Jaimie: Fire and Ice (The Wilde Sisters 2)

“It was a special night.” His tone softened. “Even a world-class cynic like me knew that, though I’d sooner have eaten a bucket of nails than admit it.” He saw her expression softening; he smiled, tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you, honey. You’ve been with me 24/7, and if you think that’s an easy thing to admit to a woman who dumped me…”

“I did not dump you.”

Her voice was stronger, and her eyes met his without flinching. He smiled again.

“No?”

“No.”

“Dear Mr. Castelianos,” he said. “Thank you for everything…”

Her face reddened.

“I—I didn’t know what else to say.”

“You could have awakened in my arms and said, ‘Good morning, Zacharias. I’d like us to make love again.’”

She sank her teeth lightly into the tender flesh of her bottom lip. God, he wanted to kiss that tiny wound.

“I—I wasn’t myself that night.”

“I think you were. I think that was the real you. The real you and the real me. He slid his hands into her hair and tilted her face up to his. “And I think you were afraid of what I made you feel.”

“I’ve never been afraid of anything in my life!”

“Feelings,” he said softly. “That’s what you’re afraid of. And I understand that because it’s been the same with me.”

He spoke before he could stop the words. What he’d just told her was more than he’d ever told anyone in his entire life, including himself. If she laughed, if she scoffed…

But she didn’t.

Her eyes grew bright with unshed tears.

“I’m not,” she whispered, “really, I’m not…” She made a sound nobody would ever call a laugh. “Two bastions of logic. Pathetic, don’t you think?”

“Amazing, is what I think. That we’re wasting all this time, talking, when we could be in bed, making love.”

Her eyes searched his. An eternity seemed to pass. Then, she sighed.

“You are a very wise man, Mr. Castelianos.”

Zach swung her into his embrace. She put her arms around his neck and kissed his throat.

“Down the hall,” she murmured, “and to the right.”

He hadn’t needed her instructions; he knew where the bedroom was. The realization made him feel as if a small chunk of ice had lodged itself in the pit of his stomach.

He was going to have to be careful.

Or maybe—maybe he was going to have to tell her the truth.

“Zacharias?”

Her voice was soft and tender. Zach kissed her as he set her slowly on her feet beside the bed.

“What, honey?”

“I thought you would never come for me,” she whispered, and he knew then that the truth could wait if he didn’t want to risk destroying whatever it was that they’d found.