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His gaze raked down her bare aroose-bumps of awareness She was in his bed Could he see how her nipples strained toward him? She hoped not

“Wouldn’t hurt you if you did,” he assured her, “but I thought you ht share”

Not waiting for her to respond, he clirabbed for the tray, certain the contents would topple, but it didn’t budge What kind of mattress was this anyway? A very expensive one, she decided, trying to ignore Vale’s long fra pillows behind his back Trying to ignore that now every cell in her body strained toward hinets

Mr Magnetism pulled back a plastic wrap and spread cream c

heese on a bagel, offering the pastry to her “Have fun with the girls last night?”

Reaching for the bagel, she nodded “You have a lovely family, Vale”

“Lovely?” He curled his nose, preparing a plate of food for himself “They’ve snookered you”

“And you?” she asked, popping a bite of the bagel into herall those wild bachelor party things men do?”

She’d , casual, but when he turned to her there was nothing teasing in his eyes, nothing casual in the way her heart mimicked a space-shuttle launch

“I’d rather have been with you”

Vale watched Faith’s eyes darken to a deep green at his ad out of his mouth that he hadn’t planned to say But his words were true

He would much rather have been here with Faith than at Steve’s bachelor party

Several of the grooe bachelor party in Philadelphia the weekend before so last night’s had been more about tradition than one last yahoo on the town

The entire ti on with his family

He wondered that a lot these days He’d be sitting at holance at his watch and wonder if she’d still be awake and, if so, what she was doing Sometimes he wondered if Faith wasn’t why he worked so many hours, just so he’d have an excuse to see her