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“On what?”

Her nonchalant question didn’t fool him “On how I felt about Mandy back then”

She glanced up “Back then?” she asked gruffly “Or even now?”

His sixth sense was telling him his answer mattered to her “Back then,” he said softly Then he added with a co time afterward” He breathed deeply and let the air out slowly “But not anymore”

In the silence that followed, Cody watched as a red-tailed hawk lazily circled the sky, then suddenly dived toward the earth Keira’s gaze also followed the hawk until it disappeared from view Then, in a voice so casual he kneas calculated to hide how she really felt, she asked, “Are you sure?”

Their eyesin the depths of Keira’s brown eyes that shook him, an emotion he was afraid to name “I’m sure,” he said, a second before his mouth descended on hers

If anyone had told him his thirty-seven-year-old body could react to a simple kiss as if he were seventeen, he wouldn’t have believed it But then, it wasn’t really a si before he knew it

Those firht of as unkissable,her close, and closer, as the kiss went on In some part of him he knew he should stop, but when she moaned softly deep in her throat and her hand caht deserted him

They broke apart to breathe, but he couldn’t let her go His blood was pounding in his veins, and his breath rasped in his throat He wantedwanted

His lips found hers again His hands threaded through her red-gold curls, and they were just as soft as he’d i her face, and he was kissing her eyes, her cheeks, the hollow beneath her ear And she was kissing hiht have been able to stop if not for that At least that hat a corner of his brain said, but he kneas a lie Kissing Keira was rapidly beco an obsession

And not just kissing her He desperately wanted to touch her in other places—soft, secret places He wanted to know if she would melt there for him, too, the way her lips did He wanted to taste every inch of her skin, to fill his senses with her, to hear her call his naht her to the peakand beyond

She was still wearing her jacket, and he needed to feel her, to touch her everywhere He whispered her na between their bodies to fondle her breast beneath the open jacket Her unexpected whimper stopped him cold

He drew back froht her chin, forcing it up Her eyes gave her away, and he knew His face contracted in pain, and he cursed himself silently “Keira, I” He sed hard He leaned his forehead against hers “God, I’th I didn’t realize I”

She shook her head slightly “You told me to scream, but I couldn’t, so”

Cody reht they’d roped her until she screamed, and was devastated “I didn’t mean to hurt you,” he whispered brokenly

“You did what you had to do to rescuehim and his actions “It was the best way you could think of at the time And I already told you I bruise easily” Her face softened suddenly; her eyes softened even ht it to her right breast “You can touch me here,” she invited in a breath of a whisper

But the spell, or whatever it was that had gripped Cody, was broken His desire ebbed, replaced by self-recri distance between him and temptation

“Why don’t you just call er at his earlier behavior forcing bitterness into his voice that was aimed at himself

But she misunderstood He could see it in her expression as she wrapped her arms around herself protectively Despite that, she said firmly, “Because I don’t think of you that way How many times do I have to tell you?”