keep people convinced that we’re an actual couple?”

Her gaze dropped to her lap. “I just... I like you.”

Well, as declarations of desire went, it was fairly simple, but it made Gabe feel like he’d just won the lottery. He shouldn’t care if Angi Guilardi liked him. He’d gotten over his silly crush on her years ago.

But it mattered. She mattered.

“It would only be for now,” she added quickly. “During our arrangement. I don’t expect... There are no expectations beyond what we’ve already agreed upon. I just thought—”

He leaned in and claimed her mouth, giving some of that frenzied need an outlet for escape before it burned him to ashes. “No more thinking,” he murmured against her lips, and she seemed more than happy to oblige.

There was none of the hesitancy he’d felt from her when they had an audience. She met him stroke for stroke, her elegant fingers raking through his hair and pulling him even closer. Pulling him down as she lowered herself to the sofa.

SHOWING UP AT Gabe’s house might have been the best decision Angi had made in months. Chances were she’d regret it tomorrow morning. But morning seemed like a long, distant, faraway place.

What mattered now was the moment and the way her body was zinging to life with every kiss, every touch of his hands. She needed something to take her mind off all the things weighing on her, and trading those worries for the comforting weight of Gabe’s body over hers was the best way she could think of to achieve just that.

No more thinking.

Just the moment.

He slid one hand up and under her shirt as he trailed kisses along her jaw. To her surprise, Gabe was a talker, and she loved the little murmurs about her beauty and what she made him feel that accompanied his attention to her body.

She trailed her fingers over his broad shoulders and the muscled planes of his back, but it wasn’t enough. The thin fabric of his shirt and her sweater suddenly felt like ten layers of fabric and she wanted more of him. Needed his warmth to heat all her cold, forgotten parts.

As soon as she tugged on the hem of his shirt, he levered himself off her and yanked it over his head. Oh, yes. That was much better. The muscles of his arms bunched as he held himself over her once more. She’d known he was fit and had guessed at his muscled physique, but seeing it with her own eyes made her limbs grow heavy with desire.