Laughter drifted up from the street. He shifted from one foot to the other. “Interested in watching the fireworks with me?”
She expelled a sultry sigh. “If we watch the fireworks together, the whole town will be gossiping about us tomorrow morning.”
“You don’t strike me as someone who’d let a little gossip stop you from going after what you want.”
“You’re right. As long as we know what works for us and what the other person needs, that’s all that matters.” She smiled and stepped closer. “Sometimes I think you are the only person in this town who gets me at all. How is that possible?”
“I don’t know, but we are definitely on the same page.” He brushed a strand of hair back from her cheek with the tip of one finger.
Wrapping her arms around his neck, she slid her fingers into his hair. “The last time you and I were together, the fireworks were pretty spectacular.”
She tilted her head back to gaze into his eyes. He saw his own desire reflected in the blue depths.
When she moistened her cherry-red lips with the tip of her tongue, his mouth went dry.
Flattening his palm against the small of her back, Adam drew her up against the length of his body. She was soft in all the right places, and the feel of her against him set off the opening flare.
Her lips parted at his unmistakable hardness. It was the invitation he needed, and he closed his mouth over hers.
Adam continued pressing his lips lightly to hers, teasingly, his mouth never pulling away.
“You’re just as enticing as I remember.” She planted a kiss at the base of his neck, her lips warm and moist against his skin.
“You’re just as incredible.” Adam ran his tongue along her bottom lip, and she opened to him. He explored her warm and moist mouth, her breathy moans lighting the fuse on the fireworks to come.
She kissed him back, and the kisses turned urgent and fevered. Her blue eyes darkened to black in the dim light.
A smoldering heat engulfed him. Anticipation built as the taste and feel of her wrapped around his senses. He normally enjoyed this foreplay nearly as much as the act itself.
But his pulse had become a swift, tripping beat, almost brutal in its force. He wrapped a strand of hair around his finger. “The bedroom or the couch?”
Dazed and breathing hard, she took two long seconds to respond. “Bedroom.”
As if to seal the deal, she caught his mouth in a hard kiss, then took his hand and pulled him down the hall. She laughed, a lighthearted, breathless sound.
Once they reached the bedroom, he barely noticed the four- poster iron bed covered with some fancy duvet and frilly pillows. What he did notice was wooden blinds open to a view of Main Street. He flicked them closed, then moved back to Charlotte.
When he bent his head to kiss her, she stepped back, lifting a finger.
“Do you have condoms?”
Adam muttered a curse. For the past couple of years, he’d dated only women who were past the point of needing to worry about birth control. None of them had been active sexually for years, so he hadn’t worried about disease.
In fact, Charlotte was the last woman he’d been with where he’d needed condoms for protection.
“You’re not on the Pill?” he asked. “Because I’m clean.”
“I’m not on the Pill.” For a second, she looked uncomfortable, then that confidence returned. “I likely can’t get pregnant anyway. I don’t have many eggs in the basket, if you get my drift. But I still want to take precautions.”
“I do, too.” Adam pulled out his wallet, surprised to see his fingers trembled slightly. “I’ve got one. The expiration date has worn off.” He narrowed his gaze, but couldn’t figure out the date.
She lifted it from his fingers and set it on the bedside table. “I’m sure it’s okay.”
Heat shimmered in the air as his eyes locked with hers. “There’s only one.”
“One will be enough.”
Adam couldn’t see how, not with the way she made him feel. Not with the vibration of desire that assailed him simply by thinking about making love to her. Did she have any idea the power that she had over him?
Without warning, she tugged her shirt off over her head. Her bra was a wisp of red lace that clasped in the front.
He swallowed against the sudden dryness in his throat. But when he reached out, she stepped back.
“I took off one clothing item. Now it’s your turn.”
Adam had to smile. He understood how this game was usually played. As much as he liked playing, he decided to bypass the preliminaries.
He stepped to her, opened the clasp with a flick of his fingers and smiled when her breasts tumbled free. “We’ll save the games for later.”
Chapter Three
Once had not been enough.
Charlotte stretched in her empty bed and smiled. Sex with Adam had been better than she remembered. He was forceful, yet gentle, and determined to show her a good time.
Mission accomplished in spectacular fashion.
The best part, Charlotte thought, as she rose and stretched again, was there were no expectations. No uncertainty over whether he would want to see her again. No concerns about feelings that went beyond the immediate.
They both took last night for what it was—two people enjoying some magnificent sex, all the while knowing it wouldn’t happen again. Neither of them was interested in more, which made for a practically perfect night.
Wrapping the silk robe around herself, she cinched it tight, then ambled into the kitchen to start the coffee. Once that was going, she moved to the window to look out on Main Street.
Not a lot of activity, but more than she’d expected for a Sunday morning. She breathed deep, loving the scent of yeast and sugar in the air. Having your apartment sit directly above a bakery was a nice perk.
Charlotte had to smile, remembering how various friends would lament how they could gain five pounds by simply inhaling the sweet scent of rolls and pastries. Charlotte hoped that wasn’t true, as delicious scents were always wafting up the steps.
As the coffeepot now held enough of the steaming brew to fill a mug, Charlotte pulled out the pot and poured herself a cup.
The first sip got her neurons firing. Instead of sitting at the table, she returned to the window and watched a crowd of Good Hope’s movers and shakers crossing the town square, headed in the direction of Muddy Boots.
She hadn’t been gone so long that she didn’t remember that the quaint café was the place where this group of young professionals gathered on Sunday mornings.
Narrowing her gaze, Charlotte searched the group for her new business partner, Marigold Rallis.
Charlotte smiled when she spotted the petite blonde with the mass of curly hair strolling hand in hand with her husband, Cade. Their newborn son sat nestled in the crook of his arm.
What was the kid’s name? Marigold had mentioned it numerous times. It started with a C. Charlotte took another sip of coffee, and the caffeine jolted the name free. Caleb.
He was a cute baby, bald as her uncle Scott, but with a sweet face and button nose.
Charlotte hoped when she finally had a baby, it would be a girl. Healthy was her first hope. Then a girl. It seemed to her, a girl would be easier for a single mother to raise.