She raised her hands and continued loosening the braid.With a shake of her head, she tossed the freed strands over her shoulders.Part of her hair swept across the back of the sofa.He twisted one curl around his finger.
“I wish you’d told me.”His voice sounded husky.
“I was wrong not to.”
“I’ll admit that I could have spent more time with you,” he said slowly.“There were difficulties at the bank and with Dani and Ty, but I should have made the time.You were important to me.I never meant to scare you away.”
Perhaps it was her admission that freed him to confess his own secrets.She still couldn’t see his face or read his eyes, but suddenly that didn’t seem to matter.
“I know,” she said softly.“I was too young for you.I didn’t know at the time.It’s only now, looking back, that I see I was—”
“What?”he asked urgently.“Tell me.”
“A girl.A fool.You needed a woman, but I couldn’t be that.”It hurt to confess her shortcomings, she thought, surprised that after all this time it still mattered.
He swore.“You were all I ever wanted.Why can’t you believe that?”
“I was too afraid.”
“Of me?”
“Of the sex.”
He bowed his head.“Now I’m the one who’s sorry.Jane, I had no right to—”
Without thinking, she scooted forward and pressed her hand against his mouth.“Don’t,” she whispered.“I wanted to please you.What I said the other day, about pushing me further than I’d wanted to go….”She shrugged.“I wanted you, too.Maybe not in the same way, but I needed the closeness and to feel you holding me.The rest of it, I’ll admit, didn’t thrill me…but never believe that you coerced me or hurt me.I came to your bed willingly, Adam Barrington.I loved you.There wasn’t any other choice.”When she finished her speech, she realized she still held her hand against his mouth.His firm lips moved slightly against her palm.She dropped her hand.“Sorry.I got carried away.”
But before she could pull back, he twisted his hand in her hair.“I like it when you get carried away.”
“Adam?”
“It’s the night,” he said softly, staring at her intently.“A time for secrets.Here’s mine.You drove me wild.So sweet and funny, so eager to please.”
She ducked her head.“You make me sound like a puppy.”
“No, just innocent.And beautiful.You stared at me as if I were the most—”
“Perfect man,” she whispered.“My fantasy come to life.”
Whatever had smoldered between them since her arrival burstinto life.Her body leaned toward the flames, absorbing the heat that started another fire deep inside her.This wasn’t the time.They were dealing with problems that would only be complicated by a physical relationship between them.But she had to know.She had to find out if the time they had been apart had changed anything.She had to know if being a woman in heart and mind made it different.
“Never perfect,” he murmured, lowering his head closer to hers.“I had my share of flaws.”
“No.I won’t—”
He silenced her with his kiss.She’d wanted this, she thought, as his firm mouth pressed against hers.She’d wanted to be with him, just the two of them, in the dark, with no secrets between them.He continued to hold her hair, as if he were afraid she would try to leave.It was the farthest thing from her mind.Her hands crept up his arms and around his neck.She rubbed the hard strength of him, felt the ripple of his muscles as she kneaded his shoulders.Yes, she thought, letting her eyes drift shut.This is what she’d waited for.
He angled his head so their mouths met more fully.Lips pressed.She leaned forward, encouraging him to take more.His free hand rested on her bare shoulder.His thumb stroked in slow circles, singeing her skin with his heated touch.But still their kiss remained chaste.
She pulled back so that she could look at him.The darkness that had been so kind and allowed them to share their secrets now kept her from reading his expression.Did he want her?Was she looking for something that didn’t exist?
“Adam?”
“After you left, I tried to figure out what it had been that had drawn me to you.Was it your hair?”He cupped her face with both hands, then drew his fingers through the strands at her temples and fanned them over her shoulders.She felt the curls as they were drawn across her skin.
“Like silk,” he said quietly.“Or was it your smile?”His thumb swept across her lips.“Was it the shape of your mouth or the size or the way the edges curve up even when you’re notsmiling?”He touched each corner with his index finger.“Was it your body?The gawky picture you made in high heels?”
She didn’t move as he ran his hands up her thighs to her hips.Heat flared wherever he touched, and turned her blood to fire.
