I swallowed hard, my subconscious fighting to protect me from getting crushed again.

“I love Jason Mraz,” I continued, trying to stay on the lighter side. “He’s one of my all-time favorites.”

“I know. You have all of his CDs - minus the one that’s in my possession,” he said, laughing quickly.

I thought about how he held me this morning and how desperately I wanted him to hold me again…in his warm arms.

Could he be mine forever?

“So… am I to understand that you’re mine?” I asked teasingly.

“I can be yours if you want me to be, Taryn,” he whispered.

My breath hitched from his words. My pulse quickened and my fingers started to tremble.

“Is that your intention?” I asked, still skeptical.

Ryan cleared his throat. “My intention is to let you know where my heart is. The rest… the rest is up to you,” he said softly.

I took another deep breath. My own heart was thumping in my chest now. “So… now what? Where do we go from here?”

“We give it a chance,” Ryan declared quite convincingly.

Chapter 10 - Possibilities

It was almost midnight when Ryan secretly entered through the back door of my pub. The light was turned off, so the kitchen was dark when he

arrived. He had his jacket hood pulled up over his head again and his trusty messenger bag was slung over his shoulder.

I had just locked the door behind him when he dropped his stuffed bag on the floor and slowly walked to stand in front of me.

“Hello,” he whispered and gently smiled, bending slightly to give me a hug. Without hesitating, he slipped one hand around my waist; his other

hand pressed higher on my back.

This hug was different – way different from his normal approach. He always hugged me around my shoulders; my arms would go around his

waist.

His new stance surprised me and naturally forced my arms to wrap around his shoulders. My nose skimmed across his chest when he pulled

me in. God he smells good!

His fingertips pressed into my back as his lips softly kissed my forehead.

Fire burned through my veins; the touch of his lips on my skin sent a wave of arousal through my core. My hands responded instantly and

instinctively and without conscious intervention I started to caress his neck.

The light from the bar peeked through the cracked kitchen door, illuminating his cheek in the darkness. My fingers reached to trace the light on

his face. He looked down at me with smoldering eyes.

Slowly he leaned towards me and pressed his lips to mine. His first kisses were tender, pausing to rest his lips on mine (I suppose to measure

my reaction) but my mouth encouraged him to proceed.

I felt his lips part as the soft tip of his tongue joined in with his kiss. His mouth was soft, wet, and completely hypnotic. Desire for him shot through

every cell in my body, consuming my every thought.

He placed his warm hand on my neck to hold my face to his as he kissed me passionately.

My protective shell of self-preservation shattered into a million pieces as the entire outside world ceased to exist. Our lips moved together in

perfect harmony as his tongue glided against mine.

His kissing was far better than I could have ever imagined. I tried like hell to remember why I had denied myself this type of pleasure for so long,

but the heat from his ragged breath surged right into my head and melted my brain.

His hands were holding my face when he broke away from our kiss. He wrapped his arms around my body.

No, don’t stop! What was left of my brain pleaded for him to keep kissing me.

“You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to do that,” Ryan whispered.

My heart was beating so fast, I wondered if he could feel it pounding through his jacket. I took a half step back and bumped into the counter

behind me; I was quite light-headed. My hand was clenched on the front of his jacket when I staggered back; my grip pulled his body forward.

Like a lightning flash, he grabbed me under my arms and lifted me up onto the counter; his forcefulness turned me on even more.

My fingers wove into his hair and my legs wrapped around his hips; our lips expressed our mutual desire. He pressed himself into me; I could

feel through his jeans that he was completely aroused. My mind raced, thinking about having him inside me.

His fingers clenched and clawed at the back pockets of my jeans, pulling me forward and bumping me into him. I envisioned him making love to

me right here on this counter. By the way he rubbed into me, I was sure he was thinking the same thing. I softly moaned as the hunger turned to

passion.

The intensity of our kissing calmed and slowed until our lips rested together. We both smiled.

“I don’t remember. Did I even say hi?” Ryan whispered, joking with me.

“Yes. You had me at hello!” I giggled on his lips.

He chuckled in my mouth.

“I think you have me confused with another famous actor,” he said, kissing me in between laughs.

His mouth locked back on mine, convincing me that this amazing connection between us deserved a chance to grow.

Both of our hands had already found skin; his hands were under my shirt and midway up my back. One of my hands had skimmed down his

neck and underneath the collar of his T-shirt.

I had his bottom lip between my teeth when thoughts of Marie walking in on our make-out session started to put a damper on my lust.

“You know… before we get busted…”

I slipped off the counter and into his arms.

Ryan gathered his bag from the floor. I was amused to see that he had to adjust his pants. His arousal was definitely noticeable.

I peeked out the door before attempting to sneak him from the kitchen to the stairwell. Most of the crowd had disappeared. There were only

about twenty people left in the pub, but I still wanted to get him upstairs unnoticed.

Ryan had just slipped through the stairwell door as Marie came around the corner at the same moment. She was looking for me and I was

busted.

Her face broke into an exultant grin when she saw what I was up to. “Ryan?” she mouthed as she pointed to the door.

I shrugged. My shameful smile was enough of a confirmation for her.

“Glad to see you’re taking my advice! Go on, I’ll lock up. There are only a couple of people here. Pete and I will take care of it. Go, have a great

night!”

I was halfway up the steps when Marie called me back. I tossed my key to Ryan.

“I’ll be right back,” I said to him, nodding for him to go on without me. I trotted down the steps and almost ran right into Marie.

“You forgetting something?” she teased, holding out a chilled bottle of champagne.

Ryan had his coat off and was in the living room when I walked into my apartment.

“Gift from Marie.” I handed the bottle to him. “She saw you. Sorry,” I apologized. “Don’t worry, she won’t say anything.”

“Do you want me to open this?” he asked, even though he already started to peel the foil off the top.

“Sure. Let me get some glasses.”

He popped the cork and poured as I held the glasses. Ryan slipped one glass from my hand and held it up.

“To… possibilities.” He tapped his glass gently into mine and flashed a sultry smile at me.

“What time do you think you’ll be done tonight?” he asked, sipping his champagne.

“Actually, I’ve been given the rest of the night off. Marie and Pete will close tonight.”

“Really? You’re done for the night?” He sounded pleased.

“Yep. We weren’t that busy for some reason. Guess there was some big commotion going on at the Synful Grill tonight – took most of my

customers away.”

He tilted his head to give me an annoyed look.

“The only reason I know that is because one of my customers received a message that you were there. She said your location was posted on