“Red.” This was a low groan. He let out another when she licked him. “Don’t.” His arms tightened on her in direct opposition to his words. “God, don’t. I can’t resist you. It’s like every bad diet out there, I’m good for a day or two and then I have this terrible, clawing craving that I can’t escape from.”

“So let’s satisfy the craving.”

“I can’t do this, Red. I can’t make love to you and then get out of your bed and go home to my cold one. I hate connecting with you like I do, and then waking alone.”

“Then don’t go home. Wake up here, with me.”

He fisted his hand in her hair and pulled her head back so he could see her face. His eyes were dark, his body tense.

“Don’t go home tonight,” she said again. “This morning. Whatever it is. Stay with me.”

He cupped her jaw, ran his thumb over her lower lip. “Why?”

Leap. If her mother had done it, she sure as hell could at least try. “Maybe I want to try it on for size.”

“Try what?”

“You.” She smiled shakily. “Look, probably you’ve already realized, I’m a little slow at this stuff.”

“No,” he said wryly. “Really?”

She rolled her eyes. “I want you to be happy. I want to be the one to make you happy, but I have to go at my own pace, I just do. I can’t speed that up, Joe. Not even for you.”

He closed his eyes, then opened them again, and they were filled with things that caught her breath. He grabbed a crutch and stood up, reaching for her. “A bed this time,” he said. “Your bed.”

“Yes.” Turning, she put her shoulder beneath his, acting as his crutch for that side, and led him to her bedroom. The sky had just barely begun to change, lighten. A new day.

Sunbeams slanted in through the shades, creating bands of light over her bed and the soft sheets and blanket there. He sat on them and drew her between his legs. “I like your pj’s.”

They consisted of an oversized white T-shirt and boxers. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged his face to her middle, rubbing his jaw against her belly in a sweet, loving gesture that had her throat tightening.

She tossed his cap aside and sank her fingers into his hair. He took his hands on a leisurely cruise down her spine, over the backs of her thighs, then her calves. Given how hot and explosive their past encounters had all been, she’d have expected him to dive in. Wanted him to dive in.