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His grin was feral. “I have a villa on Mykonos. Nothing fancy. Nice for a winter getaway.”
“I should say so.” The admission on his part reminded her why he was on that stupid list. This was no absentminded professor smelling of mothballs and muttering indecipherable formulas. Ian Larrimore was the second most eligible bachelor in all the British Isles. He was handsome, wealthy, and fascinating. Women everywhere would give anything to be in her shoes. Bella Craig had found the golden ticket.
A little voice in the back of her brain reminded her that if something sounded too good to be true it probably was. She ignored the warning. Nothing was going to stop her now.
Not even her own sense of self-preservation.
He sat down at her hip and lazily unbuttoned her top. She and Ian were both streaked with dirt and covered in scratches. She probably had leaves and twigs in her hair, because he certainly did.
“Should we clean up first?” she asked mildly, as if she weren’t on fire from the inside out.
His pained wince told her he didn’t give a damn if they both were less than daisy fresh. “Is that what you want?”
“Maybe later,” she muttered.
“Thank God.” He bent his head and kissed her breasts, not bothering to remove her skimpy bra. The fact that he suckled her through the damp fabric struck her as unbearably erotic.
She struggled with the zipper on her jeans. At least she was wearing nice undies. The random thought made her want to laugh… right up until the moment Ian lifted her like a rag doll and unfastened her bra. He held her close, the bra trapped between them. “Is something wrong?” she asked timidly when he didn’t move.
“Not exactly.” He sounded winded.
“Can I help?” They had been rushing toward a delicious precipice, but now the momentum slowed.
“Do you know who the Incredible Hulk is?” he asked.
The random question confused her. “More or less, though I’m not sure what he has to do with getting me out of my clothes.”
He kissed her temple. “Bruce Banner was the scientist in the comic series. Whenever he was subjected to extreme emotional stress, he morphed into a huge green monster.”
“I like that you’re naked, Ian, but your timing sucks. Save the bedtime stories for later.”
He chuckled hoarsely. “I’m trying to tell you how I feel. Since I rarely go down that road, I thought an illustration might come in handy.”
She pulled back far enough to see his face. “I’m stressing you out?” She frowned. Not what a woman wanted to hear.
“There’s good stress and bad stress. I’m afraid of hurting you or scaring you. It seems like you’re not all that experienced.”
“So?” He wasn’t wrong.
“So, I don’t want to go all Incredible Hulk on you. When a man wants a woman really badly, he has a hard time being gentle.”
A frisson of excitement made her shiver. “You’re that wound up? Honestly?”
“Oh, yeah. I could lock you in this room and make love to you all night.”
“What’s stopping you?”
