He blinked and gazed down into her upturned face. Before he could question himself, he scooped his hand through her silky hair to circle the back of her neck. With his gaze fixed on her turbulent sea green eyes, he reclaimed her mouth, lingering this time, savoring, remembering.

He felt her hands on his chest, tentative at first, then more certain as she slid them up to his shoulders and clung. Her body fit itself neatly, automatically, into his, the movement as natural as breathing and far, far more exciting.

Cody couldn’t believe he had ever walked away from this. He couldn’t imagine how he had lived without the sweetness of her kisses or the heat of her body pressed against his. The swirl of sensations was overpowering, demanding...and totally inappropriate for a sidewalk in plain view, he realized as a passing car honked and the teenage driver shouted out encouragement.

Melissa backed away as if she’d been burned. Her face was flaming with embarrassment. A warning flashed in her eyes, turning them the shade of soft jade in sunlight.

“That can’t happen again,” she stated emphatically.

“It can and it will,” Cody said with just as much certainty. “Count on it.”

Alarm flared in her expression. “No, Cody, this isn’t about you and me anymore.”

“Sure it is, darlin’. It always was.”

“No!” She practically shouted it, as if volume might make her edict clearer. “You and I are over. You saw to that.”

Cody dropped his own voice to a seductive growl. “We’ll see,” he taunted.

“Dammit, Cody, do you or do you not want to see your daughter?”

“Of course I do,” he said, amused that she seemed to think the two concepts were diametrically opposed. “Meeting Sharon Lynn has absolutely nothing to do with my intentions toward you.”

“Yes, it does,” she said stubbornly.

“You’re not keeping me from my daughter,” he responded emphatically. “And you’re not going to put up much resistance, once I set my mind to winning you back.”

A scowl darkened her face. “You are the most arrogant, most infuriating man on the face of the earth. It’s too late, Cody. You couldn’t win me back if you courted me from now till we’re both tottering around in orthopedic shoes.”

A grin tugged at his lips. “Is that a challenge?”

“That’s a guarantee.”

Chuckling at her sincere conviction that she could win a test of wills with him, he took her hand and headed for the house.

“You don’t have a chance, sweet pea,” he told her solemnly as he ushered her inside, where Velma was waiting, her gaze wary. He lowered his voice to taunt one last time, “You don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell.”

Melissa never responded because her mother spoke up just then.

“You brought him,” Velma said, her tone accusing.