The Wedding Party And Holiday Escapes Ultimate Collection. Кейт Хьюит

with a sniffle.

      He rubbed his thumbs across her cheeks, wiping away the last of her tears. “Not at all.”

      In fact, he couldn’t remember her ever looking more beautiful, more appealing than she did at that very second.

      He brushed his thumbs over her full lips. Her mouth looked soft and inviting. He tried to recall what it felt like to kiss her, and not that taunting little peck she’d laid on him earlier. A real, honest to goodness, I’ll-go-nuts-if-I-can’t-have-you-this-second kiss.

      When he looked in her eyes he could swear she was thinking the exact same thing.

      In that instant he knew he needed to kiss her. Not wanted. He needed to.

      It wasn’t about revenge or breaking her spirit. It wasn’t even about sex. It was just something he had to do.

      He lowered his head and she rose up to meet him halfway. They came together swift and firm. With purpose. As though they both knew what they wanted and they weren’t afraid to take it, the consequences be damned.

      She took him into her mouth, against her tongue. She tasted warm and familiar and exciting.

      He didn’t know what he was expecting, but it wasn’t for Ivy to grab his ass and drive herself hard against him. He was so surprised and so turned on, he just about embarrassed himself. He didn’t even know it was possible to get a boner wearing ice-cold wet denim.

      He bit down on her lip, the way he used to, and she moaned her appreciation. The sound slipped over him like exquisite Italian silk, cranking his level of arousal up yet another notch. Then she slipped her hand between their tightly fused bodies and rubbed it over his crotch, and he was the one moaning.

      He knew without a doubt that kissing her was not going to cut it. He needed to get her naked. He wouldn’t be satisfied until he was driving himself deep inside her. Watching her shatter in his arms.

      He tugged at her soggy shirt, trying to push it up and out of the way, so he could get his hands on some skin. She must have had the same idea, because he could feel her wrestling with the hem of his shirt. At least they were on the same page.

      But these wet clothes had to go.

      He nipped her lip again, and Ivy moaned. She fisted her hands in his shirt, her nails scraping his skin. Everything in her body language begged, take me now, and he couldn’t come up with a single reason why he shouldn’t. Not that he was trying all that hard to come up with one.

      Then he heard a door open and voices in the foyer. An obnoxious, earsplitting cackle of laughter rang through his ears. That was the laugh of a Tweedle. He could feel his hard-on instantly begin to deflate.

      Looked as if they were about to have company.

      Why the hell hadn’t he swept her up and carried her to his room? Or her room. Or the bathroom? Anywhere that they would have a little privacy.

      As abruptly as they had come together, they broke apart. Both dazed and breathless. And still soaking wet.

      Ivy blinked a few times, gazing around as if she’d completely forgotten where she was.

      The Tweedles and Blake’s brothers appeared in the hallway a second later, like crashers at a private party. His party. They were still dressed in their golf gear, and Dee, or was it Dum—he still couldn’t tell them apart—was laughing. Awfully jovial, weren’t they, considering what had happened to Deidre?

      He absently wondered which one had pegged her, and if she felt even a modicum of regret. If she cared about anyone but herself.

      All four stopped abruptly when they noticed Ivy and Dillon standing there. The one he was pretty sure was Dum inspected them from head toe, a look of revulsion on her face. “Oh, my God. What happened to you?”

      Ivy looked from Dillon, to herself, then back to their captivated audience. He couldn’t wait to see how she explained this one.

      She shrugged, the picture of innocence, and said, “We went swimming.” As if that was obvious, and not at all unusual despite the fact that they were both fully dressed.

      She always did have a way of making the ridiculous or unlikely seem completely rational.

      Not that he gave a damn what the four Musketeers did or didn’t know.

      Of course, at some point the news would have gotten back to his mother. He didn’t really give a damn what she thought, either. But the business of trying to explain and assuring her that there was no way in hell he and Ivy would ever try to reconcile would be a big pain in the behind. A hassle he didn’t need. Or want.

      If they were going to do this, it would be best to keep it to themselves.

      And they were. Even if Ivy didn’t realize it yet.

      “You’re dripping everywhere,” the other Tweedle said, mirroring her counterpart’s distaste.

      Those two really needed to lighten up.

      Ivy looked down at the growing puddle of water around her feet. “Oops. Guess I should go change into some dry clothes.”

      Gathering her wet skirt, she bolted for the stairs, but not before he saw the mildly shocked, what-the-hell-have-I-done look on her face.

      “Guess I should change, too,” Dillon said, heading after her, leaving the others looking thoroughly confused.

      “Who’s going to clean up this mess?” one of the Tweedles called after him, but he was more concerned with the pound of Ivy’s footsteps up the stairs. She was moving awfully fast.

      By the time he reached the foot of the stairs she was already at the top.

      “Ivy, wait,” he called to her, but either she didn’t hear him or she was ignoring him.

      He was guessing the latter.

      She disappeared down the hall and a second later he heard her bedroom door slam. From where he stood he couldn’t actually hear her turn the lock but knew that she had.

      It didn’t take a genius to realize she was running away again.

      Dillon was worse than lint, Ivy decided as she stepped out of the shower into the steamy bathroom and dried off with a soft, fluffy orange towel. She’d scrubbed and scrubbed, run the water as hot as she could stand, and she could still feel the ghost of his touch. She could still smell his scent on her skin.

      She’d brushed her teeth twice and rinsed with mouth-wash, but she could still taste him.

      He wasn’t just clinging to her sleeve or the leg of her slacks. He was under her skin, coursing through her bloodstream. She could feel him inside her head, making things she used to believe, things she counted on, hazy and unclear.

      She rubbed the steam from a section of the mirror and looked at herself. Really looked. Same hair, same eyes, same nothing special body.

      Then why did she feel so…different?

      Confused and frustrated and scared…and more alive than she had in years.

      She slipped her robe on and opened the bathroom door, letting out a startled squeak when she realized she wasn’t alone.

      No, Dillon wasn’t lint.

      He was a virus. A full-blown flu that made her feel weak and feverish and blew her judgment all to hell. A highly contagious bug who had broken into her room while she showered and made himself comfortable on her bed.

      “Howdy.” He lay on his back, propped up on both elbows, one leg crossed over the other. Like he had every right to be there. He’d showered and changed into casual slacks and a slightly transparent, white linen pullover that all but screamed, look at my tan! The scent of freshly scrubbed man reached across the room and wrapped itself around her like a tentacle, tempting her closer.

      Did viruses have tentacles?

      She tugged the belt on her robe a little