She put up one last doomed attempt at resistance. “So we aren’t...going to put up...topiaries?”
He tipped her face up to his, watching her intently. “That’s what you really want to be doing?”
“Um.” Her gaze faltered. “Well, I mean, no, I don’t, but...I’m just excited about...that is, we should get the—”
“Eva.” His voice was low, husky and achingly gentle. “What are you afraid of?”
“Afraid? Me?” She tried to laugh carelessly. No luck.
“Eva...”
Okay, never mind. She owed this man honesty. “I don’t know.”
“Describe your feelings.”
“Well, one minute all I want to do is drag you behind the counter and have you do everything you’ve ever dreamed of to me.”
He blew out a breath, looking as if he was having to keep himself from doing exactly that. “And the next minute?”
“I want to run as far and fast as I can go.”
“Ever felt this before with anyone?”
She closed her eyes, shook her head minutely, hardly able to breathe. Was she falling in love with him? Could he tell? Would he make some excuse to get away from her, like, Gosh, sorry, Eva, I forgot I’m scheduled right now to blast off for another solar system?
“Hmm, this sounds serious.” He laid his palm on her forehead. “Yup. You’ve come down with a bad case.”
“Oh, no.” She forced a giggle. “I’m afraid to ask what I have.”
“But wait, there’s more.” He touched her hair, done up in an off-center bun and decorated with feathers. “I have it, too.”
Eva stared up at him. Was he saying... No, no, this was too bizarre, he must be teasing. “Is this horrible condition transmitted sexually?”
“It starts that way. Then it spreads emotionally.”
She shuddered comically, her heart still pounding double time, half hoping he’d say exactly what he meant and half hoping, please, for sake of her own peace, that he wouldn’t.
“But the good news—” his arms came around her; he kissed her again “—is that since we both have it, we don’t need to worry.”
“Whew.” She wasn’t so sure. This wasn’t her plan. Not to fall for him like this, so intensely and with such an air of finality. Love for her had always been a fun and delicious game, transient and nonthreatening to her character and her freedom.
He kissed her again, long and lingering, then faster and hotter, until her body temperature rose to match. She’d worry later; she’d cope with this confusing conversation later. Right now they needed nice, clean, uncomplicated sex to put everything back into balance, to get them into familiar simple and primal territory.
She pulled his perfectly ironed light blue shirt out of his perfectly ironed khakis and unbuttoned it impatiently, yanked up his T-shirt to expose his chest and pressed kisses to the smooth skin, inhaling his scent, as always amazed how this very basic exchange of physical information was so arousing. She loved the way he smelled. She loved the texture of his skin, the way it felt, yielding and warm against her mouth. Her fingers found the bulge in his pants and undid his zipper to reach in, hungry for the taste and feel of him everywhere.
He interrupted her, stripping the shirt from her body, unhooking her bra, clearly as anxious for her skin as she’d been for his. They came together breast to chest, and together emitted a sigh of relief—the horrendous separation of the past several hours had finally been ended.
The respite didn’t last long. Soon they were struggling to shed the rest of their clothes, giggling when things didn’t go smoothly—a sock still hanging ridiculously from a toe, balance threatened by standing on one leg, the condom in his pocket needing to be sheepishly retrieved after a macho move of hurling his pants into the back office. She loved that he was able to laugh at the good, bad and ugly, not feel as if sex were a performance, a power play or a bid for ego stroking or attention.
He whispered her name, pulled her tightly to him, devouring her mouth. She moved her hips against him, pleasuring herself and stimulating his already steel-rod erection, savoring the feel of his body tightening, the response of his breath, the deep, soft noises he made, the way he touched and kissed her everywhere.