Desire struck her like the furious storm. Heart thumping wildly out of beat, breath hitching to make up the difference. She knew what Duke had in mind, and heaven help her, Viv wanted the very same thing.
He leaned in then, slow and steady, like a capturer moving in on his prey. His gaze dropped to her lips as Viv lifted her chin, eyes settling on his mouth as well. She’d always loved the prominent shape of his full lips. How they looked, how they felt, how they tasted…
Viv’s eyes drifted shut as Duke’s heated breath teased the corner of her mouth. The enticing sensation only added to the thrill as he glided his bottom lip, ever so softly, over the length of hers.
More heart skips. More goosebumps.
At last he came in, pressed a kiss to her lips that pulled a small whimper from the back of her throat.
So good.
Viv reached to touch the side of his face, head tilting to take in another kiss, when a man’s voice sounded from behind.
“Entra, entra.” He repeated the word a third time before Duke put distance between them. He pulled back slowly, regretfully.
Viv glanced over her shoulder to see an older man waving for them to follow him. A jagged breath escaped her lips as she nodded in understanding.
Duke took hold of her hand with a nod of his own. “Let’s go on in.”
Thunder cracked, small and distant at first, but as she and Duke followed the man to the other side of the building, the sound grew into a resounding boom that rattled the windows once they hurried into the building.
Bronze plaques marked an array of plants scattered throughout the open room. Their unexpected host ushered them past a tall front desk and toward a bench at the center of the room.
Duke gave him a nod. “Gracias, amigo.”
The man returned the nod before stepping through an open doorway, then closing the door behind him.
Almost numbly then, Viv followed Duke to the bench, took a seat beside him, and watched the storm escalate through a large, adjacent window.
In her mind, Viv was reliving the all-too-short feel of his lips on hers. The tender way he traced the hollow of her throat. And the smoldering look in his eye as he lowered his head.
She reveled in the tingles that rushed through her. Viv had almost forgotten how good a simple kiss could feel, almost forgotten what she’d been missing all these years.
“The storms this time of year are usually short and quick,” Duke said. “Once this passes, we can head back.”
Viv nodded wordlessly.
“You’re welcome to do anything you’d like, of course, but I’d like it if you’d join me for dinner.”
She took her eyes off the pelting rain and distant lightning long enough to look into the blue depths of his eyes.
“Off the clock,” he added.
Even as warm tingles pooled around her heart, Viv scrambled for an objection. Was she breaking one of her rules? She didn’t think so. She’d gone into this with both eyes open, after all. And it would be off the clock. And thatkiss…
“Okay.”
Duke lifted a brow. “Okay?”
Viv nodded, willing the heat to leave her face. She dropped her gaze. “This feels…”
“Familiar?” he filled in for her.
She shrugged. “A little.”
“But that’s not what you were going to say,” he added. “It feels what?”
The word awkward came to mind as she stared at her hands, sounds of rain beating the rooftops. She glanced out the window once more, set her eyes on a fragile looking flower just outside—a hibiscus. The type women wore behind one ear. It was delicate, thin, and the softest shade of pink. Could it really withstand the thrashing wind and pelting rain?
