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"I want you, Lauren," he said, not allowing hiht read his actions when he confessed all to her There were only the consequences of doing nothing, and those, he simply couldn’t live with He stepped forward, closed the distance between them He slid a hand to her cheek "You have to know that by now" He bent his head, brushed his lips with hers, a soft caress e,on his chest, the touch searing him with the pro to melt into his Suddenly, the brush of hishe’d vowed to leash

He started to pull back, he meant to pull back, but she moaned, soft and sexy, and he had to have another taste of her just one last taste and then he’d leave He’d leave but she’d knoanted her

Somehow, he ended that one last kiss several kisses later, and before she could protest, he bent down and scooped her into his arms This woman wasn’t just any woman She was his duty and… more She was more He didn’t knohy He didn’t need to knohy He si her nad and burying hiht it wasn’t, not now, not tonight But later Oh yeah, later, he was going to do that and so much more

He crossed the rooined her nad and beneath hiainst the are of his ck he had no hope of hiding

"We need to talk," he said, brushing ringlets of long auburn brown hair out of her eyes

She blinked and shifted just enough to press her soft, round bottoainst his erection "Don’t do this," she pleaded "Don’t make me think Don’t make me analyze or worry For once, I just want to escape it all"

He knew that feeling, knew it all too well And he also kneas dangerous; it drove exactly what he didn’t want regret "Why tonight, Lauren? Why me?"

"I don’t want a politician, or soet it," he said, cutting her off, stopping the rest of an answer that had come too fast, too easily, when he was tor, by why her ‘be careful’ had tightened his chest

"I’h for you except when you want to get back at your father? Is that the deal here, Lauren?"

Her eyes ide "Oh, God, no That’s not what I was saying" She brushed her lips over his "But that doesn’tI never allowa gnawing in his gut "I’ht never be," she whispered softly, her lashes lowering with the confession Her emotion, and more of that delicate vulnerability she’d shown hi hiiven hi her reasons for doing so Trust he didn’t deserve, trust he was certain she would regret Resolve formed inside hi to be now He wasn’t going to leave her believing she wasn’t gorgeous and desirable

He scooted her off his lap and settled down on the floor in front of her, his hands sliding up Lauren’s calves, to her knees that she’d priether The heady scent of her perfume, her home, her very feminine presence, seeped into his senses

She stared down at hihts’ look on her face "Royce?" His name was a soft plea on her lips, filled with uncertainty He’d confused her, sent her ht

He felt like a wolf, a hungry anted to devour this woman, and there was no way that didn’t show in his eyes, no way the energy, the need he felt for her, didn’t radiate off of hie of hor but He kissed her knees, one and then the other, reaffirht "And I’ to show you how much I mean that"

She sed hard, her delicate, kissable throat bobbing with the action "I’m not sure I knohat that hs "You will," he prohed a nervously feminine sound "I’m not sure I knohat that means either"

"You don’t need to knohat it h pantyhose, the sexy lingerie choice confirht be prim and proper on the outside, but there was a sensual woman beneath the exterior anted to come out and play and he wanted to be the ht, but no ht But he’d be damned if he’d allow her to doubt his desire for her, his absolute, complete attraction to her "You just need to kno it feels" His hands slipped inside her thighs, easing her legs apart, his lips trailing a path up one of them