“She doesn’t owe people her entire life.”

“No.” Ryan shook his head. “She doesn’t. But that’s Carly for you. She doesn’t do anything half-assed. Her father left a legacy behind in a lot of ways. She just wants to make sure he’s remembered.”

“She gives up an awful lot of herself for that.”

We both watched as she rose from the table, a smile on her face and shadows under her eyes.

“Yeah.” Ryan nodded. “She does.”

***

One day left.

That thought had me out of my room and pacing, standing at the window and staring outside instead of sleeping. I didn’t need much sleep most of the time. Came from having been in prison, I supposed. I’d been a killer, but not the biggest badass, which meant I’d had to watch my back. Which meant staying awake as much as I could. Sometimes I craved it, but couldn’t manage any more than a couple of hours, and then there were times when I’d crash, and sleep for twelve hours straight. But today wasn’t one of those days.

I couldn’t shut my brain down, and part of it was because I was too busy wishing I hadn’t taken this job. As soon as it was gone, I would be reminded of everything missing in my life. Not just the decent food, although I sure as hell hadn’t minded having room service once I’d adjusted to it.

No, what I was going to miss were things like listening to Ryan and Carly bitch at each other in the morning. Seeing Carly stumble to the table in next to nothing, and then watching her smile at me once the caffeine hit her system. It was probably for the best, though, because that smile of hers was starting to get to me. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could resist her...

A door creaked open.

I lifted my head and looked, watched as she slid out of her room and padded toward me, wearing one of those miserable excuses for a nightgown, some slippy looking thing that was the color of midnight. It skimmed just a few inches below her ass and made her skin look even softer than usual.

I missed soft things.

“Can’t sleep?”

Even her voice was soft, and I turned my head to look back outside because looking at her was more temptation than I needed.

“Still not used to the quiet, I guess.” I shrugged.

I tensed when she came up behind me and slid her arms around my middle. Her lips were satin against the back of my right shoulder. I closed my eyes. Fuck.

She started to trail a line of kisses across my shoulder. With a sigh, I reached down and caught her hands, turning around even as I stepped away from her.

“What are you doing, Carly?” I asked after I’d put what seemed to be a wise distance between us.

Ten feet was safe, right?

Ten feet made it hard for me to catch the scent of her skin, although I could still remember it. And no amount of distance would undo the memory of her mouth moving under mine, or wipe away the memory of her taste. The sight of her skin and weight of her breasts that night Ryan had interrupted us...

She apparently didn’t like the distance.

Ten feet became eight feet, then five.

I’d put my back to the bar, and now she stood just two feet away, the crazy corkscrews of her hair spilling more than halfway down her back. I wanted to twist my hands in it, pull her up against me and get lost in her.

And I would get lost, I knew. If I let myself, I could lose everything in her, for her.

Her gaze dropped down to my mouth and my dick gave a hard, almost vicious twist.

She closed the remaining distance between us once more and reached up, touching my mouth. I caught her wrist.

“What are you doing?” I asked again.

“Isn’t that obvious?”

She leaned against me, and through her thin nightshirt, I felt all of her and it was like feeling heaven. Hot skin, soft woman and sweet curves.

But in the back of my mind, I kept seeing those white flashes from a dozen cameras.

“We were interrupted last time,” she said.

“We were in public,” I reminded her. “In front of a bunch of cameras.”

She’d done that on purpose too. I hadn’t brought it up, but I wasn’t an idiot either. Just because I spoke with a drawl and had spent time in prison didn’t mean I wasn’t smart. I was intelligent enough to figure out that she’d had me sit with her because she could kiss me in public, in front of the media. She could shut down that asshole Hank, and give the press a new story to chase for a while.

“I’m not talking about at the dinner.” She tugged, but I didn’t let her go just yet. She didn’t seem disturbed by it, just leaned in and kissed the fingers I’d closed around her wrist.

I stifled a groan and remembered the night she’d been talking about. Yeah, we’d been interrupted, alright.

Thank goodness.

“That shouldn’t have happened to begin with,” I said gruffly. “Besides, we’re just as likely to get interrupted again anyway.”

Her pulse throbbed against my thumb and absently, I stroked that fragile, rapid beat. Her skin felt like silk under my touch. I didn’t think I’d ever been so aware of how rough my own skin was. Her lashes fluttered, and I had the insane urge to lean in and press a kiss to her eye, to watch those lids close and then kiss my way down her body, to worship her with my mouth, bring her as much pleasure as I possibly could.

“Oh, I disagree there,” she said. She tugged again and this time, I let her go, hoping she’d do the smart thing and pull away.

But she didn’t.

Of course she didn’t.

She slid her hand up my bicep, along my shoulder, ran her fingers through my hair. “I keep thinking I wish we would’ve been smart and gone into your room...or mine.” Her fingers tightened in my hair until it hurt. “Can we be smart this time?”

“Smart would have been you throwing me out on my ass the night we met,” I said, even as part of me started screaming for me to shut up. I ignored it and tried another tactic. “You don’t even know me.”

“I know I want you.”

I tensed as she skimmed the flat of her hand up my rib cage and then down. My cock was at full attention now, and my pants weren’t doing anything to hide it.

“I know I want to know more of you. I know you make me laugh. I know you kiss me like you want to breathe me in, like I’m the air to you.” She leaned in, brushed her mouth against mine. “I know I want you, and I think you want me too. That’s enough for now.”

My head started to spin. I could say the same things to her, all of the same things. I opened my mouth, but none of those sweet things were what came out. Instead, I asked a question.

“Why did you kiss me at the dinner?”

I was an idiot.

Slowly, she lowered herself from her tip toes, head cocked as she studied my face. “Does it matter?”

“If it didn’t, I wouldn’t have asked,” I pointed out. Now that I’d asked the question, I wanted an answer.

She huffed out a put-upon sigh and she looked so damn cute, I almost didn’t catch that glint in her eyes. Almost. “When you live my kind of life, you don’t exactly forget. You just stop thinking about them.”

I knew she was being honest. Sort of. I’d seen that look in her eyes. She didn’t want to tell me the whole story.

“You didn’t entirely stop thinking about them.” I shook my head and moved a little closer, taking back the small bit of space she’d given up when she’d eased away. This time I wanted to use the proximity against her. “Did you?”

She caught her lower lip between her teeth, eying me. Then, bluntly, she said, “No. Not entirely.”

“Then why did you do it?”

“Because.”

She spun away on her heel and started to pace. The short, barely there bit of silk she wore drove me crazy with each long stride, riding up and then falling back into place, giving me tantalizing glimpses of her amazing ass.

“I wanted to kiss you, so I did. I don’t care.” She spun back around and stared at me. “Obviously you do.”