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Chapter 3
Inside Aria, a light clicked on.Was he kissing her?
He was kissing her. Or at least, his lips were gently touching hers. As her shock faded, bright sparks began to ignite in her blood, illuminating all her dark places. His lips were warm and firm, and the scent of him—rain and salt—filled her head.
He increased the pressure for an instant, and her heart jumped with anticipation at the idea of himfullykissing her. She imagined him cupping her face in his big hands, urging her mouth open, tilting her head to just the right angle so he could devour her.
Longing burst through her, almost as shocking as the fact that she was sitting on a windowsill being kissed by a man she’d met less than two hours ago. ByGlowering Stranger, though he was no longer glowering and increasingly less a stranger.
But,oh, how long had it been since she’d been kissed with such gentleness, as if she were somehow precious? Lifting a tentative hand, she pressed it to his jaw. She rubbed her palm over his coarse whiskers. Tingles spread clear up her arm.
The light inside her burned brighter, hotter. He slid his hand to the back of her neck. Self-control laced his body. Aria curled her other hand into his shirtfront and parted her lips, but he kept the kiss gentle and restrained, almost as if he didn’t want to scare her away.
She was anything but scared. Arousal coiled slowly through her lower body. Tightening her hand in his shirt, she slanted her mouth harder against his. A groan echoed in his chest.
What would it be like if he let go of his controlled self-restraint? If he pushed her against the windowsill, cupped her breasts, edged his body between her legs—
Breaking abruptly away, he lifted his head. Their eyes met with a jolt of hot urgency. Then he stepped back. A shutter came down over his hard features.
“Sorry.” He shook his head, as if shaking himself out of a trance. “Didn’t mean to do that.”
She pressed a hand to her thumping heart, her pleasure evaporating. “What, your mouth just happened tofallonto mine?”
“Ishouldn’thave done that.” He raked a hand through his still-damp hair, seemingly frustrated by his own impulses. “I don’t make a habit of helping women rescue their cats and then kissing them. The women, not the cats.”
“Well, I don’t make a habit of kissing glowering strangers.” Pulling in a breath, she gripped the edge of the windowsill. “Like I said, there’s a first time for everything.”
“Everything about this night is a first time.” He shot a glance at Porkchop.
“Fifteen minutes.” Aria hitched herself over the windowsill and landed on the ground. “Time me.”
She opened the umbrella and hurried off into the night, feeling his gaze as he watched her leave. A hot sensation simmered in her belly, even as she told herself to calm down and not let her imagination run away with her. As a resident of the Outside Inn, Hunter was only in Bliss Cove for a short time, and she’d likely never see him again after tonight.
They were two passing ships, which was a good thing. She was still just dipping her toe into the dating waters again—an hour or two, a casual dinner or drink, a bare minimum of physical contact and certainly no kissing.
Big, masculine Hunter with his sexy rumble, dark glower, and that incredible body that looked as if it were carved by a master sculptor…yeah, he was entirely too much for her right now. Or ever.
Even if just the brief caress of his lips had filled her with heat.
Trying to push the thought aside, she hurried home. She had to stop several times to tighten her belt so the shorts wouldn’t fall down, but she managed to make it back to her Mariposa Street apartment, which was a one-room studio above the café.
After quickly changing into jeans and a T-shirt, she tossed a cat crate into the van and returned to the Outside Inn. The rain had let up even further, so she parked on the street to avoid Mrs. Higgins coming out to investigate her reasons for being there.
Hefting the crate, she hurried back to Hunter’s window and tapped on the glass. The window shot up, and he grabbed her arm to help her back inside.
“Did you time me?”
“Twenty minutes and fifty-three seconds.” He frowned and pointed at the clock on the nightstand.
“I had to stop a few times to hitch up the shorts.” Aria set the crate on the floor beside the bed and handed him his folded clothes, which she’d stuffed into her oversized bag. She dug around some more and produced a can of tuna.
“His favorite.” She tilted her head toward the cat. “I wish I’d thought to grab some before chasing after him in the first place. Then we wouldn’t be in this predicament.”
“That’d be a damned shame,” he murmured.
Aria flicked him a glance, her breath catching at the heat lingering in his dark eyes.
Yes, it would.
