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"This doesn't settle anything," he whispered, his breath h he didn't possess the strength to refuse her anything

"You're right," she whispered, "but it sure as hell helps" With that she directed his et back I left Kelly at the neighbor's," Royce whispered close to Catherine's ear They were snuggled up in the front seat of Royce's car, her back against his chest with Royce's arms draped around her They'd spent the last hour just this way, savoring these stolenit would be before they'd have the chance to hold each other again

"I need to get back, too," Catherine admitted reluctantly, but neither of theested, while spreading nibbling kisses down the side of her ivory neck, pausing now and again to swirl the ue around her earlobe

"You wanted a single kiss a half hour ago," she re I knowbecause you can't find the zipper in my pants"

"That was your fault"

"Mine?" Catherine was indignant He'd been all over her They'd been all over each other, so hungry with need it was a gnawing ache in the pit of her stoearshift,

Catherine was convinced they'd have made love several times over by now

"Yes, your fault," Royce repeated huskily "If you didn't have such beautiful, teainst the undersides of her fullness His hands were close enough to reignite the achy, hollow feeling within her Her breath escaped in a trickle as his thureed softly "Just one kiss" She arched her back and strained upward until her hly, reeling her senses into oblivion As his mouth worked over hers, his hands roved under her sweater after what see delay Catherine ue breached the barrier of her lips, probing, prohted fullness of her breasts, kneading the heated fleah

Soon Catherine was panting with pri up the s again," she told hihs asthe car s It was becoly difficult to rein in their desires, and each tiether, it becale Catherine had never felt

"The s are the least of our probleers through his hair and arched upwards, loving him so ht, but his knee slaearshift He cursed under his breath and rubbed the injured part of his leg "I' too old for this," he complained

"We're both too old for this"

"I'ree" His hands were at the band of her wool slacks His touch arainst the underside of her chin, were decidedly hot A fluttery sensation rippled over her skin as he slipped the button at the side of her hip free and eased the zipper doard The sound buzzed in the close confines of the car like a roaring chain saw Catherine's heart was pounding just as loudly

Royce was convinced there was a limit to how much sexual frustration one ht before with Catherine in the front seat of his car The front seat of his car The thought was a sobering one A e of thirty-seven shouldn't be atteically wrong with that

Only the physical restrictions had prevented hi Catherine If he'd possessed any talent as a contortionist he e of atte acrobatics

Royce, however, proain Never Noas well Everything, he'd predicted about his and Catherine's relationship was co he'd feared They were alreadyin out-of-the-way places The sad fact was, Royce kneouldn't be able to handle any more sessions like the one they'd recently shared

The next step was the hotel rooht before He'd been so incredibly hot for Catherine, he hadn't given a thought to propriety If the circumstances had been somewhat different he would have driven Catherine to the nearest hotel and damned the consequences He'd needed her, had wanted her that desperately

He hadn't, of course, and consequently he'd been trying to forget about his unspent passion for the past twelve hours, with little success

Once they'd gotten past the physical aspect of their need, or as near to satisfying it as was possible, they'd held each other for another hour and talked

Royce was amazed that they could find sothat was on both theirto do?

Royce didn't know Catherine apparently didn't, either

Sitting back from his desk, Royce rolled a pen between his palms as he pondered the situation between him and Catherine for the hundredth tione home for the day, which was just as well Catherine was due back from a court session anytime Royce had left word for her to come directly to his office

He was anxious to see her When the hell wasn't he anxious to see her, he asked himself caustically

It was her eyes, he decided She had the darkest, most expressive eyes of any woman he'd ever met They istful eyes, that clearly spelled out her thoughts

And, if he could read her thoughts, then surely everyone else could, too

Hoere they supposed to coht fists of frustration He wasn't any closer to finding a solution now than he had been weeks earlier when the problem first presented itself

Catherine's eyes were also the most provocative ones he'd ever encountered She'd look up and smile at him, that secret, sexy smile, and then her eyes would ered for in a single look Apparently she found her own thoughts e because she'd start to blush and her eyelashes would flutter and she'd quickly glance away It was all Royce could do not toto be grateful for, Royce realized, it was that she'd yet to give him that look while in the office

The polite knock at his door cut into Royce's thoughts He recognized the short, abrupt rap as Catherine's

"Come in," he called out