His chuckle rumbles from his mouth to my skin, all the way down my throat. That ache that started at the restaurant intensifies, radiating from my toes to my fingers. When he softly runs his teeth against the sensitive part of my neck that meets my shoulder, every joint in my body turns to goo. Something inside me catches fire. It starts as a slow burn, a simmer, engulfing me from the inside out. If this is what his mouth can do to me when we’re standing fully clothed at his front door, just what am I in for once we get to his bedroom?

“So you don’t want to talk about your parents. What do you want to do instead?” I tease. There’s a foreign rasp when I speak. I sound like I’m doing a Jessica Rabbit impression.

“I want to find out what you look like when you let loose, Nikki,” he says in a whisper-soft growl against my skin. I try my hardest not to howl.

He swoops my hair to the side, kissing the back of my neck. I reach behind me, running my fingers against his scalp, through that delicious mass of thick hair.

“I want to hear how you moan, how you pant and groan when you’re turned on.” He trails his perfect mouth down the back of my neck. “I want to watch how your body trembles when you’re overloaded on pleasure, your mind free of all those everyday worries.”

Everyday worries. Like work, family, future.

“Um . . .” My hands fall away from him, and I turn so we’re facing each other.

A simple, seemingly benign combination of words, but it brings up every stressor from back home that I seem to have forgotten ever since our truce on the plane.

He takes a step back, giving me space. Concern flashes through his gaze when he looks at me now. “If you changed your mind about this, it’s okay. I understand. Really.”

I’m instantly cold at the loss of contact. And that’s when I know: I want him right here, right now. Any and all consequences can go straight to hell.

I shake my head, panicked at the thought that I’ve given him the wrong idea. All those worries from home don’t matter right now. Callum and I have managed to look past all that since leaving Maui. Now, we see who we really are, what we really want. And that’s each other.

“That’s not it at all. I don’t want to leave. It’s just . . .”

It’s just that I don’t know if one night with him will be enough. After all this buildup, all our flirting, this newfound connection between us, I suspect I’m going to want more.