Hunger. Devotion. Rightness.

It went on and on. A few minutes. Then more. And more.

She couldn’t get enough of exploring his contours and textures. The ridge of his spine. The layers and feel of his hair. She kissed her way along his jaw. She inhaled his leather-and-soap scent. She listened to his sawing breath.

The intuition of belonging swamped her. She’d said to him that they fit, and they did.

When he lifted her off the ground in a fluid motion, she broke the kiss to lock an elbow behind his neck. “Don’t stop.”

“I’m not stopping.” He bent his head, and they continued kissing as he walked.

Why was he moving them to a different location? The bemused question sailed through her fuzzy, wildly infatuated brain like a butterfly. “Are you . . . taking me to my bedroom?”

“Yes.”

She giggled. “You can’t take me to my bedroom.”

“Kitchen table?”

She grinned at him. “You can’t take me to a bed or a kitchen table.”

His motion stopped. Luke, with her finger tracks mussing his hair, was officially the most gorgeous thing she’d ever seen. Which was saying something because she’d seen thousands of puppies.

“I’m not having sex with you tonight,” she explained. “In fact, I’ve never had sex with anybody.”

She remained suspended in his arms. “You’ve never had sex?” he asked.

“No.”

“Never?”

“Never.”

“Were you and Chase waiting until after marriage?”

“Yes. And that’s still my plan.”

He surveyed her with grave consternation.

“I know it’s countercultural,” she said. “So much so that most people view me as hopelessly strange. But I don’t care.”

A lopsided smile slowly overtook his mouth. “Could we elope tonight?”

“Tempting! Maybe they have a twenty-four-hour wedding chapel in Atlanta, complete with a faux stained-glass window and pink carpet.”

“I lived in Atlanta for years. I’m pretty sure they don’t have anything like that.”

“Crying shame.”

Carefully, he set her feet on the floor.

They faced each other across a space of inches that sang with heat. He hadn’t tried to persuade her to sleep with him. He’d respected her stance, even though it was different than his own.

“Despite the fact that our plans for elopement are probably foiled,” she said, “you’re welcome to stay longer.”

“I want to stay so much that I need to go.”

She absorbed that, taking a snapshot of him in her mind so that she could go back and revisit it for all her days. “I get it.” She gave him a kiss as light as silk. “Good night, Luke.”

“Good night.”

By force of will, she separated from him, then watched his broad back as he crossed to the front door. Quietly, he closed it behind him.

In a trance of swooniness, she locked the door, then walked onto her back deck. The night wind cooled her overheated cheeks and raked through her hair.