“Yes.” He nodded, standing to clear away their plates. “You’re right.”
“I’m not looking for anything serious right now,” she said as she picked up her wine and followed him into the kitchen. “I’m focused on my photography and the stuff we’ve got going on here at the castle. And I’m assuming you’re not either. I mean, you’re just getting back into the dating game.”
“Yeah.” Something heavy shimmered in his eyes.
“Which is not to say we should do this,” she added, because it needed to be said, for both of their sake. “Just because we’re attracted to each other doesn’t mean we have to act on it.”
“I’m not so sure we’re capable of behaving ourselves.” His tone dropped, low and gritty and sexy as hell. “Are you?”
“No,” she answered, breathless. “But we can be friends who sometimes kiss…if that’s what you want.”
“It’s not what I want.”
A warm ache grew between her thighs. “Yeah, me neither.”
“Dessert?” he asked, his eyes blown with lust, and she had no idea what they were talking about at this point. Food or sex? Her answer was the same either way.
“Yes.”
He walked toward the stove, and she held in her disappointment that he was going to have to make whatever it was, because she was as hungry to touch him as she was for dessert. He set a pot on the stove and filled it with baking chocolate, milk, and butter, stirring until it became a thick sauce. The kitchen filled with the sweet, pungent scent of chocolate.
“Fondue,” he said as he poured it into a bowl and placed it between them with a platter of fruit and cookies for dipping.
Okay, so maybe this wasn’t a bad idea after all. “Holy shit, that looks good.”
“Doesn’t it?” He reached for a strawberry, dipped it in the chocolate, and held it toward her lips.
She took a bite, moaning as the cold, tart flavor of the strawberry combined with the hot, rich chocolate on her tongue. “Perfect,” she said once she’d swallowed. Delicious and also sexy. Jake was better at this than he knew.
She dipped a bite-sized cookie and popped it in his mouth, leaning in to kiss away the chocolate on his lips. Before she knew it, her back was against the counter and Jake’s hands were on her waist, his tongue in her mouth.
“Even better,” she murmured.
He reached for another strawberry, feeding it to her as his lips wandered over her neck to the pendant dangling between her breasts. He pushed it aside and kissed the skin there, his lips hot and demanding.
“I think I like this dessert even better,” he said as his lips continued their exploration.
“Me too,” she gasped, her hips swaying forward, seeking his.
He straightened, bringing their bodies into alignment, the hard ridge of his cock pressed between her legs. Then, he swiped his finger through the fondue and brought it to her mouth. She sucked, and his hips jerked, a string of swears tumbling from his lips. He dipped his head, kissing her deep and thorough, their tongues dancing together through the cocktail of fruit and chocolate on their lips.
“You feel so good,” he murmured between kisses, his hips moving rhythmically against hers.
“Mm.” She closed her eyes, absorbing every sensation, the way her skin tingled beneath his touch and the heat building between her legs with every movement of their bodies.
“Megan.” He stilled, dropping his head to her neck, pressing gentle kisses there as he panted for breath. “There’s something else I need to tell you before we take this any farther.”
Her eyes popped open. “Okay.”
“I told you I hadn’t been with anyone since my wife,” he said, his expression serious. “But that isn’t the whole story.”
She nodded, her throat gone dry.
“It was important to Alana to wait for our wedding night,” he said. “Her family’s very religious. So, we never had sex.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “And before Alana?”
“We started dating when we were fifteen,” he said quietly. “I was a virgin then, and…I still am.”
