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“What?”

“The DA has agreed to drop all the charges against you,” he said proudly. I knew he’d worked hard to make that happen.

My heart thudded. “Really?”

“Really.”

“Whoo hoo!” I threw up both of my hands in victory, then winced as my cast bumped against a cabinet door. “That’s amazing!”

I rushed forward and pulled him into a tight hug.

“Oh my God! Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome.”

His voice sounded kind of rough. When I looked up, he was staring down at me with a look I couldn’t interpret. Our eyes met and held for what felt like an hour, but I couldn’t look away.

Slowly Andrew lowered his head, giving me time to pull away, but instead I popped up onto my tiptoes and met him halfway. His mouth crashed against mine, demanding entrance, and I opened for him with a sigh.

Our last two kisses had been hot. Incredibly hot. But somehow this one felt different. Like a claiming.

Andrew backed me up until my hips hit the counter, then without breaking the kiss, he grabbed me by the waist and pick me up, setting me on the surface. I wasn’t a big woman, but I also wasn’t a lightweight, and I couldn’t deny that the way Andrew so easily picked me up gave me a thrill.

“I love kissing you,” he said when we broke apart to catch our breath.

He peppered little kisses down my chin and the side of my neck, while one of his hands snaked its way up beneath my loose shirt to cup my breast. I was wearing a bra, but the touch seared me as if we were skin to skin. He locked onto my nipple, pinching it through the fabric, and I made a moaning noise that would have embarrassed me if I’d been in my right mind.

At some point my legs had fallen open, because Andrew’s hips were now wedged in between them. I wrapped my legs around his upper thighs, pulling him closer, and as he returned to my mouth to give me another rough kiss, I wantonly rolled my hips against his erection.

The kiss went on and on, and by the time Andrew broke the kiss again I was shaking with need. My panties were wet, and my nipples had hardened into painful points against my bra. Andrew looked as wrecked by the kiss as I felt. His mouth was swollen, and his eyes looked a little wild. Someone – me I guess – had pulled his shirt from the waistband of his pants and opened it halfway up his torso, revealing a firm belly covered with a light layer of hair.

I stared at his abs while I caught my breath, wondering how on Earth a man in his late forties still had abs like those. I wanted to trace them with my tongue.

“Katy.”

I looked up and saw the conflicted emotions chasing across his face.

“Yeah.”

“I want you. I need you.”

My heartrate, already in the stratosphere, picked up even more. “I want you too.”

“But I… I can’t.” The words sounded like they’d been ripped from his throat.

“What? Why?”

Did he have a girlfriend he’d forgotten to tell me about? A secret wife? No, that couldn’t be true, not when his mother was trying so hard to fix us up.

“If I have you… when I have you… It won’t be a one and done. I won’t be able to let you go. Do you understand?”

I just stared at him like I didn’t understand English. “I said yes.”

He shook his head. “I need you to say yes to more than sex. I want a relationship. With you.”

He winced a little, like he was annoyed at himself for saying it, but then his expression turned resolute.

“I’ve fallen in love with you.”