Perfect Strangers

If he pinched one of my nipples right now, I’d climax.

Another throat clearing, this one louder.

Breaking our kiss, James turns his head and glares at the waiter as if he’s going to kill him with his bare hands. He says something low and sharp that makes the waiter’s eyes widen and has him taking a step back. Then the waiter recovers his composure, sticks his nose in the air, and whirls around and leaves.

Reeling, I watch him stalk away. “I hope he’s not off to call the police.”

James presses a kiss against my jaw, another—firm and quick—against my mouth. “If people could get arrested for kissing in public in this country, the police wouldn’t have time to do anything else.”

He takes me with him as he rises, sets me on my feet—steadying me when I wobble—and pulls his wallet out of the back pocket of his jeans. He throws a wad of cash on top of the billfold, then grabs my hand.

I barely have time to pluck my handbag from the back of my chair before I’m following James at a half run toward the front door of the restaurant, pulled along helplessly in his wake like a swimmer caught in a riptide, headed out into dangerous waters as the shoreline swiftly recedes.

Outside on the street, he hails a taxi with a whistle and bundles me inside. As soon as the door is shut and he’s instructed the driver where to go, we’re on each other again, frantic and grasping, as horny and hurried as two teenagers on a curfew, wild for each other, oblivious to everything else.

With a suddenness that’s shattering, he breaks away.

For a moment I’m so surprised, I can’t speak. When I do, my voice is a rasp. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

Collapsing back into the seat on his side of the cab, he holds his arm out between us like a barrier. I’m not sure who he’s protecting, me or himself.

“Wait. Wait.” He swallows, gulping air and sweating, his hand shaking along with the rest of him. “We haven’t talked about—the rules—the terms you wanted—we didn’t go over any of that.”

I’m so bewildered I just stare at him as the city passes by the windows in flashes of light and color. “You want to talk about that right now?”

“I need to know…before we…I need to know what’s off limits. What’s allowed. What might drive you away—”

“Drive me away?” I repeat, growing more and more confused.

He just stares at me, his eyes wild, his chest heaving up and down. He appears as if he’s restraining himself from lunging at me.

His look of raw need is electrifying.

Whatever’s behind this hesitation, I understand instinctively that he won’t go any further with me unless I articulate what I want and don’t want from this situation.

From him.

“Okay. Here it is: don’t ask what happened to make my eyes sad. Don’t ask Edmond any more questions about me, either. No personal questions. No pressure. No strings. In fact, let’s not even exchange last names. Let’s just enjoy this while it lasts before I have to leave.”

He glances at my mouth, moistens his lips, then meets my gaze again. “That’s it?”

“I’m sorry, but that’s what I need to feel comfortable. If you’re not good with that, I completely understand.”

“I’m good with it.” He drags a hand through his hair, exhaling, and drops his arm to his side. “And you never have to apologize to me for being honest. It’s what I want.”

I stare at him for a moment before saying, “You seem relieved. What were you expecting I was going to say?”

His laugh is soft and husky. He shakes his head. “Nothing, it’s just…I haven’t had a woman…I haven’t been with someone in a while…a long time, actually…”

I arch my brows, watching him struggle to find words. Words I can’t believe I’m really hearing.

A man as desirable as he is hasn’t been with a woman in a long time?

Terror seizes me.

There are only a few reasons why a man like him would go without sex for a long time, and none of them are good. Especially the one I’m thinking of.

He catches the look on my face. “What?”

“Um…wow, this is awkward.”

“Just spit it out.”

“Do you…are you…contagious?”

He blinks. “Excuse me?”