Christmas With The Single Dad. Sarah Morgan

and his … desire. Even if for only ten seconds more.

      His free hand travelled down the post until he found her hand. He closed it around hers. He stepped in so close their chests touched. ‘You smell like strawberry jam.’

      She tried to ask him if that was a good thing, but her throat wouldn’t work. All that happened was her lips parted.

      And that he saw them part.

      And knew what it meant.

      His eyes glittered. His mouth took on a wolfish edge of satisfaction. He brushed his thumb over her bottom lip. She gasped and a low rumble of approval emerged from his chest.

      ‘Amazing eyes,’ he repeated. ‘Hair that shines in the starlight.’ His thumb stopped alternately tormenting and pleasing her lips as his hand drifted around the back of her neck to slide into the hair at the base of her skull. He tipped her head back so he could devour her face with his gaze, and she let him.

      He was going to kiss her. She knew he was going to kiss her. She hovered between breaths, waiting for it, waiting to welcome it … hungering for it.

      And from the glittering satisfaction in his eyes she could tell that he’d read that thought in her eyes—that she wanted it as much as he did, that there would be no argument or resistance.

      His mouth descended. The pressure of his hand at her nape partly lifted her to meet him, demanded that she meet him.

      And she did, with her lips ready to taste him completely.

      The kiss was not tentative on either side—it was assured and demanding. Nicola was twenty-seven years old but she had never had such a blatantly adult kiss in all that time.

      Had never enjoyed such a blatantly adult kiss. There was no game playing and no teasing or preliminaries. A question had been asked. An answer given. And then the thorough enjoyment, a wholehearted participation in the slaking of a mutual need.

      And the pleasure rocked her to her toes. She clutched his upper arms, not aware of when she’d moved, his heat and strength rippling through the thin cotton of his shirt to her palms and fingers, filling her with a sense of invincibility. His arm snaked around her waist—to pull her more firmly against him or to give her support? She didn’t know and she didn’t care. She was simply grateful that it gave her the freedom to dance her fingers across his throat, to smooth them over his shoulders and then plunge them into his hair to pull him closer.

      The kiss went on and on and it filled her with energy and strength and the yearning for more … so much more!

      Eventually Cade lifted his head, but he didn’t remove his arm from around her waist. She didn’t remove hers from around his neck. She met his gaze head on. With Cade she didn’t need to be coy.

      His eyes didn’t waver from hers. ‘If this goes on for much longer we’re going to get to the point of no return,’ he rasped out.

      She nodded.

      His chest, pressed to hers, rose and fell. ‘I need to think about that.’

      So did she.

      In unspoken agreement they unclasped each other. Nicola moved back to the bench as reaction set in and her knees started to shake.

      Did she want to take this any further? Did she want to go all the way with Cade? Oh, her body was in no doubt but what about her brain … and her heart?

      He didn’t turn from where she’d left him. ‘I’m not ready for anything serious.’ He spoke to the night, but she knew the words were meant for her.

      After all he’d revealed about his marriage and Fran, she wasn’t surprised. ‘I’m not either.’ It was the truth.

      He turned. She could read the question in his eyes.

      She’d come out here to focus on getting her life back together. A holiday fling, however brief, would deflect herfrom that. And her plan for self-improvement was important to her. She didn’t want to be the doormat her friends thought her or the failure her mother considered her.

      She stood, her knees finally steady. ‘No.’

      She sensed the relief that flashed through him, along with the frustration. He nodded once. He didn’t say anything.

      ‘If I slept with you it’d be partly as revenge on Brad and Diane. You might say you wouldn’t care about that.’ Men were all hormones and any excuse, right? ‘But I’d care.’

      ‘No, Nicola, you’re wrong. I’d resent being used like that.’

      ‘The other thing is, I don’t want to go falling for you on the rebound. My emotions are all over the place at the moment and I don’t trust them. I’m not ready for anything serious and I can say that till I’m blue in the face, but …’

      ‘But sometimes it’s impossible to keep things emotion-free and uncomplicated.’

      ‘Neither one of us needs complicated right now.’ The blood burned in rebellion in her veins. She swallowed and told herself she was doing the right thing. ‘Besides,’ she croaked, ‘you have the girls to consider.’

      ‘I do.’

      ‘And I don’t much trust the whole notion of romantic love any more. I think it’s a bubble that eventually gets burst. Down the track, hopefully, I’ll meet someone and get married because I want children, but I mean to go into the marriage with wide eyes and a clear head. My head at the moment isn’t clear.’

      They eyed each other warily. ‘I’m sorry,’ she offered, because it felt as if she should apologise.

      He gave an emphatic shake of his head. ‘The first lesson in PD101 is to never apologise for something that isn’t your fault. This isn’t anyone’s fault. Never apologise for being honest.’

      ‘PD?’

      ‘Personal Development.’

      That sounded much grander than a makeover plan. ‘Personal development,’ she murmured. ‘I like it.’ With that she started to edge away. She might have finally screwed her head on right, but it didn’t counter the effect of Cade’s continued proximity. Her body clamoured for the feel of him, the touch of his lips and hands—his hardness pressed tight against her softness. And rather than diminishing, it was starting to increase. ‘I’ll … um … say goodnight then.’

      ‘Nicola?’

      She turned at the question, adrift between him and the French windows to her bedroom. She clasped her hands together tightly.

      ‘When you said you wanted to go into marriage with a clear head, what did you mean?’

      She didn’t move back towards him. That would be foolish. With the moon behind him, and from this distance, she couldn’t see his face clearly. ‘From what I’ve seen of relationships, there are those who do the giving and those who do the taking. Until now I’ve been one of the givers. In the future I’m going to be a taker. I mean to get precisely what I want out of any marriage.’

      ‘Take the poor sod to the cleaners, so to speak?’ The air whistled between his teeth. ‘Thank God you called a halt to things just then. They could’ve gotten darn messy.’

      And just like that he’d made her laugh. ‘Don’t worry, Cade. You would never have made it into my sights.’ He was a lot of things, but a poor sod wasn’t one of them. ‘Given all you’ve been through, I doubt you’d ever want to dip your toe in matrimonial waters again.’

      ‘Damn right.’

      ‘So I wouldn’t have made the elementary mistake of thinking you were available.’

      He shifted. She still couldn’t see his face clearly. ‘It seems to me that if your main reason for marrying is to have children, you could dispense with the middleman and use IVF instead. No point in putting yourself in a miserable relationship with a man you would neither respect or trust.’

      She