Kim lay on her back against her pillows, staring blindly at the bedroom ceiling and wondering if her breathing would ever return to a slow, steady pace. She’d already given up on her heart rate returning to normal. But she didn’t want to think about her heart at that moment.
She distracted herself by glancing sideways. Her eyes had long since adjusted to the dim light seeping through the curtains, so she could see Tate clearly enough as he lay beside her, his own breathing still ragged in the otherwise quiet room.
She held the top sheet loosely over her breasts, but Tate had tossed it aside. For consideration of her budget durin
g these hot summer months, she kept the central air-conditioning set just cool enough to be comfortable. The fine sheet of sweat glistening on Tate’s chest was an indication of how energetic they had been. She could feel a thin film of dampness on her own skin.
She wasn’t sure how she should be feeling just then. She wouldn’t say she regretted her decision, exactly. She didn’t believe in living with regrets. She did, however, try not to make the same mistakes more than once. Giving in to her attraction to Tate could be filed under the mistake category.
Which did not mean that the attraction had passed. Just lying there looking at him made her pulse jump again. At this rate, her vital signs would never return to normal.
He turned his head to smile at her. “Would it be uncool of me to say Wow?”
She couldn’t help but smile. “Yes.”
“Oh. Then consider it unsaid. I’m trying to be cool here.”
Rolling onto her side, she curled her right arm beneath her head, resting her cheek on her hand. “I think that’s a lost cause.”
Turning to face her, he chuckled. “You don’t think I’m cool?”
“I think you’re a very nice guy.”
She wasn’t sure why that compliment made him wince. “Ouch.”
“Nice guy is an insult?”
“Nice guy is a pal. A dude who’s steady and reliable and as exciting as boiled oatmeal.”
She was laughing before he finished his descriptive litany. How could he make her laugh even now, after just turning her world on end?
“You are not boiled oatmeal. But you are still a nice guy. I think you knew my ego and my disposition took a beating this weekend, and you made me feel much better. Thank you for that.”
Tate sighed lightly. “If you’re actually thanking me for making love with you, then save your breath. There was nothing altruistic about it. I’ve been attracted to you since the day Lynette introduced us, and spending this time with you just made that even clearer to me.
“I know you aren’t looking for anything serious,” he added quickly, before she could speak. “And you know I haven’t been, either, at this point in my life. But I wasn’t able to resist acting quite selfishly on that attraction just this once.”
He seemed to have chosen just the right words to put her even more at ease. He’d somehow managed to soothe her bruised ego even further with his compliments, yet reassure her at the same time that he expected nothing more from her than this.
She met his gaze frankly. “I don’t want things to be awkward between us now. I know better than to say we should just forget this ever happened—I doubt that either of us will completely forget—but I hope we can still be comfortable during our lunch gatherings.”
“I see no reason why we can’t. If we managed to convince your entire family we’re married, I don’t see why we can’t act as though nothing at all has changed between us in front of our friends and my sister.”
Though he was teasing, she nodded thoughtfully. “I suppose you’re right.”
“Haven’t you figured out by now that I’m always right?”
Lightly, she punched his arm. “You’re always full of hot air, you mean.”
Catching her hand, he brushed a kiss across her knuckles. “You wound me with your callous words.”
She laughed, feeling as though he’d just made her point.
He was grinning when he pressed his lips to hers. Their smiles soon faded into another long, deep kiss.
Kim learned somewhat to her dismay that her reactions to Tate’s kisses had not lessened in the least. Nor had her hunger for him abated, even as sated as she had felt only minutes earlier.
After kissing her until she was a limp puddle on the sheet, Tate caught her earlobe lightly between his teeth before murmuring into her ear. “When you said just this one time, you meant this one night, right?”