He shook his head. “No, Preslee. I want you to be very clear about what you want. Say the words or this stops right here. I don’t want there to be any regrets later. Nor do I ever want you to be uncomfortable with me. You don’t have to do anything that makes you feel awkward. It’s okay to say no. We don’t have to do this. Not yet. We can take things slower. It’s up to you.”

“I want this. But just in case that isn’t enough for you…” Preslee slid the bra off her arms and let it fall to the floor. “How about now? Is this clear enough for you, Adam?”

Holy hell. His heart thumped in his chest. Hard.

“Um, yeah. Loud and clear,” he said, swallowing hard. He tried to be gentlemanly enough not to stare directly at her full, nicely rounded breasts tipped with tight pink nipples. Ones he badly wanted to pinch just so he could hear her gasp. “So beautiful,” he told her, his breath coming faster.

“I want this,” she said, her voice not wavering in the slightest. “I want to spend tonight with you.”

“Thank God,” he ground out. “That would’ve been the longest, coldest shower of my life.”

She smiled up at him. “Same here.”

“Well, before this goes any further, there’s one more thing I need to clear up between us.”

Her brow rose. “Anyone ever tell you that you talk too much?”

He grinned. “Last thing, I promise.”

“Okay.”

Adam stepped into her and ratcheted her up into his arms. Her soft bare breasts flattened against his hard chest, and his mouth hovered a breath away from hers. “I never said anything about this being only for one night.”

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

Preslee swallowed hard, unable to speak.

Not because Adam was touching her in any blatantly sexual way. It was because of what he’d just said. This wasn’t a one-night stand for him.

He clasped a lock of her auburn hair between two fingers and smoothed his thumb over it. This close, she could feel the heat of his body and smell the spicy aroma of his cologne and clean scent of his skin. It stole her breath.

Adam gently drew her toward him and covered her mouth with his. Weakened by lust, she just stood there while he kissed her. Her breasts tightened against him, and her stomach pinged with excitement. She had fantasized about Adam’s hands and mouth on her many times, but this was way better than she’d imagined.

But when his fingers moved down to unbutton her jeans, Preslee sucked her stomach in, and her body went rigid. Adam hadn’t done anything. But that one little move of his had triggered a reaction, an involuntary one that she thought she’d surely gotten past after removing her shirt and her bra.

Apparently she hadn’t. Scaredy-cat.