“This,” he said, leaning toward her slowly as if he was giving her time to move away from him. When she didn’t, his lips lightly brushed against hers. “And this,” he added, running his tongue along the seam of her lips before pulling back once more. “And a lot more of this,” he whispered, wrapping his hand around the nape of her neck and pulling her mouth back to his in a devastating kiss.

One she felt all the way to her toes.

The man kissed with so much unrelenting passion that it stemmed the flow of blood from her heart to her limbs. Her knees buckled, and she drooped in his arms, marveling at his strength as he held her upright. Fire licked beneath her skin, and her body softened against his like warm butter.

But she managed to place one shaky hand on his chest and give him a little push. “Adam,” she whispered, the warning unmistakable in her tone. “I don’t think we should do this.” Huh? What the hell was she doing?

He rested his forehead against hers and sighed. “Maybe not. But it feels so damn…”

“Yeah,” she agreed, licking her lips and blowing out a hard breath. “I know.”

“Then why stop?”

He was adorable and tempting as hell, and she couldn’t help but be susceptible to his charm. “Because I don’t think it’s smart to continue.” Who cares? Do it anyway.

“Why? Didn’t you like it?”

She wasn’t going to lie to him. Or herself any longer. “Yes. I did. More than you know. But you’re my trainer, Adam. You know it’s not a good idea. It’s safer to stop now before one of us regrets anything tomorrow.” Wouldn’t be her, though, that was for sure.

He frowned but nodded. “Okay, if that’s what you want.”

Preslee sighed. Well, that had gone over well. On his part anyway. For her, it wouldn’t have taken much for him to convince her to kiss him again. But she was right about what she said, even if she didn’t want to be. Man, being an adult really sucked at times. But now that she had Adam in her life, she would do anything to keep him there. Including avoiding anything romantic with him.

Adam took a step back, giving her some space. “Tell me something. Why did you assume that I was going to stop training you?”

“I don’t know. Like I said, I just thought you were bailing on me.”

“Yeah, but why?” he asked, his eyes wary. “It seems odd that you would think that about me. Is that what you’re used to—men dropping you for no good reason?”

She shrugged. “It wouldn’t be the first time someone left me.”

“Ex-boyfriends?”