Her mom always said don't look a gift horse in the mouth. She had never known what in the hell that really meant, but she thought in this case it gave her permission to make out with Evan.

So she threw her arms around him and kissed him back for all she was worth.

Their mouths slid and pressed together, tongues intertwining in wet passion as they moved from soft to deep to reckless. It was the fullest, most meaningful kiss she'd ever had in her twenty-eight years, and when Evan's hands cupped her behind, she moaned into his mouth. Oooh, that was nice.

And it made her press against his penis, which was hard and ready to go. No need to wait for the sixty-second inflate time. Evan must have already pulled the ripcord.

Light little kisses fell on her mouth, hard enough to feel him and taste him, light enough to make her want more, deeper and fuller. A whimper dragged out of her. He kissed her jaw, and licked a wet trail down her neck as she tossed her head back.

Worry over her catering business was long gone. Only to be replaced by a new tensiontight, burning sexual tension rising from the center of her body.

"I have an idea," he murmured.

She was getting one too. One that involved no clothes and she and Evan doing the dirty here on the kitchen floor.

She shivered as he breathed into her ear, anticipating a suggestive overture from Evan. A confession of deep desire and longing, a demand that she make love to him. A sensual coaxing that she was the best friend he'd ever had and could be so much more…

Evan said, "Let's do a little hacking of our own."

Hacking? Evan wanted to hack her. Huh. Was that a computer geek's way of saying sex?

Halley didn't think it sounded all that great. Hacking away at her, I got hacked last night, you make me so hot and hacky… no, it was pretty much a bucket of cold water as far as she was concerned.

Maybe this was why they'd never gone beyond friendship.

"What do you mean?" She licked her lips and leaned back in his arms as he continued to rub the most delicious circles across her backside, his thighs moving to enclose hers while his tongue made swirlies on her neck.

Maybe she could put up with hacking, after all.

"Revenge. I'm talking about revenge on the Three Commandos."

What? Wrong. That's not what he was supposed to say. If she had time, she would write a handbook on things men should not say while getting a woman all hot and bothered.

After mentioning an ex-girlfriend or a change in sexual orientation, revenge would be at the top of the list.

"Revenge?" She tried to pull back. This was weird, with a capital W. God, what the hell had she been doing anyway?

His tongue dipped into her ear as he held her tight.

Getting horny, that's what she had been doing.

Was still doing, despite the potential disaster factor being huge. She quivered in his arms, breathing hard as he nuzzled into her neck, sucking lightly, pulling her skin forward with his hot mouth.

Evan didn't seem to be struggling with this baffling change in their relationship. In fact, he was acting as if he had his hands on her ass on a regular basis.

Halley wondered if it was possible to have fallen asleep standing up.

His thumbs drifted up from her waist and brushed across each of her nipples, a tentative quest for permission.

"Oh," she groaned, arching her head back, inviting him to pursue touching her.

"Is this comforting?" he murmured, his head bending in front of her as he slid down her chest with his moist mouth.

Evan dragged her tank top down to expose the tops of her breasts, and she could see his pink tongue heading for the nearest curve.

"I do feel better," she said truthfully. She was also feeling hot, damp, and achy with tight need that snaked around her insides.

Two years' worth of hormones flooded up and out as if the Hoover Dam had been attacked with a sledgehammer.

Evan seemed to be experiencing similar feelings. Halley could feel his hardness pressing into her as he rocked forward with the full length of his penis. With a desperate ferocity that startled her, Halley dropped her hands to his waist and helped him grind.

It may be wrong, but it sure felt good.

Evan groaned, a little throaty aching moan that gave her a burst of triumphant pleasure. He was stroking the length of his erection between her legs, pulling in and out, as Halley wrapped her thighs around him and clenched.

She could hear his breath grow shallow as he thrust with a quick rhythm, and his moans were stifled in her neck as he buried his head. There was no thought of anything but the throbbing strokes of intimacy between them, strokes that mocked the movements of him actually plunging inside her moist body.

Eyes half closed, she gripped his shoulders and wondered that even with his boxer shorts and her pants, she could feel the heat between them. Panting and beyond rational, she thrust her hips to meet him, causing another full moan to rip from Evan.

Then he misjudged and nudged her a little on her inner thigh.

Wait a minute. Her eyes flew open. Something didn't feel right. This felt too real.

She glanced down and saw smooth golden skin before Evan pushed forward and buried himself between her covered thighs. She wasn't supposed to be seeing skin.

That lion was out of his cage.

His boxers had sprung a leak.

"Evan." She tried to maneuver backward out of his way, but another thrust made her groan and freeze where she was. Oh, my.

She whispered on a ragged breath, "You've fallen out of your shorts."

And he was so glad he had. Evan gripped Halley by the waist and rocked against her. Even though every inch of her was still covered by clothing, he was on the verge of coming. On the edge, about to jump off.

Just to feel her, to smell her, to taste the saltiness of her skin, had him ditching common sense at the door. He was driving himself between her thighs, her soft flesh clenching around him, the rustle of her pants causing hot friction on his cock.

He was fighting for control, but it was slipping away from him. He had wanted Halley for so long now, and she had looked so vulnerable to him, fighting back tears. Needy. Evan knew how hard she worked on her business and she didn't deserve to lose it. Staring into those big shiny blue eyes, he had been overcome by the urge to kiss her and make it all better.

Granted, he'd done a little more than that, but Jesus, he was only human.

"My mistake," he said, staring into her bewildered and glazed eyes.

"Evan." She broke eye contact and shuddered. "You have to stop."

He had already slowed down to soft pulsing strokes, and he really didn't want to stop, but he was damn surprised she'd let him get away with as much as he had. Not that he'd planned on sliding between her legs, but when he had burst through the slit in his shorts, he'd gone with it.

But he stopped now, and pulled back with a smothered groan. Yeah, he could stop. Sure, no problem. He took a painful step backward and ran his fingers through his hair.

This wasn't exactly how he had planned to tell her that his feelings extended just a little beyond friendship. He stood there a minute and tried to think of something to say that didn't sound idiotic or perverted. He wasn't having much luck.

Halley gaped at him. "Well, don't just stand there. Put it away."

That horrified tone in her voice didn't help his speech-making capabilities. Neither did looking down and seeing his cock, sort of rising there between them.

This was embarrassing. But he really didn't think he could put it away. If he put his hand on himself, there was no telling what might happen, and he didn't think it would fit back in his boxers right now anyway. Like trying to stuff a bull into a cat carrier.