The Admiral's Bride. Suzanne Brockmann

a delicate caress of his beautiful mouth with her lips. And he still didn’t move.

      But he was breathing hard as she pulled back to look at him, as if he’d just run a five-mile race. His eyes were the most brilliant shade of blue she’d ever seen in her life.

      She kissed him again, and this time he finally moved.

      He lowered his head and caught her mouth with his and then, God, he was kissing her. Really kissing her. Soul kissing her.

      She angled her head to kiss him even more deeply, pulling his tongue hard into her mouth, wanting more, more.

      He tasted like sweetened coffee, like everything she’d ever wanted, like a lifetime of fantasies finally coming true.

      He pressed her even more tightly against him as she clung to him, as still he kissed her, harder, deeper, endlessly, his passion—like hers—skyrocketing completely off the scale, his hands skimming her body as she strained to get closer, closer….

      And then Jake finally tore his mouth away from hers. “My God.” He looked completely shocked, thoroughly stunned.

      Zoe still held onto him tightly, her knees too weak to support her weight. “That was…very believable.”

      “Yeah,” he agreed, breathing hard. “Very believable.”

      “Good to know we can make that seem…so believable.”

      He pulled free from her embrace and turned away. “Yeah. That’s good to know.”

      She had to lean against the counter.

      “Look,” he said, his back to her, “it’s really late and I have some things I need to do before morning, so…”

      He wanted her to leave. Zoe moved carefully toward the door. “I hope sleep is on that list.” She tried to sound lighthearted, tried to sound as if her entire world hadn’t just tilted on its axis.

      He laughed quietly. “Yeah, well, sleep’s pretty low priority these days. If I don’t get to it tonight, there’s always tomorrow.”

      She paused with her hand on the doorknob. “Jake, that kiss—it wasn’t real. We just made it look real.”

      He turned and gazed at her then, the expression in his eyes completely unreadable.

      “Yeah,” he said quietly. “I know that.”