“Which begs the point entirely. I am your cook. That is all I am to you. I should never be alone with you like this.” She tried to slip her hands out of his grasp, but he would not allow it.
“Answer me this, do you have feelings for me? I want an honest response from you.”
Her heart was thumping so loudly, she was surprised its noisy beat was not heard inside the house. “How would you know if I were being honest with you? I could easily lie and tell you all you wish to hear.”
He caressed her cheek. “That is where you are wrong. I know the sort of woman you are, Viola. You will always tell me the truth because it is not in your nature to do otherwise. This is at the heart of the matter. Love is built on attraction and trust. It requires both to flourish. This is what separates you from all those other beautiful women, the fact that I trust you with all my heart and soul.”
She looked up at him, quite stricken. “What if I do not trust you? No, I’ve said this badly. I do trust you, but I cannot make sense of these feelings. How can I be your sunlight? It is something so precious and beautiful. It has to be a mistake.”
He cast her a wry smile, seeming not at all irritated. “Do you find me attractive?”
She nodded. “All the ladies do.”
“And you?”
“Yes, how can you doubt it?”
“What is it you like about me?”
She laughed. “Everything. I cannot breathe whenever I am around you. Is it not obvious?”
He placed his hand on her cheek and lightly ran a thumb along her lower lip, his gentle touch shooting tingles through her. “That eases my mind greatly.”
His breath was light and warm beside her ear.
She gasped as his lips grazed her cheek in a feather-soft kiss. He may not be a rogue, but he certainly knew how to make a woman melt. “It does? Why?”
Dear heaven.
He placed another soft kiss along her throat. “Because I know you will open your heart to me once you get over your fears and learn to trust these feelings. You will in time.”
She hoped he was right. Even now, she was ablaze.
He’d hardly touched her, those kisses seductively soft and teasing, holding the promise of more.
He left her scorched from head to toe.
She closed her eyes and leaned into him, but in the next moment, he was the one who moaned and drew away.
How was she to tell him she wanted more of him?
It turned out, she did not have to.
She opened her eyes, believing he was about to walk away.
“Viola,” he whispered with a groan and wrapped her in his arms instead. “Viola, I want to devour you.”
All she could think of were Sally’s words, her sighs and swoons over his thick muscles and rippled torso.
His skin was warm and his scent divine.
Devouring was an apt expression of how she felt for him, too. If he were food, she would be gobbling him down, licking off every crumb and dripping of juice. Oh, she was making herself hungry just thinking of it.
He groaned again. “Heaven help me, but I am going to burn to ashes if I do not kiss you now.”
“So will I,” she admitted, once more closing her eyes and tilting her head upward to meet the crush of his lips on hers, the urgent, plundering fire of his passion. This was everything she craved and everything that frightened her out of her wits.
But it would be their last kiss.
